by Christopher Howse
IF THE bookmakers had taken odds on the zippiest Advent Pastoral for Sunday from the Catholic Bishops of England and Wales they would be out of pocket. The favourite has romped home again and Archbishop John Murphy of Cardiff is past the post with lengths to spare with a letter stuffed full of carpet beating, richochets, an attack on the Press and a quotation from Lloyd George.
The main aim of his letter is to identify the Church with Christ and then to bring out the Pope's position as Vicar of Christ, to prepare for his visit to Wales next year, He says: "There was a period. just after the Second Vatican Council, when attacking the Church became a favourite pastime amongst certain sections of the Press, both catholic and secular. 'Whom the gods wish to destroy, they first make mad.' We were destroying ourselves, and the proof was there in our losses: priests leaving the priesthood, monks leaving monasteries, nuns leaving their convents, and the faithful deserting their Sunday Mass. One would not like to
Turn to page 8