|
|
There is something disturbingly obscene about Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz’s excommunication decree against Call to Action members (NCR, Dec. 22) when one thinks about another event further south. I couldn’t help but make the comparison between Bruskewitz’s heavy-handed action and a recent event in Chile where a church denouncement was sorely needed. There, the Roman Catholic funeral Mass for former dictator and war criminal Gen. Augusto Pinochet was conducted in Santiago Dec. 12.
That the spiritual blessings of the church were heaped on such an individual surely tries one’s faith in the existence of a loving and just God. Chilean president Michele Bachelet, herself imprisoned and exiled under the former dictator, had the strength and moral courage to refuse Pinochet a state funeral. Sadly, the church had no such similar courage. For his crimes against humanity Pinochet should have been refused a Mass of Christian burial. Chilean church leadership has spoken out repeatedly for a kinder, gentler treatment of Pinochet since he was denounced as a war criminal. Even our former pope made an appeal to the British government after Pinochet’s house arrest in London in 1999. By all rights he should have been excommunicated by the Catholic church years ago. He was no Christian. But no, the institutional church seems to be much more concerned about excommunicating members who love their church and are working against tremendous odds to heal it.
(Sr.) MAUREEN TURLISH, SND
New Castle, Del.
* * *
Congratulations to Call to Action. It has successfully moved an arrogant, ornery bishop to excommunicate its members in Lincoln, Neb. (NCR, Dec. 22). Perhaps Call to Action members in that diocese will purchase one of Lincoln’s empty Catholic church buildings and commence American Catholicism. Haven’t we had enough, Catholics? Fr. Tom Doyle has been trying for years to convince us that unless the flow of money from generous Catholics dries up, nothing in our church will change. Will we follow his advice or continue to allow hypocrites like Fabian Bruskewitz, who refuses to participate in the national program on clergy sexual abuse, to tell us what’s good and evil, because he certainly has no clue. It’s time for the Lincoln Tea Party to begin.
(Fr.) ROBERT HOATSON
West Orange, N.J.
Since I direct a ministry for ex-offenders, most of whom are young black males, I read with great interest Fr. Raymond Schroth’s article, “Talking sense about a new ‘lost’ generation” (NCR, Dec. 15). I believe he is wrong in placing the blame on popular culture. It is a symptom, not the cause. Society in general needs to accept much of the blame. A study funded in part by the Department of Justice found that among first-time juvenile offenders, black youths were six times as likely as whites to be sentenced to prison. Black youths charged with drug offenses are 48 times as likely to be sentenced to juvenile detention as white youths.
Lack of affordable housing and jobs that pay a living wage also contribute to the problem. According to a report by the National Low Income Housing Coalition, a family in the state of Florida must earn $16.35 an hour in order to afford rent and utilities. Most young black males in the inner city of Jacksonville, Fla., are fortunate if they can find a job paying $9 an hour and I suspect the situation isn’t much different in other states.
If the problems plaguing black males are going to be solved, it will take the efforts of the entire community working together to stamp out racism in our criminal justice system, provide affordable housing and jobs that pay a living wage and, most important of all, give young black males hope so that they don’t look to rappers and drug dealers to meet their need for meaning in their lives.
(Deacon) STAN GRENN
Jacksonville, Fla.
I regret your choice to feature The Catholic University of America in your special insert on Catholic Colleges and Universities (NCR, Nov. 3). Catholic University’s approach to identity is the immersion model and is not representative of where the majority of Catholic colleges and universities are at on Catholic “identity.”
