National Catholic Reporter
Subscribers only section
August 3, 2007
 

Letters

A blow to ecumenism

The Vatican statement describing the Protestant denominations as not “proper churches” is a giant step backward for ecumenism and smacks of the triumphalism of pre-Vatican II days (NCR, July 20). This offensive statement, which outlines the “defects” of non-Catholic churches, is a slap in the face to our sisters and brothers of other faith traditions. The Vatican is out of step with Jesus in the Gospels, who prayed fervently for unity among his followers: “that all may be one.” In my view, Catholics should apologize for the arrogant attitude expressed by the Vatican and pledge to work to foster closer relationships with other churches. The Roman Catholic church does not have an exclusive franchise and cannot put God in a box. We are all God’s family and should treat one another with mutual respect as pilgrims on a sacred journey. It is time to focus on our common spiritual heritage as people of faith and work for peace, justice and equality in our world.

(Sr.) BRIDGET MARY MEEHAN
Falls Church, Va.

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Is the Congregation for Doctrine of the Faith so out of touch with the world that at the very time when all people are seeking bridges to unite us in peace and benevolence, as Jesus taught was God’s will for us, that this should be the moment to release a document so triumphal, condescending, and -- dare we say —--arrogant? Under the guise of caring for who is wounded, do we seek to mash a good deal of salt into those gashes, just when we thought we were finding some healing?

(Sr.) WENDY COTTER, CSJ
Chicago

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In view of Pope Benedict’s infelicitous remarks last year about Islam and his endorsement this July of a document that is largely a reprise of what he, as Cardinal Ratzinger, had composed in 2000, Dominus Iesus, termed then by a London Catholic weekly as a “public relations disaster,” perhaps he is in need of a skilled press secretary. Such a secretary, who can transmogrify Benedict’s nuanced lecturings to statements suitable for the wider media, may also succeed in fashioning material that persuades rather than clobbers, forbears rather than fulminates, and animates rather than dominates.

E. LEO McMANNUS
Venice, Fla.

* * *

Poor John XXIII. What will become of Vatican II? When church history is revised, I fear that the only mention will be that it was a council (with a small c) and it was a dark page in history. How can anyone keep up with the wave that is going on right now? In the last three years there has been more wondering and searching than in any other time. Can anyone really believe that the Spirit was there in the last papal election?

JUSTIN BISHOP
Great Falls, Mont.


Illegal immigrants

I take issue with Demetria Martinez equating the Los Angeles archdiocese’s “new sanctuary movement” with the earlier sanctuary movement of 25 years ago (NCR, July 6). The earlier movement was intended to protect refugee aliens fleeing from dictatorships, terrorists and potential death. This “new sanctuary movement” is simply a tactic overlaced with scriptural labels (“welcome the stranger”) to protect illegals in this country who are being subsidized by U.S. taxpayers for their health, education, prison incarceration and other public benefits. Why is it that the advocates of illegals do not honestly address the injustices against the middle-class Americans who bear the burden of support? While it is understandable why most illegals are here, to better their lives, it is not just to charge American taxpayers with the costs of support. I don’t think the end justifies the means.

Why don’t advocates of illegals address the immorality of a Mexican government that does not provide opportunities for living wages for its citizens? Why don’t these advocates rail against the Mexican bishops who fail to take a vociferous stand to help the poor of their country? What is the moral argument for lower living wages for Americans who lose their jobs to illegals? While each of us must fulfill the scriptural duty to love our neighbor and to be our brother’s keeper, even the Good Samaritan would throw up his hands and take off if he had to pay for 12 million “strangers” who were here illegally. There is a limit to how much charity Americans can afford.

MARY STONE
Henderson, Nev.


The Latin Mass

My dad knows and still remembers the words of the Latin Mass and in many ways yearns for those days. I have lived long enough to remember the Latin Mass. I also learned the responses as an altar boy. But I harbor no such romantic feelings for the fortress wall surrounded by a feudal moat that separates “us from them.” However much I may sympathize with my dad, I think that he and others have missed the point of the very purpose of the Mass: the sharing of community at the table with the Christ of the Eucharist. The other controversies about how the priest is facing with us at the altar or away, or even kneeling at a railing, is not the issue for me. I prefer the “baby” but not all the “dirty water.” Latin is simply an obstacle to participation, communication and communion. Can this extra burden be what Jesus intended?

