I was alarmed to read (News from Britain and Ireland, 19 April) that St Marie’s Cathedral in Hallam Diocese had made its  director of music redundant in an attempt to compensate for the excess cost accrued in the renovation of the building. Perhaps my memory serves me wrongly, but I cannot remember that the documents of the Second Vatican Council regarding liturgy encouraged the “full, active and conscious participation of the architecture”.It is a shameful thing when the musical engagement of the worshipping assembly is compromised, especially in the main church of the diocese, because of building costs. It diminishes the importance of corporate liturgy, sets a bad precedent for other churches to follow, and – in the case of St Marie’s – denudes t