Thursday's Letters: Vulnerable families hit by church charge at a time of grief

What they describe sounds to me to be not only immoral but illegal. If a collection is announced for a designated charity, money given for it must be given to that charity, and not diverted to another charity (namely, the church).

The proper practice, which has been followed in every church over which I have had oversight, is that set fees may be charged for the use of the church and its officers, and if there is no other request for the offering, it goes into church funds.

If the family have specified a charity, all of the offering goes to the charity concerned. On occasions, families have requested that

collections should be for both the church and a specific good cause, in which case we take the money and send a cheque for the appropriate amount to the charity concerned.

I am very sorry that these families have been the victims of what is at best ignorance and at worst sharp practice at a time of grief and vulnerability. The church ought to be there to care for the bereaved, not take advantage of them. Giving a donation to a relevant charity can be a source of great comfort at a time of loss, and I would not want anything to diminish that comfort.

From: Tony Buglass, Superintendent Minister, Calderdale Methodist

Circuit, Mytholmroyd, West Yorkshire.

From: Sylvia. Hanson, Golcar, Huddersfield

I AM Parish Administrator at St John's Church, Golcar, and would just like to reassure your correspondent Mrs R Thompson – and indeed all your readers – that our church is one of the majority of churches which never takes a percentage of a charity collection taken in memory of a loved one.

There is a charity collection at almost all the funerals held at

St John's; indeed, they are sometimes the only positive aspect of the death of a loved one. The money is always collected immediately after the service either by the funeral director or the family and sent directly to the specified charity.

Occasionally, maybe if the deceased has an affinity to the church, the family do decide to have a collection for St John's, and this, of course, is very much appreciated; but we would never do this without specific directions.

The Christian life of words and actions

From: Keith Nunn, Burton Street, Farsley.

JAYNE Dowle's eloquent and very personal account of her gradual, patient journey to religious faith was both enlightening and revealing (Yorkshire Post, September 20).

The Book of Revelation itself, positioned appropriately at the end of the New Testament, suggests that "all will be revealed". Many people can identify with that "too much too soon" early spoonfeeding via Sunday School. It is only with the passing of time and experiences, both joyful and sad, that something akin to a mature religious sensibility can be acknowledged and realised fully.

The peace and silence imbued in the walls and atmosphere of churches can slowly awaken and attract the spiritual side of humanity. Faithful folk going about their religious business quietly and without fuss is a testament to strength and surefootedness in what has become a loud and secular world. It is a peace which passes all understanding, but it is a peace that is worth celebrating, sharing and safeguarding. It is part of our heritage.

The papal visit to Great Britain would have meant nothing for the confirmed irreligious.

Conversely, even though the Roman Catholic Church is fighting its own internal demons and is an easy target for non-believers, it was hard not to witness the sincerity, holiness and humility of a German churchman whose own nation perpetrated acts of unprecedented wartime unholiness. In our ordinary lives, we are all striving for something, and we are all engaged in feelings, relationships and dilemmas that involve careful consideration and can often threaten to overwhelm us. This sense of personal conscience, and our innate desire for peace and clarity, is between every human being and their God.

It is sad that popular atheism is determined to do away with religion and God. Religion, Latin for "way of life", is a necessary ingredient of ephemeral life, and different religions have different rule books. Even atheists live by their own rules. Breaking the rules is part of the story in each book. Reconciliation after a breach, both with ourselves and with our friends and neighbours, is the pathway to a peaceful, religious life. Sooner or later, we all reach a crossroads when life and death becomes more than just a mere matter of life and death.

There was no better time for a German Pope to visit our country than during commemorations of the Battle of Britain. Enormous sacrifice for one's fellow men was duly remembered with thanksgiving and humility. The Christian message centres around another selfless sacrifice. It encourages service and love towards our neighbour of every creed and caste, not with grandstanding and impetuous, divisive evangelism, but with quiet words and determined action.

From: Chris Schorah, Gascoigne Avenue, Leeds.

IT was encouraging to read that Jayne Dowle has returned to faith and hear her confirm that, outside our traditional structures, Christianity is alive and well .

However, there's a call on the lives of all Christians to play our God-given role, to help bring in His kingdom, wherever we are.

