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Letters from 16 to 22 April 2007

Like all letters to the editor everywhere, these letters are the opinions of the writers and not Anglicans Online. We publish letters that we think will be of interest to our readers, whether we agree with them or not. If you'd like to write a letter of your own, click here.

Word problem

The Lord is risen indeed - and that is the most joyful news. And it was wonderful to read that Ch Steven Rindahl experienced it even in Iraq (Letters, April 15).

But...ever more these days the greeting at Easter is "Happy Easter to you..." - and the Editor said so! For me it's Happy Christmas and Joyful Easter - as the anthem has it "This joyful Eastertide when Jesus has arisen.." By substituting 'Happy' for 'Joyful' a merging of the two great Christian Festivals is occurring in the mind of many people when they are really so individual each with a quite different aspect of God's redemptive act through Jesus Christ.

And this merging of the Festivals is giving additional support to the commercial world which is exploiting the "Happy" factor by insisting on Easter as a gift-giving time - (many street interviews about the meaning of Easter brought responses like "Oh, it's for the children, really" and "a good time for families to get together".

Nor do many of the clergy help - in my local Church on the First Sunday after Easter there wasn't a resurrection hymn to be heard!

Trevor G Cowell
Christ Church, Illawarra, Longford-Perth
Tasmania, Australia
platcha1@optusnet.com.au
16 April 2007

So low it's hunched

If only we could get back from "LOW..." to "LAUDATE..."!!

Peter Sanderson
Trinity Episcopal Cathedral
Davenport, Iowa, USA
16 April 2007

Quasimodo Sunday? That was a new one to me, I had pretty much heard only of Low Sunday. (Also heard the Sunday after Christmas referred to the same way.) I was puzzled-- how did this have anything to do with a character from a Victor Hugo novel? Followed your link to the Wikipedia article which enlightened me as to how the character got his name. As an English major, I'm embarrassed to admit that I never read the book, just seen the films.

OK--how many here were as puzzled as I? Show of hands, please . . . Yeah, I thought so . . .

Robert Frederick
St. Andrews Episcopal
Panama City, Florida, USA
16 April 2007

(Ed: only one of the three editors of Anglicans Online was puzzled. The other two actually knew the entire Latin phrase. He pleads that he was a physics major in college, and notes that he did not seriously think that the Hunchback of Notre Dame was a line position in American football.)

Poignant cry for plainsong psalter

Christ is risen! Strangely much difficulty is encountered in trying to locate a copy [used or new] of the plainsong edition of the Canadian Psalter, 1963 [or other editions]. Can you offer any suggestions?

B Peter Brandt-Sorheim
St Brendan's Western Rite Orthodox Mission, Honeoye Falls
Mt Morris, New York, USA
bpeter@care2.com
18 April 2007

(Ed: A useful site for out of print books is AddALL, since it searches a large number of online bookstores and dealers. If you search there for "Canadian Psalter" you will find several copies, one of which is the plainsong version. Our favourite source out of print Anglican books in the United States is the Anglican Bibliopole. If you shop there, do tell them we sent you!)

Honest yet compassionate portrayal

Thanks so much for your reference, in your 15 April essay, to Barbara Pym, surely an author beloved by many who cherish the kind and gentle spirit of Anglicanism. One of her characters keeps cookery books and books of devotion on the shelf beside her bed, in case she awakens in the wee hours and needs comfort and security. For me, that bedside space is occupied by, among other things, the novels of Barbara Pym!

As a priest, I am drawn to her honest yet compassionate portrayal of clerical foibles and weaknesses, and, indeed, her compassion for the failings of 'all sorts and conditions' of humankind. But then, isn't such an attitude a major ingredient in what is best about our tradition?

May God bless your good work.

(The Rev.) William Bippus
St. Paul's Church
Marinette, Wisconsin, USA
18 April 2007

Earlier letters

We launched our 'Letters to AO' section on 11 May 2003. All published letters are in our archives.