Adrian Chiles is a broadcaster whom I have admired for years, when either on the One Show, or as the head man on ITV Champions League programmes. I was impressed by his efforts to attend Mass every day during Lent “Confessions of a Mass tourist”, The Tablet 25 April). A challenge in itself, but having to witness various different approaches from the main celebrants was, I believe, penance in itself.
It is a wake-up call to all of us as the main celebrant at the weekday Eucharist to make it a experience that is engaging to the congregation. We have a duty of care to the people who attend, and by showing that this experience is the ultimate encounter with the divine, we must show that we are enthusiastic about what we do. Adrian’s presentating skills were a great way to show how a broadcaster can do a good job; maybe he could show that skill to the clergy who presided at the Mass.
Martin Gilcreest, Chaplain Cavan General Hospital, Co Cavan, Ireland
With heart-warming ease Adrian Chiles bridges the chasm between a subject as little considered by even devout Catholics as daily Mass-going and the secular world most of us inhabit. Your second lead article in the same issue laments the fact that an attempt at consultation with the laity by the bishops of England and Wales has so far raised only “a trickle” of written responses and a mere 500 online. Might it be an idea for the bishops to co-opt a proven communicator like Mr Chiles as consultant for their future attempts at consultation?
Brendan Farrow, Carterton, Oxon
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