To be effective in this, we not only need God's Spirit to be

ministering in our lives, but also the support of Christian

communities. Through these we not only receive, as Jayne seems to have on occasions, but serve. Otherwise, at the times we need them most, we might find that they are no longer there. I pray that all Christians might be able to find a Christian grouping where they can regularly receive, contribute and feel at home.

From: Roderic Vassie, York.

THE current focus on the inexcusable crimes perpetrated by some Roman Catholic priests against children is understandable. But this in no way proves a link between religion and criminality, and therefore that religion is bad.

Perhaps if one were to demonstrate that prisoners are on the whole religious, then those we have come to know as "aggressive secularists" would have a defensible argument. But supposing, under the Freedom of Information Act, statistics proved that, on the contrary, most volunteered the answer "none" in response to a standard question on religious affiliation, what would that tell about us about the relationship between crime, faith and non-belief?

Now there would be an interesting topic to kick off a debate on the Pope's challenge on faith and reason.

From: Geoffrey F Bryant, Queen Street, Barton-on-Humber, South Humberside.

THE Right Reverend Arthur Roche is "interested to know more about the Conservatives' idea of the Big Society the principles of which seem to correspond in large part with Catholic social teaching" (Yorkshire Post, September 16).

I think I can let him know that one of those Conservative principles is most certainly not a ban on the use of contraceptives and this Catholic ban fills the Third World with more and more poor and sick people who, we will endlessly be told, "benefit" from particular Catholic care and social teaching.

Preachings from a Lib Dem appeaser of Tory policy

From: Tom Scaife, Manor Drive, York.

THE Lib Dem conference appeared bewildered as they listened to that great cuckoo in the nest, Nick Clegg.

They could have been rallied by a fearless leader standing his ground against the authoritarian New Labour rump and the nasty Tories.

Instead, the Lib Dem faithful are preached to by an appeaser of Tory policy (Yorkshire Post, September 21). Well-paid public sector worker Nick Clegg spoke of the virtue of work but demonised the welfare system which he claims hinders prospects of the unemployed.

What codswallop!

Oh Nick, you are really revealing your true colours tinged with the

blue of the Tories berated by you before the General Election.

Echoes of Gordon Brown and his "end of boom and bust" as Nick boasted that by 2015 the UK will be a much better place. Better for who exactly? The super rich or the poor who this coalition intend to stamp on.

Perhaps Lib Dem intelligentsia could explain where the jobs are to come from should public sector spending be reduced by 25 per cent. By 2015, will there be plenty of affordable housing and full employment paying living wages?

I'll wager that deficit and debt reduction policies will cause great damage to the weak, leaving the powerful largely untouched.

From: Paul Brown, Bents Green Road, Sheffield.

MY answer to anyone who criticises Nick Clegg for being in the

coalition Government is to point out that we are now living with the consequences of having 13 years of a party in power in Parliament with a massive majority.

I find the present situation very much more satisfactory for the simple reason that politicians now have to consider the alternatives to the policies they wish to put in place and take on board the wishes of the people.

It is not the fault of the present Government that they have inherited a terrible financial situation.

How we can cut spending

From: Arthur Marson, Mountjoy Road, Huddersfield.

I DOUBT if any of the following suggestions will be included in the comprehensive spending review, but I stand to be corrected.

Changes to pay, pensions and taxes need to be implemented at the

earliest opportunity if we are to bring some semblance of sanity back to our finances.

The first of these could be the pay of national and local government employees, where new scales of pay must be implemented, with a

maximum of 100,000 and a lower minimum wage.

This could be achieved over a five-year period, with appropriate

changes to tax and pensions also being applied, with little or no

change to the take home pay of the lowest paid and minimise, if not stop the need for, job losses.

The next change would be the payment of our representatives, which could be started at the next local elections by we, the electorate, voting for a candidate who is standing on a no payment understanding, and continuing over following elections.

A similar arrangement could be applied to the next General Election.

Priorities over birds of prey

From: Anna Hacket Pain, Preston under Scar, North Yorkshire.

I READ with interest your article (Yorkshire Post, September 16) on birds of prey and notice that you refer to "persecution incidents".

You do not, however, give any figures for actual prosecutions. I would be interested to know, firstly, the number of prosecutions and, secondly, the cost in police time and resources that these incidents take up.

Whatever these are I, for one, would rather they were spent on policing the streets rather than looking into the shooting of a few birds,

however beautiful.