Sir, - On September 9th I requested that those campaigning for married priests increase their weekly contribution to the Church by a factor of six to pay for the costs of looking after a wife and several children. Gerry Noonan (September 18th) misunderstood my concern as a purely financial one.
My point is this: those who fail to contribute to the Church either by their active participation, their financial contributions or their prayers have no right to comment on priestly celibacy or any other internal church matters.
As a practising Catholic I do not feel that internal matters of the Jewish or Islamic faith are any of my concern, and so I do not comment on them. I would respectfully request that those of other religious traditions and none accord the same favour to the Catholic Church.
This does not mean that believers within the Catholic Church have a licence to criticise its teachings. Practising Catholics acknowledge that Jesus built His church on the rock of the Papacy. We accept the teachings of His church as a sign of our faith in Him and His promise that the gates of Hell will withstand against it.
Those within the Catholic Church who are uncomfortable with its teachings and insist on changing them might be happier in sampling the vast menu of other religious traditions available and selecting a belief system more suitable to their customised tastes. - Yours, etc., Patrick Kenny,
Kill Avenue, Dun Laoghaire, Co Dublin.