LAY THEOLOGY Sirt,—Mr. Evelyn Waugh's reflections 'The Same Again, Please'
are interesting, but they become alarming when he claims to speak for many (pre- sumably thinking and educated) Catholics. Mr. Waugh is well known for his deep love of the past, for his admiration for the customs, attitudes and way of life of a bygone age. It would appear that his religious feeling is similar.
There is a tendency in every ancient religion or organisation to look continually backward rather than forward: this is a danger which many Christ- ians are well aware of today, and while numbers of Catholic bishops, priests and lay people too, are trying patiently to edge their way forward to an expression of religion suited to the century in which we live, it is no service for men of the stamp of Mr. Waugh to assert definitely that many do not like or wish for these developments.
Though Mr. Waugh and possibly others like the traditional attitudes of the Church, many do not. This century has seen cataclysmic changes in the lives of everyone—perhaps never equalled in all the centuries preceding. Our lives and outlook are utterly remote from those of our ancestors, however much Mr. Waugh may deplore it. Those methods which served our rural, mediaeval ancestors so well are just not answering today for the urban, in- dustrialised masses.
Mr. Waugh undoubtedly represents a school of thought in the Church, yet the substantial drift away from religion, coupled with the unspectacular conversion rate, makes most thinking Catholics realise that the old ways simply will not do today. Religion must be an expression of the age in which we live, it must be recognisable to us and not speak with attitudes and language of an age long past— however glorious. Fortunately many of the Roman Catholic Church leaders realise this, including Pope John himself.
I would like to suggest that Mr. Waugh's views are not those of most educated, thinking Catholics. We are not all so backward-looking and self-satisfied with the traditional organisation of the Church. MONICA COMERFORD Beech Tree House, Merrow, Guildford
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