Bishop Bell scandal

SIR – Throughout the country, faithful and dedicated priests and other ministers are doing their level best to fulfil their vocation by responding to the spiritual and pastoral needs of the communities they serve, teaching by example and service the fundamental Christian principles of love, tolerance, forgiveness and truth.

However, their work is being undermined by, for example, the abject failure of the Archbishop of Canterbury to express remorse for the institutional Church’s contemptible role in the Bishop Bell affair, and the mealy-mouthed twaddle on the same subject emanating from the Bishop of Bath and Wells (report, January 31).

Little wonder that so many clergy are feeling utterly demoralised and betrayed by their leaders, and that the British public increasingly regards even the Christian faith as irrelevant.

Rev Dr John R H Railton

Swindon, Wiltshire