Letter from local resident about Bertha bringing the church into disrepute

How disappointing to learn that Brent's former Mayor, Cllr Bertha Joseph has been labelled a mistress. It was unfortunate that she made a mockery of the sacrament of marriage by her own divorce and whilst I do not wish to judge her circumstances she should have known better to have carried on with such an affair, apparently oblivious to the circumstances. As a fellow Christian and a Parishioner of the same Church I was even more disappointed that Ms. Joseph saw fit to introduce Sir Clive to our church during her civic service, at a time when he was technically an adulterer. Sadly Cllr Joseph has fallen well below the high standards we can expect from high office - twice Brent's 1st Citizen. She has let herself and the church down and incredibly continues to accept Holy communion (the blessed Eucharist) which many years ago was forbidden if you were divorced, let alone having an affair. She is clearly not the devout Catholic that everyone thinks she is. Her officials will cry "it is a private matter". I disagree. When you are elected into public office you have no private life and private life does not mean sleeping behind your wife's back. However the Church should not play God in denying any sinner, in this case the divorced or a mistress of Holy Communion. Jesus himself has taught us that there is no sin that cannot be forgiven when he said “let the man who has not sinned cast the first stone”. He himself forgave all kinds of sinners including tax collectors, prostitutes, adulterers and even murderers. So we must not be too judgemental, as the saying goes, "she knows not what she does". We must pray for Cllr Joseph and the Lloyd family for the pain and heartache this sorrow affair has caused so many.

Yours faithfully,

Name and Address supplied
Kensal Rise resident