Sir, - As a Northern Protestant now living in Dublin, may I say how appalled I was by the callow and condescending remarks made by the new Dean of St Patrick's (Interview, November 25th). His personal comments on Archbishop Desmond Connell are quite out of order.
Dr Connell is a philosopher, a former university teacher who has a high reputation in his field. He has the pastoral oversight of the most populous diocese in Ireland, which contains very deprived areas where the problems of drugs and homelessness are more severe than anywhere else in Ireland - problems which I know from the media have not at all been ignored by his clergy.
Many Catholics ponder on the advisability of appointing as bishops academics with little experiences of parish work - and indeed there is the same unease in the Church of England. But this is surely a matter for Catholics. If churchmen feel that they must make comments on other churches, they should certainly not be wounding comments.
I would not expect to hear a prominent Catholic cleric make comments on the ability of, say, the two Church of Ireland archbishops, nor indeed can I recall ever having heard such a comment.
Dean McCarthy's condescension is quite breathtaking. He knows "many super priests". I would like to put it another way. I have not personally encountered any of the sad and evil figures who have appeared in the courts in recent years - the proverbial rotten apples in the barrel - but I have been privileged to know priests in the North of Ireland who have lived a life of self-sacrifice in the service of their people in desperate and troubled times.
Victor Griffin was a great dean of St Patrick's, who didn't in any sense keep his head below the parapet, but spoke out firmly and effectively for the rights of the minority Protestant community and, I believe, was respected for so doing. He was an effective apologist precisely because what he had to say was measured and thoughtful - not calculated to make him "the darling of the media", to use Dean McCarthy's phrase, but not personally wounding or condescending. - Yours, etc.,
Prof Brian Scott, Valentia Road, Drumcondra, Dublin 9.