A news item reported that Mary McAleese, a devout Roman Catholic, and now president of Ireland, created a stir by receving communion at Christ Church Cathedral in Dublin, an Anglican cathedral [TLC, Jan. 18]. U.S. Ambassador Jean Kennedy Smith also received communion at Christ Cathedral.

What is important to note about these incidents is the reaction of Dublin's Roman Catholic Archbishop Desmond Connel. He described Catholics who took protestant communion as practicing "sham" religion. Is it any wonder that our diologue with the Roman Church is at a standstill? With that kind of attitude, my hope is that it never moves. What a sad state of affairs. Is that the position of the Roman Church? Such arrogance as Archbishop Connel's makes any form of reconciliation impossible.

(The Rev.) Robert B. Dendtler

Christ Church

Kennesaw, Ga.