The majority are struggling to be authentic both as “university” and as “Catholic.” Catholic University is determined to be orthodox at the expense of not being fully “university.” When President O’Connell says “dissent is not a valid option or an equal comparable alternative to what the church presents as truth,” he positions Catholic University as afraid to take the risk of being a “university” -- where by definition all ideas are in play in search for truth. Certainly, what the church teaches needs to be articulated, but it should be dialogical and respectful of all the good faculty who also value and seek truth. If this is to be dismissed as relativistic, the immersion model risks dismissal as anti-intellectual. A Catholic university should be the one place where the church is in creative dialogue with the larger society as part of the process of evangelization. The Catholic University is afraid to engage in that fashion and understandably its board of trustees will not tolerate it because the retention of the orthodox is the board’s principal interest. Next time perhaps a more thoughtful comparison of the models of Catholic colleges and universities would be in order.
DONALD C. CARROLL
Menlo Park, Calif.
Donald C. Carroll is a member of the board of trustees of Notre Dame de Namur University, Belmont, Calif.
I find it disturbing, frustrating and sad that this pope, Benedict XVI, should find it necessary to change the words “for all” to “for many” in the words of consecration at Mass. An article written in our archdiocese’s monthly newspaper says, “The change simply reflects more accurately the normative Latin phrase pro multis and does not signify any change in Catholic teaching that Christ died for all.”
Then why change it? This article also states that 90 percent of the U.S. bishops who responded to a survey on the question of this change felt that “for all” was the best translation. This would be the second error in judgment publicly made by Pope Benedict in his short tenure -- the other error being his September insult to Muslims worldwide. These actions only serve to alienate believers and nonbelievers from the Catholic church. I rise up to defend the sacramental church in spite of such errors.
CHRISTINE M. RAGO
Suffield, Conn.
I was dismayed when I read that some Catholics were upset the pope prayed in a mosque ( NCR, Dec. 13). Didn’t St. Peter, our first pope, give up eating kosher so that the gentiles would know the love of Christ? Why would anyone criticize Pope Benedict on this? His action was a most inspiring and profound gesture that made me feel proud to be Catholic. He prayed respectfully in a mosque after he prayed at the tomb of the priest killed by radical Muslims and after he visited a museum that was once a great Christian shrine. This was a clear example, a lesson from our pope to us, about how to live out our Catholic Christian faith. It was akin to the example the Amish gave us about forgiveness, Christian love and respect for all humans. If all Catholics lived this faith instead of worrying about which law might have been broken, there wouldn’t be a priest shortage and secularism wouldn’t be such a problem. Viva papa!
KATHLEEN P. HOCKEY
Albuquerque, N.M.
Regarding “Laity must not purify vessels” (NCR, Nov. 3): When the priest and/or deacon show up in the sacristy to do the dishes, we’ll be glad to let them do it. I have a pretty good idea who stayed back and did the dishes when the men went out into the garden after the Last Supper.
MARY S. SHERIDAN
Honolulu
Lucille Oliver in her letter about Rosemary Radford Ruether’s column (NCR, Dec. 15) is right on target. If we are indeed created in the image of God, surely this has nothing to do with tissue, bone or DNA, but rather with some “God-like” characteristic such as possession of consciousness and will. As the science of neurobiology shows, these characteristics are not possible until the cerebral cortex is up and running, sometime after 28 to 32 weeks. Thus, “personhood” before that time makes no sense. The term for person in the Old Testament refers to something that breathes, that is born. Of course, under the 14th Amendment legal personhood begins at birth, even of preemies at 25 weeks. It is painfully obvious to many that the prime motive for proscribing abortion is to maintain male dominance over women.
EDD DOERR
Silver Spring, Md.
* * *
I share the praise and gratitude for Rosemary Radford Ruether’s discussion of the so-called “consistent life ethic” and abortion expressed by Lucille Oliver in her letter. I don’t recall ever before reading as clear and convincing a statement as Ms. Ruether’s on an issue that surely cries out for reasoned discussion. Unfortunately, I do not find Ms. Oliver’s arguments helpful or persuasive. I doubt that a 6-month-old baby of human parents “knows right from wrong” much better than an egg in a Petri dish, but ought we not consider her/him a human being? A fertilized egg in a dish may need more time and more sophisticated devices and people, but it is reasonable to assume that the day will come, if it’s not here already, when that egg, too, will be able to develop into a self-functioning human being. Whether we should go down that road or not is another question.
