MAY I, as publisher of the course of instructions given

by a former Chaplain to the Catholic undergraduates of the University of Cambridge, and developed by him over 33 years, when the teachings of the Church were opposed on intellectual grounds, rather than, as at present, eroded by indifference and demoralisation, offer some comments on the conclusions you draw concerning the continuing need for the University chaplaincies? These, however, are not solely based on the reliability of the statistical evidence produced by Fr Jenkins, nor do they exclude the experiences of other University chaplaincies.
There would in any case be sufficient reason to be concerned at the failure of the Catholic products of our better known schools to practice their religion as part of their expeience of higher education, if this phenomenon were confined to Cambridge.
If possible, there is more reason for concern that the report has taken so many by surprise. You might well ask the parents, if not the pupils, what they have seen happening in the last fifteen years or so, when the problem of non-attendance at Mass appears to have become endemic rather than occasional.
I am afraid the truth is even more uncomfortable. It is not that these young people have lost the faith: it is, and not just as a reflection of the material circumstances of their parents, though I would not be surprised to discover an inverse correlation between the money spent by parents on their children's education and the value attached by the latter to it, that they have never had it.
If we were all to lift our heads out of the sand a little, we might see that the public schools in particular, and obviously sections of the religious orders that run them, not to mention their secular counterparts, are in thrall to the prestige of secular learning. People do not lapse overnight: nor do they acquire the faith from those who are neither committed to, nor competent in, the task of passing it on. I wonder what standards are set by the schools themselves: the constant teaching of the Church in questions which are answerable by revealed truth or the current consensus of secular thought? Is it, then, so surprising that when the young arrive at the very seat of secular learning, and as their knowledge of their chosen discipline advances, that they soon jettison whatever religious knowledge they had or attach no importance to ensuring that it keeps pace? Where do such priorities first take root?
The work of catechesis is laborious and demanding. At least one former Chaplain at Cambridge thought that it was worth devoting his life to it. The real issue is whether the Catholic schools, public or otherwise, are prepared to take responsibility for the religious education of the young people entrusted to them or not. C V T Walne London W9 STEPHEN WRIGHT. OSB, seeks to shed light on the very serious problem of young Catholics who lapse from the practice of their Faith.
As someone involved in youth work, and consequently, in a position to speak informally to many young Catholics, I have no doubt that the main cause of this vexing problem is the lack of proper religious formation in so many of our schools.
I am alarmed by the ignorance of so many young people of even the most basic truths of the faith. It would also seem that little or no effort is being made to develop within the youth a sense of "belonging" to the true faith and the responsibility that springs from this fact.
Our young people deserve better, especially when eternal salvation is at stake. as it, so clearly.
Charles Kennedy, JP Glasgow