We were incredulous and dismayed by Bishop Egan’s call for MPs who voted for the Same Sex Marriage Bill to be denied Communion (News from Britain and Ireland, 22 March). Can he not see the deep alienation that his attitude will cause both inside and outside the Church? And has he not been reading or heeding the fundamentally different message which Pope Francis has consistently proclaimed since his election on judging others’ ­consciences?The bishop’s claim that such a public condemnation of a Member of Parliament would constitute “an act of mercy”, intended to bring that person “back into full communion with the Church”, is laughable. This is the language of Lewis Carroll’s Humpty Dumpty for whom words meant whatever he chose them to me