Sir, – We can do without a drive-in Ash Wednesday ("Drive through Ash Wednesday a 'tremendous success' in Co Galway", March 1st). The carbon footprint outweighs the carbon thumbprint. – Yours, etc,
ULTAN Ó BROIN,
Sydney,
Australia.
Sir, – I am of an age that remembers that the Ash Wednesday ceremony was a solemn occasion and one you did not miss. You proudly wore the ash as symbol of your faith. It was a given in your profession of the tenets of your religion. Today the concept of a drive though a church grounds and a quick touch of the ash and a prayer, as has happened in Galway, signals the death of the church as we know it and tacit acceptance that it and its rites were always ceremonial.
With the lack of new entrants to the priesthood, one can foresee the outsourcing of this ceremony to the McDonald’s or Burger King drive-through outlets. – Yours, etc,
DEREK MacHUGH,
Bray,
Co Wicklow.