SIR - I was not aware of the pending closure of St Mary's Church until a chance meeting with a Bradford gentleman after mass at our Catholic church in Louth - also St Mary's.

I do not know St Mary's, Bradford, but it was the parish church of many generations of my grandmother's family when they came from Ireland and it is sad to see a once-vibrant parish in apparent decline.

Local people, knowing the situation first hand, have their own ideas to combat a problem which has beset the Catholic Church everywhere in England and Wales.

There are, however, things which our Bishops never take into account when considering a shortage of priests and falling numbers of practising Catholics - falling birth rates and a failure by the Church to teach the faith.

I am in my mid-70s, a practising Catholic all my life and I have to look back to my teens for any semblance of Catholic teaching.

I put the blame on our bishops who, I believe, have failed in their ordination promises to teach, sanctify and govern, preferring to attend meetings, bishop's conferences or, as at present, bishop's bonding sessions in Spain.

Kevin Keeley, Amanda Drive, Louth, Lincolnshire