Ecumenical martyrdom and sainthood - phooey!

Joint commemorations

A letter in the current issue of the Tablet reads (my comments in red):

With reference to the sermon preached by Cardinal Connor Murphy O'Connor at Chester Cathedral to mark the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (The Tablet, 28 January), could we not begin to remove his "three enemies of ecumenism, suspicion, inertia and impatience" (I make that four enemies, or perhaps Dr S*****n's punctuation is at fault. I certainly agree that fudge ecumenism is an enemy of the Truth) by extending the Feast of English Martyrs to include the Protestant martyrs (Martyrs die bearing witness to the Truth, not to heresy) as well as their Catholic counterparts?


On the say (sic) day, we could hold ecumenical services at, for example, Tyburn and Smithfield to celebrate all who suffered appalling deaths in defence of their faith. Perhaps we could include followers of all religions in such ecumenical services?


Dr K.J. S*****n, St Hugh's, Chesterfield