Times letters on ... Therese

Under the heading Patience of a Saint, the Times today prints three letters relating to the visit of the relics of St Therese. These follow a piece earlier in the week by Matthew Parris, a piece that can quite politely be described as an anti-relics rant - rant being the only word to describe it. It was quite an interesting experience reading that article on the day it first appeared, and getting the quite distinct feeling that the atheist/secularist was on the back foot, reacting to a Catholic initiative. A good result for the "new evangelisation"!

An interesting point from Sheridan Gilley's letter:

If God became man in Jesus Christ, then the human body is holy, a reason for treating it with reverence in death, as well as for ascribing an enduring holiness to the remains of the saints.

And, from Bill Lea's letter, a point of view that will no doubt be reflected by some Catholics, but I suspect more by non-Catholics undertaking a certain amount of wishful thinking:

There will also be very many deeply committed Roman Catholics who cringe at their faith being associated with this practice.