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Jesuit Fr. Robert Drinan, who was remembered in your paper (NCR, Feb. 9), was a prime exemplar of how to understand and implement the proper relationship between moral and civil law. Simply put: Civil law must never mandate a moral evil, but does not need to prohibit all moral vice nor mandate all moral virtue. It’s all neatly spelled out in St. Thomas Aquinas’ Summa. You can look it up. That so many contemporary pundits, alas even “magisterial” ones, choose to ignore this and thereby unnecessarily perturb the consciences of innumerable faithful is a sad manifestation of the continuing influence of the mystery of iniquity. May Fr. Drinan continue to intercede for our enlightenment.
EDMUND F. KAL
Fresno, Calif.
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Fr. Drinan has been receiving accolades and many are well deserved. He was a man of great intelligence, gifted in many ways. Sadly, he never used his gifts to defend the most defenseless in our society -- the unborn. He opted for allegiance to his party’s political platform rather than doing the right thing. A Thomas More, he was not. The Associated Press obituary states that he was critical of both Presidents Reagan and Bush. Did he find nothing in the administrations of Democratic presidents contrary to the Gospel message? May God be merciful in judging our brother.
(Fr.) MARK KREDER
Toms River, N.J.
The cover story on confession (NCR, Feb. 9) surely provokes a discussion. As one who has availed herself of the sacrament of reconciliation for 80 years, I am happy to see that the knowledge we now have of psychiatry confirms our need for this sacrament. Just as the Baltimore Catechism told us, sacraments give grace that we need to help us on the road of life. The updating of our understanding of how to make better use of this sacrament has enhanced the experience. Going face to face, letting go of the laundry list and putting guilt trips in their proper place have all contributed to the sacrament’s worth for us. Is confession relevant in 2007? For me, the Gospels (Matthew 18:18) gives the authority and Peter’s words to Jesus suffice: “To whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”
JEANNE B. DILLON
Summit, N.J.
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Following my retirement as an Air Force chaplain, I remained in San Antonio to help in a parish whose gentlemanly pastor, Fr. John O’Donoghue, was mentioned in Ed Conroy’s sidebar on communal penance. Saturday afternoon confessions there attracted the retired and elderly, who seldom missed the monthly encounter with their priest. I helped also at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish in Selma, Texas, where Fr. Conor McGrath orchestrates a team of pastoral ministries for 3,000 families. I was accustomed to see the church filled with 800-plus people at each of three reconciliation services before Christmas and Holy Week. It was exhilarating to see so many single adults, couples and families make the effort to drive to church at night to participate with a like-minded crowd of parishioners. Fr. Conor typically thanks his people for coming and then introduces five other priests who station themselves by the first step across the sanctuary. Ushers guide the assembly up front where the priests welcome them, then penitents acknowledge a lack of charity, obedience or some failing. The priests respond, “Your presence tells me you are sorry and want to be cleansed of your sins. God already knows them. It is my joy to forgive you in his name.” They are absolved; a penance is given, then people depart or stop by the chapel for prayer. The steady growth in attendance speaks volumes about this less-than-one-hour service that is welcomed not only by the people but also by the gray-haired, hard of hearing, and less-than-agile priests who are recruited to help.
(Fr.) PAUL McDONALD
Dubuque, Iowa
The benefits of climate change
Regarding your editorial about global warming (NCR, Feb. 16), climate change could be a blessing in disguise. It might be the one thing that will bring nations together. All other problems are trivial if we do not join against what we, especially the United States, have brought upon ourselves.
JOHN DOMAS
Banning, Calif.
I find the article titled “Dismantling our trances” (NCR, Feb. 2) to be primitive in its description of inner change. The fact that some people have been using it for centuries might be a viable explanation of its primitive character, but then what, I ask, is going on when modern people sing the enneagram’s praises. Styles of behavior develop over a lifetime of personal experiences. Self-knowledge is always a good thing in understanding our behaviors, but that knowledge alone does not lead to change. Psychology tells us that the process of change is more than just understanding and information. Change happens in the body within a process of owning what is real in ourselves and allowing that reality to tell us its story. In other words, our feelings are embodied learning, and change happens in a process of caring and nurturing these feelings, and not within an understanding of numbers on a schematic. To be human is not to be boxed in by numbers on a chart. As St. Irenaeus once said, “The glory of God is man [people] fully alive.”
I find the explanation of the enneagram to be superficial and naive. While understanding what makes us tick is always interesting and helpful to some degree, if we’re interested in growing beyond our old, stuck behaviors we must realize that change happens on another level.
MARIANNE THOMPSON
Santa Rosa, Calif.
