I AGREE entirely with Patricia McKeever (May 30), although I would like to put the case a little more bluntly.

There is more hope of finding a snowball in Hell than to hear Cardinal Winning publicly state that the Catholic Church is the only means of salvation for souls. Why? Because he is ecumenical, as is his diocese and all Scottish Catholic schools.

Ecumenism by definition is religious indifference which itself springs from, or tends towards, Humanism. It is, therefore, impossible for one to be at the same time Catholic and ecumenical.

This being the case, which is supported by Patricia McKeever's statistics on the loss of faith and morals among young Catholics, the EIS has a valid argument based on the 1918 Education Act.

As president of the Catholic Education Commission in Scotland, Cardinal Winning cannot expect protection from the 1918 Act on the grounds that there is still some remnant of the Catholic faith to be found in his schools. Indeed, His Eminence would have some difficulty finding a remnant of the Catholic faith in his churches.

I know of some Catholic parents who have chosen to home-school their children rather than risk the loss of their eternal souls by sending them to a modern ''Catholic'' school.

Given this state of affairs it seems odd that Cardinal Winning insists on the name of Catholic for his ecumenical schools. Stranger still is the fact that most Catholic parents send their children where the vigilant few would not even walk their dogs.

Martin Blackshaw,

24 Glen Road,

Deans, Livingston. June 1.

AS a traditional Catholic (yes, more than a few of us have survived) I write to commend Patricia McKeever on her excellent article (May 30).

As a child, nearly 50 years ago, my Catholic formation came from my parents who loved their faith and knew how to fight for it. I received an excellent Catholic primary school education where the faith was taught according to Church tradition. A few years later while attending a convent school I became aware that RE was diluted slightly. Later, while at a Catholic high school in the early to mid 1960s, Religious Education ''wound down'' significantly after examinations on this subject were discontinued.

From then on, a downward spiral had been set in motion. By the early 1970s, dubious and erroneous material was being presented to students in Catholic teacher training colleges. Such students, generally, were not inclined to question so-called ''Catholic'' teaching. Most students accepted the writings of discredited theologians. They accepted the easy option - ''Make no waves: just follow the crowd''.

Few student teachers took the trouble to read the various encyclicals and documents warning of both liberalism within the Church and attacks on Church teaching and Catholic education. The Catechetical Directory would have served as a guide to such students if it had been widely available to them. The result is that pluralism and humanism have replaced the teaching of the Catholic faith.

Patricia McKeever's article rightly exposes the current Catholic religious education system for what it is - a sham.

Margaret Anne Stewart,

194 Park Road West, Rosyth. May 31.