TIMOTHY BRENNAN
Kannapolis, N.C.

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As regards the Latin Mass controversy, the Eucharist was originally celebrated in Rome in the universal language of the Roman Empire at that time, which was Greek. But the simple people of Rome who lived “trans Tiber” did not understand Greek and petitioned the church authorities to celebrate the Lord’s Supper in Latin, the only language that they understood.

The church obliged, and again if I remember correctly, it celebrated the Eucharist in the vulgar Latin, not the elite Latin of Cicero, which was the Latin of the educated class. Anyone who has ever studied Latin knows the difference by simply repeating the famous dictum of Julius Caesar about his conquest of Gaul, in the vulgar and elite Latin. This is like the difference between Castilian Spanish and what we refer to as Tex-Mex Spanish, the language of the ordinary Spanish speakers in Texas. Even the Catholic Bible was called the Vulgate until recent times.

So the Eucharist was celebrated in Latin to allow the ordinary people to understand and actively participate in the liturgy in the early church. Today’s decision from the Vatican on reestablishing the eucharistic celebration in Latin seems to reinforce its post-Vatican II program to park the progress of Vatican Council II in the back closet so that we can get back to a church in which passive participation and blind obedience is the key to salvation and the laity should shut up and listen. It won’t work because people today can read and write, and many of them can do so much better than the greybeards that make these rules.

LARRY BOUDREAU
San Antonio


Rigali’s influence

According to the recent article about Bishop Edward Braxton, some consultative procedures were bypassed in the appointment process for Belleville, Ill. Could it be that this happened because Bishop Braxton is a protégé of Cardinal Justin Rigali? Cardinal Rigali, now the archbishop of Philadelphia, was previously the archbishop of St. Louis, who ordained Bishop Braxton as auxiliary bishop of St. Louis in 1995. I think the cardinal, because of the many years he worked in the Vatican as a close collaborator of Pope John Paul II, plays a significant role in the selection and appointment of U.S. bishops.

As for the clergy and other administrators of Belleville receiving any relief from this, I would suggest it will be a long time coming, if at all. Unless the bishop is moved to some post in the Vatican to get him out of Belleville, as was done for Cardinal Bernard Law of Boston, I feel it is unlikely he will wind up on the short list for any other archdiocese or diocese in this country while he is surrounded with controversy. The Vatican is attuned to this and I would think that any controversy surrounding a possible candidate is considered very carefully in the selection process. The selections over many years are of candidates who are noncontroversial. Let’s see what happens.

FRANK HERRON
Cinnaminson, N.J.


Women’s history

While I enjoyed and applauded the article on Bishop Theodora and archaeological evidence of women as priests in the early church, there was a major omission (NCR, June 22). You never mentioned Tübingen-educated Dorothy Irvin as the prime authority in this area, yet she was the first theologian to write on this topic. Moreover, last year she co-led the first pilgrimage to Rome with Sr. Christine Schenk, giving all the lectures that you report that Janet Tulloch gave this year. NCR should be aware of Dorothy Irvin’s long-standing prominence as an authority on this topic because, in 1980, you published a cover story with her groundbreaking article on the fresco “Fractio Panis.”

Most important, Dorothy Irvin has published the only illustrations available to the general public, many of whom cannot afford a pilgrimage to Rome, showing mosaics, frescoes and other archaeological evidence. Since 2000, she has published these illustrations in a yearly calendar that also contains Dorothy’s theological explanations for each picture, an extensive bibliography, and a map showing the places in Europe and around the Mediterranean where evidence exists of women deacons, priests, and bishops (irvincalendar@hotmail.com). Thus, Dorothy’s theological scholarship is available to hang on kitchen walls, where the illustrations and theology can be seen every day by ordinary people instead of gathering dust in a library tome. I hope Dorothy Irvin was not erased from your account simply because she is a laywoman whereas Christine Schenk and Carolyn Osiek are members of religious orders.

