John Guillaumier’s letter ‘Murderous certainties’ (April 15) confirmed my gratitude to God for Vatican II (photo) and the great need we have of implementing it further. In a number of decrees, it sees to it that such attitudes of the Catholic Church are not repeated.

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The decree that deals directly with the human right to practise one’s own religion according to one’s conscience is ‘On human dignity’.

But it is not just one decree, it is felt throughout the council. Now Vatican II did not drop from heaven ready-made. It is the fruit of centuries of debates and reforms, starting from before the Protestant Reformation.

Regarding Catholic “certainties”, maybe we could say that, bar a few basic ones, most of the others are kind of provisional. Ordinary teaching, they are called.

There is always a lot of important truth in them and the life and practice of the Church depends on them but they are always open to improvement. The old saying about this is “The Church always needs to be reformed”.

So if we know what we mean by “certainty” we have to admit that, just as we should not be too sure and too rigid about our certainties, we would be in danger of mental breakdown if we are never sure of anything.

The correspondent would not be writing so many letters if he was not quite sure of what he is writing. My suggestion is that he balances them with some appreciation of something good in his targets. The Catholic Church also has a right to sing: “Surely in my youth or childhood I must have done something good.” Otherwise, his letters may sound like the  hate he is condemning.