Dear Editor: I have found the recent discussions in this newspaper on the decline of both priests and Catholic laity very informative, eye-opening, but also, very, very disturbing indeed!

I was particularly intrigued by Fr Martin Sirju’s article of August 6 titled, “Are we really addressing the decline?”since even here, (in my humble opinion anyway), certain points are not as boldly spelt out from the lay person’s viewpoint, as seems needed.

I speak here, both as a deep lover of my Catholic Church, and too, as just another ordinary, down-to-earth, layperson in the pew, whose opinion of the situation needsto be considered along with that of the experts.

Picture the average Catholic who has never been exposed to any proper explanation of the true meaning and beauty of the Mass, for whatever reason.

This covers, I dare surmise, a very large number of Catholics since Vatican II! This is a Catholic who is exposed on a daily basis to the vibrant and stimulating teaching of the TV evangelists, (no matter that this teaching is sometimes very erroneous indeed).

That it is very convincingly delivered is what matters here. Such a Catholic also sees persons like Benny Hinn and others pray; and no matter their faults, these individuals often seem to be intimately connected to the Lord in prayer; to the extent that joining in with them, sometimes causes experiencing that same closeness.

So understandably, our man wants to experience this, and on a regular basis. His heart longs eagerly and anxiously too, for the word of God to be so spoken to him that it “burns within him”, and is vividly relevant to his varied situations.

All in a spirit of joyful, happy celebration. Result? He experiences a certain jubilation indirectly; and after seeing people returning week after week in ever increasing numbers, concludes that that must be where he too belongs.

Picture now the same un-informed Catholic who has come to Church on a Sunday, to face the same Mass, said the same oldway, with thesame repetitive motions, and naturally, the same boring result!

He/she is virtually “forced” to listen to a priest who, in far too many cases, is plain unimaginative and very dull and boring with his sermons, not to mention being very flat in his delivery!

While people by and large, may appreciate that the priest is doing his best, the plain fact is that that best, is just no longer good enough in the present situation!

So people are no longer willing to tolerate something that has no practical value or meaning to them; nor are they any longer prepared to swallow the Church’s “convenient” viewpoint, that we go to Church to give what we have, and not to “get something out of it”, when the example of other churches tell such a completely different story!

Nor are they any longer prepared to go to Mass to hear the priest rattle off a set of words that are meant to be prayers, but which, as is the common experience, have come obviously to mean very little or nothing to the priest himself and are therefore very routine indeed to him, given the manner in which many a priest simply absent-mindedly races through them as quickly as possible. What can be expected of those, merely “watching on” now, in this situation?

So with Fr Sirju, I totally agree that in all the discussion, our priests do have a very important role to play. They must listen to the silent, I even dare say, desperate cry of their parishioners, and realise that they are critical to all that is happening.

Until they awaken to this reality which will not just go away, and face up determinedly to it, there seems sadly, very little hope that there will be any noticeable change in the present situation.

No wonder, Fr Ian Taylor could recommend so highly only recently, thatall priests “be baptised in the Spirit”, or be brought to a new experience of the “release of the Holy Spirit” in their lives.

Something is radically wrong indeed, and one key way in which it shows itself, is very obviously the present decline in membership! How open are our priests to the cry of their people?

A very concerned Catholic, Curepe

DEAR EDITOR: Kindly grant me a space in your widely read Catholic News to comment on a wonderful and inspiring trip to Margarita, Venezuela, organised by Fr Roger Pascall.

The itinerary from Friday, July 28 to Tuesday, August 1 was very compact and we the pilgrims enjoyed every minute of it, the highlight of which was visiting the various shrines. Our Lady of the Valley patron saint and Our Lady of Mount Carmel have blessed me by granting all my requests.

On behalf of all the pilgrims and myself, much thanks to Fr Pascall and Wilma Gilbert for their time and effort spent in making this an enjoyable and memorable venture.

Thanks to our Heavenly Father for his constant guidance and safe- keeping all along the way.
Theresa Mc Millan, Mt Hope

DEAR EDITOR: “ALPHA TO THE RESCUE” screams the headlines of the Woman's Magazine produced by the Trinidad Express of Sunday, August 6.

The article highlights the work of June Taklalsingh who introduced The Alpha Course to Trinidad. While credit is due to Mrs Taklalsingh for introducing Alpha to Trinidad, it is not true to say that she is the only person who can furnish information on Alpha as was suggested by the article which also published an e-mail address at the end.

Fellow Catholics be advised that the Alpha Course in the Catholic Church is being co-ordinated within the Church by Fr Urban Hudlin and the Evangelization Commission (671-0133) as mandated by the Alpha Headquarters at Holy Trinity Bromton, England.

We shall always be grateful to June for introducing Alpha to the Catholic Church here in Trinidad and give her the assurance that the Catholic Church is fully capable of administering such a programme.

May God continue to bless June as she continues her work and may he give her the strength to accept the decisions made.
Standing Outside the Church,
Bernard