Sir, - it is a great mistake, for practical and spiritual reasons, to remove altar rails in the Carlow Cathedral. Pope John Paul II, in the instruction Inaestimabile Donum, upholds the right of people to receive Communion while kneeling, and adds that kneeling is itself a sign of adoration. Unfortunately, with the removal of altar rails, this is often made difficult.
One of the errors which recent Popes have had to combat is the error that the priest is merely a "presider", that he has no power that the lay people haven't. For example, in Mysterium Fidel. Pope Paul VI warned that there was not a distinction of degree alone, but of essence."
Altar rails setting off the sanctuary give architectural expression to the special powers of the priest. In view of the attack on the truth of these special powers of the priest, it is all the more imperative to keep the physical, architectural expression of that truth.
For the same reasons, the St Vincent de Paul Church on Griffith Avenue should not be changed, as proposed. That church is a beautiful church as it is, and it should not be vandalised. - Yours, etc.,
The Maharees,
Castlegregory,
Co Kerry.