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Col. Doug Lovejoy’s letter to the editor (NCR, Jan. 26) claims that many of NCR ’s readers need to be reminded of the “legitimacy of force,” adding that he learned from his father that “soldiering is a noble profession.” Col. Lovejoy cites the late Bishop Fulton Sheen to bolster his point. Bishop Sheen is a fine example of the difficulties inherent in grappling with the moral issues of war. By 1967, Bishop Sheen had become an outspoken opponent of the Vietnam War, and yet in his famous prayer book for soldiers he quotes the great French preacher Lacordaire: “The vocation of a soldier is next in dignity to the priesthood.” Bishop Sheen added, “No group equally large is so revered. It is their high calling to the defense of justice and freedom that makes them loved.”
What are we to make of all this, considering that the job of the soldier, after having been trained through methods honed over the centuries, is to kill and maim whomever their superiors order them to attack, not for patriotism but because of loyalty to their comrades? Soldiers are proud of their support for each other -- but can they be proud to seek military “victory” when that means, in effect, creating sufficient numbers of widows, orphans, and dead, blind, burned and otherwise mutilated “enemies”? The fault lies not in them but in those to whom war is a justifiable solution to conflicts -- political, economic or religious -- because they lack the will to seek positive, nonviolent methods of settling disputes.
THOMAS LEE
Goffstown, N.H.
Robert Royal in his column disses the new Democratic-led Congress, not surprisingly (NCR, Jan. 19). He refers to the leadership as too tied up in “yesterday’s problems,” citing such things as the minimum wage, financial breaks to oil companies and negotiating for lower drug prices. Mr. Royal is indeed out of touch with millions of ordinary Americans if he considers these “yesterday’s” problems. They loom as large today and need to be addressed by a Congress more in touch now with middle- and lower-class citizens who need help. The so-called “tired list of initiatives” advocated by the Democrats in Congress should be applauded and supported. These initiatives will probably continue indefinitely since they are better than ignoring the problems as has been done by the previous Congress.
(Sr.) CAROL BERG, OSB
St. Joseph, Minn.
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Robert Royal’s tawdry and superficial critique of the actions of the Democratic Congress is appalling, especially concerning the minimum wage. No, economic growth does not raise up a lot of people in this country, only the very rich. In recent years the middle class has barely held its own, while the poor have gotten poorer. Why does this country have a much larger percentage of poor than many other developed countries? And while the minimum wage stayed the same for many years, I noticed that prices in every area kept going up. Go figure!
(Fr.) KEN SMITS
Madison, Wis.
John Allen’s at once insightful and incisive piece on the Stanislaw Wielgus affair (NCR, Jan. 19) underlines the fundamental obligation of taking responsibility for one’s actions whatever unpleasantness ensues. It would appear that the archbishop’s academic career, at least in his mind, seemed important enough to yield to pressure. And it must never be overlooked that verba volant, scripta manent (“words fly away, the written remains”). It is pointless to try to fathom his intentions; these are known to God alone, and we cannot judge the innermost recesses of anyone’s psyche. Further, the Wielgus affair and the present predicament of the church in Poland cannot be separated from what occurs when an institution is subject to micro-management, as that church was for the quarter century of John Paul II’s pontificate.
The unfortunate resurgence of regionalism and the tendency to view the Polish church through the excessively Kraków-based microcosmic prism and the inability to grapple with the undisciplined phenomenon of Radio Maria have left many in the Polish ecclesiastical establishment and in the ranks of the laity listless. The traumatic episode of the appointment and resignation of Stanislaw Wielgus -- clearly no Fr. Jerzy Popieluszko -- cannot be viewed separately from the circumstantial miasma generated by the events of the last 25 years.
(Fr.) REGIS N. BARWIG
Oshkosh, Wis.
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Your lead editorial that describes the Polish clergy collaboration with the communist government of Poland reminded me of an inspiring meeting I had with a Romanian married Eastern-rite Catholic priest who did not forsake his religious beliefs or capitulate to the communist system in spite of many threats and entreaties to come over to the Orthodox church during the tyrannical reign of Nicolae Ceausescu.
In 1990, shortly after the Romanian revolutionary coup that culminated in the execution of Ceausescu and his wife, I was working with a Romanian Eastern-rite congregation of women religious, the Sisters of the Mother of God. Sr. Aloysius, a gentle mother superior who showed many signs of her years in jail for her religious beliefs, invited us to meet a priest who had been recently “discovered” in one of the notorious and horrid Romanian jails. In our meeting with this priest he introduced us to his wife and said that, unbeknown to him, she was pregnant at the time of his arrest and jailing. His story ended very emotionally with his recollection of how upon his release from jail he was reunited with his wife whom he had not seen since the arrest, and simultaneously met his 16-year-old son for the first time. I have wondered what I would have done in similar circumstances.
DAVID J. SAUER
Brookfield, Wis.
Regarding the article “Bishops’ message: Get with Program” (NCR, Nov. 24), it lists areas Catholics must honor. I found two quotes interesting and telling. First, the article said the bishops “authorized a statement issued by conference president William Skylstad reiterating their call for a ‘responsible transition’ in Iraq.” The article said Skylstad called on the Bush administration and the new Congress “to engage in a collaborative dialogue that honestly assesses the situation.” Near the end the article reported that in his presidential address Skylstad lamented the “harshness and divisiveness of contemporary society” and said, “The point seems to be not to seek the truth or to build up the body of Christ, but to strive for a sort of victory by overcoming others, preferably by crushing those who disagree.”
Is this the same bishop who was portrayed in the Nov. 10 NCR as not engaging in a collaborative dialogue that honestly assesses the situation involving the Spokane, Wash., diocese’s sexual abuse scandal? Is this the same bishop who prefers crushing those sexual abuse victims who disagree? How can this man say such high-sounding statements as the bishops’ conference president and do the opposite in his diocese? How could the bishops’ conference elect William Skylstad to this position of influence? What is wrong with the system that leads to hierarchy members who seem so disconnected from their own statements and Jesus teachings? I wonder if some of the key causes include isolation, privilege and naiveté -- largely from years of a totally unrealistic celibacy policy, in an environment of too much worldly legal influence.
JOE GERHARDS
Concord, Calif.
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, February 9, 2007