If Clifford Longley (8 March) would venture out from the auto-constructed catacomb in which he evidently lives, he might find that St John Paul II’s Theology of the Body, far from having failed to “take off” (as he puts it), is actively discussed on many American college and university campuses, the study groups often being organised by the students themselves. Exploring further, Mr Longley would find that the Theology of the Body has had a significant impact on the renewal of consecrated religious life and on diocesan and parish marriage-preparation programmes, even as it is the subject of numerous doctoral dissertations. As for Mr Longley’s claim that the Theology of the Body is “outside the tradition”, is it really necessary to remind an Englishman o