Madam, - Did Brendan Butler (April 28th) read the 2,865 paragraphs and thousands of references in the Ratzinger-Shoenborn catechism before he concluded that it "is nothing short of a perversion of Christianity. . . to assert that [ the catechism] replaces [ for Catholics] the Word of God and the infallible teachings of an Ecumenical Council as the ultimate truth"?
In fact the catechism distillation is enormously more informative than the Bible and Council documents, which over-elaborate hugely and leave thousands of questions unanswered.
Maybe some Catholics reckon that because the catechism is human-made it can be ignored. Yet, all words uttered or written - including Bible, Council and Koran ones - are human-made.
Which of them are words of God or of the Devil we cannot know for sure. We may choose to believe which is which and enjoy - or maybe suffer - the consequences.
- Yours, etc,
JOE FOYLE, Ranelagh, Dublin 6.