No problem that a woman stepped up

Sir — Something is missing in the coverage of the Mount Merrion service which recently took place instead of the normal Saturday evening Vigil Mass.

In 2004, the Vatican, in the document Redemptionis Sacramentum, stated: “If participation at the celebration of the Eucharist is impossible on account of the absence of a sacred minister... then it is the Christian people’s right that the diocesan bishop should provide… for some celebration to be held on Sundays.”

Such a celebration normally takes the form of a liturgy of the word with Communion, and is facilitated by a lay person, a clear statement being made at its introduction by the facilitator that it is not a Mass and that the sacred hosts have been consecrated by a priest at a previous celebration of the Eucharist.

In the circumstances outlined in the press reports (the members of the congregation were already seated), though normally permission from the diocesan bishop is required, I see no reason why one of the people of God should not step forward and facilitate such a service. That it was a woman who stepped forward — don’t they always when the need arises? — is no comment on the validity or otherwise of the ordination of women.

Noel Casey, Carrick-on-Suir