It sounds like selective editing to characterize Jimmy Carter’s comments at Brandeis University as an apology (NCR, Feb. 9). Granted, he admitted that one of his statements in his recent book appears to condone suicide bombings until Israel accepts the ultimate goals of the Road Map. This, Carter confesses, was “worded stupidly” and would be amended in subsequent editions. But it strikes me as a stretch to headline this correction from the range of issues covered during the hourlong question-and-answer session at a university keenly interested in the Arab-Israeli struggles. Nor does it soften the headline to add he “stands [his] ground” on asserting that Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians is no better than apartheid. Although this characterization has drawn lightning from American Israel Public Affairs Committee and its Christian zealots, it’s really nothing new. Israeli writers themselves have made this comparison for years. For the most part Americans are living in a bubble when it comes to having an honest discussion on Arab-Israeli issues. Brandeis’ Catholic chaplain sounds like he’s inside one himself, smoothing over Carter’s harsh words as “some negative voice” that a university should be exposed to. I hope some of Carter’s audience takes up his suggestion to visit the occupied territories to “determine whether I [Carter] have exaggerated or correctly described the plight of the Palestinians.”
NEIL SULLIVAN
Brooklyn, N.Y.
In “A thankless job at the Pentagon” (NCR, Dec. 8) Charles N. Davis supported Robert Gates to be Donald Rumsfeld’s successor as secretary of defense, noting that based upon a working relationship with him when he was CIA director in the early 1990s, Gates “did not demonstrate any inherent biases or hidden agendas” and “was extremely competent.” However, nothing was said about the fact that as deputy director of the CIA under William Casey, Gates advocated the bombing of Nicaragua in 1984. He later developed inexplicable memory lapses when asked under oath about his involvement in the Iran-contra scheme. Lawrence Walsh, the independent counsel who headed that investigation, made it clear in his book Firewall: The Iran-Contra Conspiracy and Cover-up that he did not find Gates a credible witness and considered indicting him but did not do so for lack of sufficient corroborative evidence.
It might be important to be aware of this behavior insofar as one of Gates’ major responsibilities at the Pentagon is to be absolutely candid with George Bush and various congressional committees about the conduct of the war in Iraq and the wisdom of any future military adventures this administration might be contemplating against other countries such as Iran or Syria.
JAMES W. HAMILTON
Santa Fe, N.M.
Let’s not be ridiculous. Joan Chittister’s article “More than fashion” (NCR, Feb. 16) may smack of some truth, but the fact is that we just cannot tell who these people are. If it is required to see a face on a driver’s license for me, my husband, my children, etc., then it should be required of everyone. Don’t tell me that the burka is acceptable for this. You would have hundreds of thousands of people who were unidentifiable; they’d all look alike. Furthermore, how do you even know it’s a woman, and not a man posing, or even a non-Muslim using this as a ruse. Since Sept. 11, we are justifiably skittish. If Pennsylvania has a prohibition against religious garb, that is ridiculous, but citizens there should be able to know for certain who they are dealing with. Once that is established, allow them to wear their garb. But as for driver’s licenses, what’s good for the goose is good for the gander.
ALISON KINSEY
Mount Dora, Fla.
In her letter to the editor (NCR, Jan. 26), Katherine Hughes complains that the headline on Joe Feuerherd’s article on church embezzlement (NCR, Dec. 29) is misleading. Statistics can be a confusing science. Ms. Hughes would make the assumption that since 55 percent of the dioceses surveyed in the study did not respond to the survey, they didn’t have any embezzlement and she would choose to say that there was embezzlement in only 38 percent of the dioceses in the United States. We should ask if that is a reasonable assumption, just as we should ask if it is a reasonable assumption to extrapolate from the responses of the dioceses that did respond to the survey that the total U.S. figure is 85 percent. So, what assumption should we make? There was embezzlement in at least 38 percent of the dioceses in the United State and, if there were embezzlement in all of the nonresponding dioceses, it could have been as high as 93 percent that experienced embezzlement in the last five years. So, it’s somewhere between 38 percent and 93 percent. The question we should probably be asking is, “Is that acceptable?” and “What should we be doing about it?”
DONALD G. CRAWFORD
Mesa, Ariz.
Why was Bishop Gumbleton asked to retire and then removed against his wishes from his parish in inner-city Detroit when there is a priest shortage, no one available to replace him and the parishioners wanted him to stay (NCR, Feb. 2)? Why indeed? He has stated he was removed on orders from the Vatican as punishment for testifying before the Ohio legislature and urging that body to extend a window to allow a legal process for victims of sexual abuse when the time allowed in the statue of limitations had expired -- a position in direct opposition to the Ohio Bishops’ Conference. During that testimony, he again broke ranks and made it public that as a teen he was abused by a priest.
We have known and admired Bishop Gumbleton for many years. Both of us worked closely with him when we served separate terms as national coordinator of Pax Christi USA and he served as bishop president and a member of the national council. He is a man of peace, integrity and fearless commitment to truth. We believe him. So who gets hurt here? Bishop Gumbleton is at peace, though heartbroken, because he truly loves this parish. He said publicly that he does not regret his actions and would do it again even knowing the consequences. He will go to places in the world and in the church where no one dares and speak for the voiceless. The parishioners of St. Leo lose a pastor who cared for them, challenged them and built a vibrant community. The virtue of justice loses because this is a warning to anyone who dares speak his or her truth and break the wall of silence and secrecy surrounding church matters. And let’s not forget the children.
(Sr.) MARY LOU KOWNACKI, OSB
(Sr.) ANNE McCARTHY,
OSB
Erie, Pa.
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National Catholic Reporter, March 2, 2007