Your editorial (“Bread of life is food for unity”, 12 November) asks why, if a Catholic and non-Catholic spouse are given permission to receive Communion together on a special occasion, a “theological iron curtain, lifted just for once, [should] descend on the same couple the next day?” This question is asked by priests as well. When, a few years ago, my Anglican wife was given permission to receive Communion alongside me at a special family occasion our parish priest was delighted to welcome her at the Communion rail. But the next time we attended Mass as a couple she went forward, as was her custom, for a blessing. Our priest commented afterwards that he now understood, for the first time, what we meant when we talked about the pain of Eucharistic separation – and added that he couldn’t quite fathom why, if he had been allowed to offer her Communion last week, he couldn’t do so today.  

We could not have put it better ourselves.

Paul Docherty
Fareham, Hampshire