Sir – When I travel around England, I find it disappointing and upsetting that more often than not the Catholic churches in towns and villages are closed. I have met a number of converts whose journey of faith was kindled by visiting Catholic churches. They experienced warmth and felt that the Church was alive and active, invariably with individuals praying quietly or with votive candles alight, indicating that someone had visited recently. Two of these converts continued their journey of faith into the priesthood. I think it vitally important that people should be able to visit churches during the daytime, especially those in any kind of distress or trouble, to be able to encounter Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament and experience His peace and love – we often see just this situation evocatively portrayed in films. I am fortunate that my own church is open from the early morning until the evening – I am astounded by how many people come in throughout the day. Some stay a few minutes and some longer; what is more surprising is how many of them are young people. I am convinced that if more churches were open then there would be immeasurable benefits. Let us open our doors, and not shut people out!
<strong><em>Frank Swain, Tunbridge Wells, UK</em></strong>
Sir – The arguments about whether August’s controversial Olympics opening ceremony contained a blasphemous parody of the Last Supper will no doubt drag on. They have eclipsed another concerning aspect of the display, however – the appearance of Marie Antoniette holding her head in her arms, which [the ceremony’s artistic director] Thomas Jolly and his colleagues presumably meant to provoke another chuckle. Whatever the wrongs of the House of Bourbon, political violence is no laughing matter.
This is a lesson that France should have learned by now. The Charlie Hebdo massacre of 2015 and the murders of Fr Jacques Hamel in 2016 and Samuel Paty in 2020 are not ancient history: they only happened a few years ago and at the moment there seems to be no reason why similar attacks will not take place in the future. Meanwhile, the answer to the question of why the organisers of the spectacle might have felt free to poke fun at Christianity is simple: because they felt they could get away with it. This is not to excuse the online vilification that the participants have received, which of course is unacceptable, but had they targeted another religion the response would have been very different.
<em><strong>Geneviève Ducasse, Toulouse, France</strong></em>
Sir – While it’s very good news that the Blessed Virgin Mary is going to be honoured with a feast under her title of Our Lady of Walsingham in England from this month onwards, on the other side of Offa’s Dyke she appears to have been short-changed. Devotion to Our Lady was once everywhere in Wales – you only have to think of how many place names include “Llanfair”, which means “the Church of Mary” – and there was an important medieval pilgrimage to Cardigan in honour of Our Lady of the Taper. The original (miraculous) image was destroyed at the Reformation, like that at Walsingham, but the shrine was restored in 1952 and designated as the Welsh National Shrine of our Lady by St John Paul II in 1986. The present image was blessed by Pope Benedict XVI at Westminster Cathedral in 2010, as part of his Apostolic Visit to the United Kingdom. Our Lady of the Taper is observed on 15 June, and I hope that the Welsh bishops will soon ask for it to be raised to a feast as well.
<strong><em>Mari Williams, Fishguard, UK</em></strong>
Sir – I wonder if any <em>Catholic Herald </em>readers may be able to help me in a quest to restore the Gillow Mausoleum in the Catholic churchyard at Thurham, Lancashire. This remarkable structure was built in the style of an Egyptian temple in the 1830s, probably to the designs of Joseph Bonomi Jr, by Robert Gillow. He was the eldest son of Richard Gillow, of Regency furniture fame, and my own three-times great uncle. Since the death of his last direct descendant, the monument has been cared for by the Diocese of Lancaster.
It is Grade II* listed, but in urgent need of restoration. I have become involved in an attempt to save the building with the help of the Mausolea and Monuments Trust. We are applying for various grants to restore its tree-damaged roof and weathered pilasters, but I would welcome any further advice in the attempt to preserve this unique piece of Catholic heritage. It is not only part of my own family history, but also of the wider history of recusancy in the British Isles.
<strong><em>Simon Gillow Reynolds, London, UK</em></strong>
<em>Photo: A monstrance containing the Blessed Sacrament. (Photo credit ANDREAS SOLARO/AFP/Getty Images).</em>
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