Your article “Why Church Construction Costs More for Catholics than Protestants” (Sept. 8-14) misses a very important point. We use our churches far more intensively than Protestants do.

At my parish we have six Masses that count for Sunday obligation. A couple of parishes I went to in New York had eight. Before my conversion I went to many Protestant churches where they have one, two or, at most, three services on Sunday.

The article also mentions that Catholic churches are built to last. They should be—the faith will last. The large Protestant congregation will often last only until their popular minister is given a better offer.

The article says that Catholic churches cost 50% more, but we should remember that they may have several times as many people per seat in Catholic churches. So the cost per person is actually much less. When it comes to buildings we are not the most inefficient—we are closer to being the most efficient.

Richard Bruce

Davis, California