Cathedral going
Sir: While I enjoyed much of Simon Jenkins’s analysis of why England’s cathedrals are thriving (‘Why cathedrals are soaring’, 8 October) his article misses the point. As a self-confessed non-worshipper, his understanding of these buildings and their significance lacks a crucial dimension. The raison d’être of our churches and cathedrals is faith and worship. By focusing exclusively on historical and aesthetic elements and ignoring their continuing important spiritual role, Jenkins risks behaving like a restaurant critic who never bothers to taste the food on offer. I would suggest that most people who go to cathedral services do so not to avoid ‘demands’ to pray, but because the intercessions, the music and most of all the preaching are of a quality you don’t always find in the 1,000 best churches he has also catalogued. Perhaps Jenkins needs reminding that all are welcome at the Lord’s table, and he should break the habit of a lifetime and come and join us.
Charlotte Joll
London SW4
Warming thoughts
Sir: As Simon Jenkins notes in his uplifting article on cathedrals (8 October), they mostly date from around 900 years ago. It was a period of crop surplus, increased trade, rising prosperity, reduction in disease and surplus labour, all thanks to the Medieval Warming. Indeed, the world was warm enough for the Vikings to farm Greenland using the same methods as in Scandinavia. Sadly it all came to an end in the 15th century with the Little Ice Age. Could it be that global warming has had a bad press?
Jack MacInnes
Holm, Orkney
Invitation to dismissal
Sir: I was invited by the ambassador of Ireland to attend a reception at the Conservative party conference in Birmingham. Disappointingly, I was turned away by party officials because I had not, allegedly, been cleared by ‘security’.
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