MARJORIE REILEY MAGUIRE
Milwaukee


Hopeful spirituality

Thank you for the article, “Reinventing church” (NCR, July 20). One critical reason why people are seeking out other forms of spiritual awakening is because those forms focus on solutions, not problems. People are encouraged to lead lives of virtue as opposed to being disparaged for making mistakes. Such gatherings are uplifting, inspiring, comforting and healing, recognizing that at the core of our being we are good. The challenges to the constant expression of our own internal goodness are fear, pain and temptation. The meetings focus on overcoming these challenges rather than on making them bigger than they are. The meetings constantly reinforce that at every moment we are capable of spreading peace, love and understanding. They focus on teaching people how to strengthen their virtues and how to heal from painful situations.

Contrast this with many Catholic articles and even Masses in which people are encouraged to believe they are “hopeless” sinners. My friend takes great joy in celebrating the first time her children receive a sacrament. Imagine her disappointment when the priest chose to discuss gay marriage at her son’s first Communion. The saving grace: Her sixth-grade son tugged on her arm and whispered, “Is this appropriate for Shane?” He got it. Why was the priest so far off?

Most important, the church must always be ready and willing to acknowledge the deep spirituality that exists in all Catholics. In the early days of the church, the word “Christian” referred to a person who “acted in a visibly loving manner.” The union of God and human is wholly dependent on spreading God’s love. How easy to lose this focus in today’s world.

AILEEN REYNOLDS
Wesley Hills, N.Y.

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It wasn’t until I read the interview with Fr. Albert Nolan that I felt I better understand the role of freedom in the Christian tradition. Fr. Nolan explains that the subtitle of his recent book Jesus Today is “A Spirituality of Radical Freedom” because people often develop a notion of superficial freedom that in the end isn’t freedom at all. Fr. Nolan explains that what people often seek is freedom of the ego (superficial freedom) instead of freedom from the ego, freedom to do God’s will, to love other people, to be one with them and the whole universe, a freedom to work for the common good and not just one’s selfish idea of what’s good for oneself.

I doubt President Bush understands this freedom principle in the same way as Jesus. His effort to bring freedom to Iraq seems to be more motivated by a desire to permit U.S. and other foreign private oil companies to take effective control of Iraqi oil, as suggested in your report on the pending, controversial Iraqi Oil Law in the same issue, than by a desire to truly help the Iraqi people. Mr. Bush’s war has been about U.S. self-interest from the beginning, a point that is becoming clearer each day as our government forces Iraq to privatize its oil reserves and turn over control to private oil companies. Mr. Bush’s idea of freedom is not about a desire to freely put aside our own interests in order to help build a global community founded on justice, which will lead to peace.

MIKE HIGGINS
Portland, Ore.


Capitalism

John L. Coakley Jr. in his letter to the editor (NCR, July 6) suggests the wealth produced by capitalism is like manna from heaven that falls on the palace and the hut equally. I don’t buy it. The world is clearly divided into two disparate economic groups, the West and the rest. The West, or so-called First World, accounting for less than 20 percent of the world’s population, consumes more than 75 percent of Mother Nature’s bounty. That leaves almost 5 billion people, around five times as much as the population of the West, to scrounge for a living on the remaining 25 percent. This country, the epitome of unfettered capitalism, provides a good example of what that economic system does with its wealth. The richest 1 percent owns about 35 percent of the nation’s net worth, the top 10 percent owns more than 71 percent and the bottom 40 percent owns less than 0.4 percent.

It seems appropriate to point out that the West’s wealth was gotten at the expense of the so-called Third World. Witness the silver from Central and South America, the gems and slaves from Africa, the spices from Asia and other indigenous goodies swelling the coffers of the West. Because capitalism is by its very nature heartless, ruthless and soulless, it can’t share and is unresponsive to the needs of the have-nots, who number in the billions.

ANTHONY MARQUEZ
Bear, Del.


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National Catholic Reporter, August 3, 2007