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Chris Herlinger’s article on Palestinians living under the triple threat of occupation, refugee status and stringent economic sanctions (NCR, Nov. 24) hit home with many Christians concerned with justice and peace. The article quotes Patriarch Michel Sabbah on the results of Palestinian democracy for the people at large, but it doesn’t address the results of democracy on Sabbah’s own church. Palestinian Christians are suffering and leaving the land at an astonishing rate -- the Christian population of the Palestinian territories has been decimated in the last 50 years. If this exodus continues, the holy places will lie empty and the incredible richness of the Arab Christian spiritual heritage will be lost. We should support our Holy Land brothers and sisters in the fellowship of believers. I appeal to everyone concerned about peace in the Holy Land to take action: Sponsor a child’s education, donate to humanitarian aid organizations, or visit the Holy Land on pilgrimage to show much-needed solidarity and appreciation. We must replace despair with hope, fear with security, and humiliation with human dignity for our brothers and sisters, who are truly the seeds of peace in a barren land.
(Sir) RATEB RABIE
Bethesda, Md.
Rateb Rabie is president of the Holy Land Christian Ecumenical Foundation.
It’s a humbling experience, but does anyone else wonder, as I do, whether in eternity I will find myself among my good, loyal Catholic friends with whom I disagreed during our earthly pilgrimage? It saddens me that an appropriate charity is often lacking today toward one’s fellow Catholics whose views on issues in the church’s version of the “culture wars” -- life and death, the family, freedom, justice, violence and reconciliation, reform and tradition, war and peace, the environment, etc. -- seem so different from one’s own. I find people tiresome who assume that whoever does not agree with them is less Christian and thereby on the wrong side of whatever is discussed. My faith gives me strong hope that through God’s grace all of us will finally be together, hopefully in paradise, our differences long forgiven and forgotten.
JOHN DEAN
Chattanooga, Tenn.
Fr. Robert Drinan’s Dec. 15 column recalling the 26th anniversary of the murder of four church women in El Salvador was a stirring reminder of the issues surrounding justice and courage that still face us today. I commend NCR and Fr. Drinan for their commitment. The book referred to in his article is a testament to the inner life and lifelong spirituality that moved Maryknoll activist Ita Ford. The book’s major contribution is to demonstrate the profound religious commitments that drove her throughout her life.
Perhaps it may seem trivial, but mention should also be made of the fact that the book Fr. Drinan referred to, Here I Am, Lord: The Letters and Writings of Ita Ford, and from which he quoted certainly came to fruition because of the support of Ita’s family, the Maryknoll sisters and Ita’s friends, but the project was initiated by Dr. Jeanne Evans of Marymount Manhattan College, who over an 18-month period edited, wrote commentary and put this book together. As Dr. Evans’ husband, I was disappointed with the failure of the article to properly acknowledge her work. The letters are those of family and friends, but the book was the arduous work of Dr. Evans. The lasting value, of course, is the person of Ita Ford whom we meet there.
LOU McNEIL
Lakewood, N.J.
I was saddened to read on the NCR Web site that Bishop Thomas Gumbleton, upon his retirement, has been directed to leave his parish and his home. It is hard to accept that a 75-year-old man who served the people of Detroit as a priest for more than 50 years should now be taken from the community that provides the love and support he needs in this last part of his life.
On the positive side, however, it’s good to know that not all Catholic bishops are treated in such a manner. Cardinal Adam Maida, present archbishop of Detroit, has a retirement palazzo in the unused St. John’s Seminary in Plymouth, Mich., and Cardinal Edmund Szoka, previous Detroit archbishop, has a similar palace in the underused Sacred Heart Seminary. Both palaces were built with donations from the good, faithful and wealthy Catholics of Detroit. Detroit Catholics now have the happiness of knowing that seminaries, built in the first part of the 20th century to house legions of men studying for the priesthood, have now been transformed into palaces. And Bishop Gumbleton, now without a supportive community, can reflect on his failure to follow the scripture passage, “I say to you: Make unto you friends of the mammon of iniquity, that when you shall fail, they may receive you into everlasting dwellings” (Luke 16:9). Perhaps this good and most holy bishop will find a better home in the Kingdom that is to come.
GERALD MALONEY
Southfield, Mich.