I suspect I may share Ms. Oliver’s basic position, and I certainly share her disgust for the ignorance -- and yes, cruelty -- of the church patriarchy, but I think we have to be so careful when we speak of things we don’t really understand. Things such as ... well, life.
DAVID J. WALKER
Wilmette, Ill.
The recent documents by the U.S. bishops provoke my ire (NCR, Nov. 24). Bishops setting policy on marital intimacy makes as much sense as married couples determining it for celibate clergy. I swear that if priests and bishops were allowed to marry, the use of birth control would be approved within one generation, if not sooner. Our bishops would realize that their statement in “Married Love and the Gift of Life” about married couples suppressing fertility and it leading to intercourse being less than marital is ludicrous. They may find that intercourse without the anxiety of pregnancy can lead to greater intimacy. Also, once clergy had several children, they could realize that many cannot afford or may not desire large families.
I look forward to reading the bishops’ documents that “will prompt Catholics to consider their worthiness to receive the Eucharist” to see what is written regarding pedophile priests and bishops who protected them. Did they ever refrain from receiving the Eucharist?
MARK GOTVALD
Pleasant Hill, Calif.
The secular news reported that Pope Benedict’s personal preacher asked the pontiff to declare a day of fasting and penance to publicly express solidarity with the victims of clerical sex abuse. I am all for penance and prayer. I have personally seen it work wonders. But while nothing will really ameliorate the damage done to minor children by priests supposed to be caring for them, it would be a little more meaningful to me if the pope’s pastor were calling instead for offending bishops to put themselves on the line. Public apologies to all of us and private apologies to each victim they put in the path of a supposedly “cured” pedophile priest would go far to ease the doubts of many Catholics like myself about the bishops’ moral authority. Also, as well as praying and doing penance, Catholics can band together in Voice of the Faithful and try to accomplish change in the church’s governing structure that allows bishops all this power and practically begs for abuses of all kinds. Recently I heard a priest pray from the altar for the church, and his subsequent petition made it clear that the laity were not included in his intention. How loudly must we scream, “We are the church” before the hierarchy listens? Until then I will continue to pray and do penance on behalf of the young people so willfully damaged, but it will not be enough.
JANELLE LAZZO
Roeland Park, Kan.
John L. Allen writes in “Conclusion on limbo” (NCR, Oct. 20): “Limbo ... a concept that, even if it was never formally defined as a matter of faith, nevertheless represented a widespread consensus in Catholic teaching for centuries.”
The same can be said of supersessionism. For nearly two millennia, the church has taught, believed and practiced the doctrine that the church has replaced Israel, that the observances of the Torah are futile for salvation. Innumerable texts, from the Fathers, theologians, decrees of the Holy Office as late as 1928, reflect this.
In contrast, Vatican II, John Paul II and Benedict XVI are telling us, emphatically, that the Old Testament has never been revoked.
If supersessionism was just another theological hypothesis and thus mutable, what about Humanae Vitae, Veritatis Splendor, Ordinatio Sacerdotalis and other such doctrines?
I hope John Allen or another competent reporter will address this issue. It bothers many people.
JOHN VAN COPPENOLLE
San Antonio
Letters to the editor should be limited to 250 words and preferably typed. If a letter refers to a previous issue of NCR, please give us that issue’s date. We reserve the right to edit all letters. Letters, National Catholic Reporter, PO Box 411009, Kansas City, MO 64141-1009. Fax: (816) 968-2280. E-mail: letters@ncronline.org (When sending a letter via e-mail, please indicate "NCR Letters" in the subject line. We've installed a new spam filter on our letters e-mail account. If it's not clear to us that yours is a letter, we might delete it.) Please be sure to include your street address, city, state, zip and daytime telephone number
National Catholic Reporter, December 29, 2006