Sta.—Your correspondent, W. H. C. Frend, asks why acceptance of
the Virgin as Co- Redemptress should not have been obvious to- the Early Church, which preached the Gospel of redemption by the death and resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ, 'neither is there salvation in any other; for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.' He might also have asked why the doctrines defined as dogmas, in 1854 the Immaculate Conception, in 1870 Papal Infallibility, and in 1950 the Corporeal Assumption of the Virgih, were not also obvious to the Early Church. The fact has to be faced and admitted that Roman Catholicism, far from being the old faith, as its adherents and others continue to proclaim, is largely a new religion, and indeed this was virtually admitted by Cardinal Manning when he declared 'The appeal to antiquity is both a treason and a heresy.' He could not fail to recognise that antiquity would lend 'no support to such innovations, specula- tions defined and to be believed "de fide" as of equal obligation as the articles of the ancient creeds.'
It is with sadness and apprehension that one looks forward to the time when the title Co- Redemptress, already approved by the Holy Office and the Congregation of Rites, will he defined as a dogma, and, to quote Professor Miegge, 'The world will know that it has not been saved by one only Redeemer and Lord Jesus Christ but by a unique couple of Christ and His Mother.'—Yours faithfully.
W. J. HURLS-HUN 21 Hereward Avenue. Purley, Surrey
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