Letter: It is not a choice between 'Christian' and 'quality'

TIM Minogue's article "Vicars learn to smooth the path to heaven" (29 March) does a great disservice to those of us (I am a Methodist minister) who do try to face up to the difficult issues surrounding death and dying from a Christian perspective, and who take the time to meet and listen to friends and relatives of the deceased. I assumed that it was part of my job to make contact with the family of the deceased: their care is as much a part of my responsibility as conducting the service. I should have thought that a "rounded and accurate tribute to the life of the departed" was the least that any family could expect from me. To fail to mention a suicide in a funeral is simply bad practice.

I am all for the option of non-religious ceremonies, but theimplication that there is a choice between Christianity and quality is wrong.

Rev David J Barker

Manchester