Letter: Soviet-style `boot camp' for priests

Letter: Soviet-style `boot camp' for priests

Sir: You publish an account by a priest of his week at Stroud, which rings true to what many know about it.

Unfortunately, along with his factual report he includes a rumour about two people I know well which is cruelly inaccurate: it is true that four years ago one of the resident priests committed suicide. The trigger was not an abortion, but the simple fact that his girlfriend lost their baby through "natural causes", exactly four years ago today.

In fact, "natural causes" hides the truth that this woman, who had to abandon her job and her house because of a difficult pregnancy, was strongly discouraged from seeing the baby's father. When she insisted, she found him reduced and broken, but was prevented from speaking to him alone. Soon after this, she lost the baby, and a week later she lost him.

The Rev JOHN KELLY

Aberdare