THE P RTAL
October 2014
Page 24
Musing on
the state of the
UK’s non-Catholic
churches
Geoffrey Kirk imagines another question for an Agony Aunt
After losing a third of its
membership in the last ten years,
the Methodist Church is reported
to have begun to think once again
of reunion with the Church of
England. Perhaps we can expect
another letter to the Telegraph’s
Agony Aunt Graham Norton:
Dear Graham,
Years ago I was engaged to be
married. After a long courtship, and
without suspecting for a moment
what was going to happen, I was (as
they say) left standing at the altar.
When it came to the point, it seems,
my partner simply could not commit.
I thought at the time that it was
case of split personality: one part
of my partner wanted it so much,
the other could not bear to go ahead.
I was, of course, devastated and hurt; but I pulled
myself together and remade my life.
Years passed, yet I could never quite reconcile
myself to what had happened; nor to the fact that my
partner had taken up with someone else. Now that
new relationship has fallen at the last hurdle, just as it
did with me, I have begun to feel differently about the
past. I find myself still strangely drawn to the person
who so callously betrayed me. I admi t that I was a
bit of a frump in those days (no alcohol, no gambling;
that sort of thing).
But I have changed. I have moved with the times, lost
a lot of weight, and despite the passing years wonder
if it is not time to rekindle an old flame. What do you
think?
John Charles (address withheld)
contents page
Dear John,
It strikes me that
though you may
have changed and
matured, the person
with whom you have
this rather clinging
and
dependent
relationship has not.
There
seem
to
remain
serious
character deficiencies
on both sides. You are
strong enough to stand
on your own two feet.
Time may be running
out for you, as you are
obviously aware, but
do you really want to
go through all that
heartache again?
To be jilted once at the very steps of the altar looks
like immaturity. To allow it to happen a