From Mr Philip John Griffin SIR – I refer to the letter of Fr Thomas Crean OP (April 22). I found the general tone and content of his comments very sad and bordering on absurd. Augustine and Aquinas were mere scribblers when compared with the greatness of the Apostle to the Gentiles, St Paul. The doctrines Fr Crean refers to are nothing but the encompassed verbal consensus of the believing community responding to Christ’s message according to their understanding and concerns.
Doctrines do not exist in a void. They have a context and an experience out of which they all grew. For example, has Fr Crean not ever heard of baptism by blood – early Christians who were always considered saved even though they had been martyred before they could be baptised? Therefore in a similar way unborn children are also saved from eternal death by the intentions of their bereaved parents and even more fundamentally through the all-conquering grace achieved by the glorious Resurrection revealed by the Christ who came not to judge the world but to save it.
Augustine wrote well when he stated: “Thou hast made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts grow restless until they rest with thee.” Yours faithfully, PHILIP JOHN GRIFFIN Rathfarnham, Co Dublin