SEAMUS Boden, in his letter (June 27) regarding Mary McAleese's comments on the Catholic bishops' conference on marriage, makes comments that are, in one case, unknown to any Catholic theology, in the other citing, albeit obliquely, the abandoned, ignored doctrine of infallibility. In the first, in which he uses the language of biology, he claims that negative comments have a damaging effect on the body cells but the Catholic Church has never thought in such terms, being indifferent to biology. If it could be considered as psychology, the Church is positively hostile - materialist, atheistic and dangerous doctrines which take no account of the soul and its function in human behaviour.
In the other aspect of his argument, he says the forthcoming bishops' conference will not be infallible in its decisions. It does not matter in the least, because, even if it was, Catholics would have taken no heed whatsoever.
Papal infallibility is a dead letter and probably most priests and half the bishops do not believe in it, I would guess. Not a single priest or bishop answered letters I wrote to The Irish News on the subject several years ago.
CAHAL McGLADE
Belfast BT12