As cofounder of Maryland Survivors’ Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), I find it unbelievable that for the past four years the archdiocese of Baltimore led by Cardinal William Keeler and his lobbyist Richard Dowling were our only opposition to strengthening laws that would protect children against sexual predators. When will Maryland Catholics wake up to the fact that if nothing changes, nothing changes? Denying there ever was a problem with sexual abuse of children is what got the church into this mess in the first place. It is now time to repent for past sins and take steps to be certain this never happens again.
KURT GLADSKY
Palm Beach, Fla.
Joe Feuerherd’s story on the National Leadership Roundtable on Church Management (NCR, Dec. 15) gives a fair account of the efforts that Geoffrey Boisi and other business leaders are making to help the Catholic church use its human and material resources more effectively. Mr. Feuerherd reports on the continuing criticism of those efforts -- I really want to say continued “carping” by people who don’t seem to have examined what Mr. Boisi is trying to do.
I’ve talked with Mr. Boisi over the last several years about his deep desire to help make the church a more accountable institution -- accountable to itself, to the people who work for it and the people who support it. I attended the July 2003 meeting with the bishops and most of the subsequent annual Roundtable meetings. Those meetings have been respectful of the bishops, of church teachings and traditions, and of ecclesiastical authority. No one has been given a “platform” for dissenting views. The only platform available is one that makes the church smarter about managing its own affairs. Yet the same criticisms keep cropping up. Rumors persist that the Roundtable is a Trojan horse whose purpose is to undermine the bishops and co-opt their authority.
If the bishops and leaders of men’s religious communities really hope to restore the trust that has been eroded by the clerical sexual abuse scandal, they could hardly find a better ally than Mr. Boisi and his committee in the effort to restore trust in the finances and management of parishes, dioceses and other church institutions.
MARGARET O’BRIEN STEINFELS
New York
Margaret Steinfels is codirector of the Fordham Center on Religion and Culture.
I have long considered the letters section of any newspaper or magazine to be among its most valuable assets, providing readers the opportunity to express their own views as well as to learn how other readers feel about current issues. I am constantly amazed at NCR ’s open-mindedness and willingness to print letters that disagree with church policy or with editorial opinions. Dom Tomasso’s letter (NCR, Nov. 24) reminded me that such tolerance on controversial matters is not universal. As reported by Mr. Tomasso, the monthly Catholic publication in Tucson, Ariz., has been advised by Bishop Gerald Kicanas to delete the letters section because readers should not be exposed to criticism of the diocese and its “costly failures that total close to $50 million.” This head-in-the-sand attitude is the very reason that the failures have reached such massive proportions. When the people in the pews are not allowed to question the actions of the people in the pulpits, the result is a secret society and the secrets eventually overshadow all the good that the organization has accomplished.
In the Camden, N.J., diocese, to which my parish belongs, the weekly Catholic publication is also reluctant to print letters that question authority or challenge policy. The letters section is brief and consists of noncontroversial topics or tributes to local figures or organizations. I read it more to know what’s happening in the churches than in the church. Please keep the letters section in NCR open to all.
ANN DOW
Thorofare, N.J.
In our diocesan newspaper, the Catholic Sun, Bishop James Moynihan writes a beautiful explanation of his rationale for asking the Holy Father to name 11 new monsignors in the diocese of Syracuse, N.Y. He sees this as an affirmation of all clergy and even the faithful. Two priests self-effacingly call it “really an honor for the parishes.” Perhaps that’s so, but then awarding this to an individual when priests serve many parishes in a career seems off the mark. Knowing many of these men personally, I surely appreciate that they are deserving. But for them to be now so designated and set apart from brother clergy by this designation after a 30-year absence of this title seems divisive even as others celebrate with and for them. Is this really a value to the Christian community?
Are they like members of a “hall of fame” or “all-star team” that in some way honors both an organization and its fans, but by definition excludes other possible candidates that don’t get the votes?
I respect, support and appreciate the bishop’s desire and dilemma to both reward and/or perhaps to elevate some role models within the clergy after the difficulties of recent years. All of us are grateful for the many years of service by these men. But we each also know so many other clergy who are just as holy and hard-working. We also know many religious women who serve so well without papal titles. I believe this title of “monsignor,” though traditional, has outlived its usefulness for the future and should be honorably retired.
DAVID E. PASINSKI
Syracuse, N.Y.
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, January 12, 2007