LETTER TO THE EDITOR
MARGARET Tiainen’s call for “Greater Reverence”, (CL Dec 8) confronted many of the erosions of traditional standards of behaviour evidenced within the Church and wider community.
However it is we Catholics who have tolerated the progressive dismantling of our traditional male and female sodalities.
The virtual abandonment of recognisable public dress standards for most priests, brothers and nuns, and Benediction, as Margaret observes, is a non-event in most parishes. Even the ringing of the bells by the servers at Mass, to add to the significance of the consecration of the body and blood of our Lord, was abandoned.
To his credit, Brisbane Archbishop Mark Coleridge has reinstated the fine practice at St Stephen’s Cathedral. However, the majority of parish priests have not been informed of the reintroduction of this basic celebratory alert.
If the Archbishop can not influence a return to basics, it is up to you and I to support him and demand our parish priests reflect upon the deterioration we have all been party to and give guidance as to the means of saving what is clearly a neglect, concentrated in this land of ours Australia.
TOM KING
Mansfield, Qld
