I read with interest and a measure of sadness the story of the ghost of St. Mary's Church, Kansas City, Mo. Having done a pastoral placement during my seminary days in England with a "bishop's advisor on the paranormal" (a.k.a. diocesan exorcist) in the Diocese of Durham, I learned that a haunting is not best seen as a curiosity or a tourist attraction, but rather as a parishioner in need of pastoral care.

The appropriate remedy according to the Ven. G. Granville Gibson (now archdeacon of Durham) is a requiem Mass for the troubled soul of the departed. He recommended including in the penitential portion of the Mass a "triangle of confession" - asking that the departed receive God's forgiveness, the forgiveness of those he or she had offended and to forgive those who have offended the deceased. Perhaps the people of St. Mary's can do this as a congregation as one last service to a man who had served them, albeit imperfectly, in the past.

(The Rev.) Michael Fry

St. Andrew's Church

Fort Worth, Texas