LETTERS

Your coverage of a survey comparing Catholic and Orthodox clergy (NCR, Feb. 23) called to mind points made by Fr. Donald Cozzens in his book, Freeing Celibacy. He argues persuasively for freeing priestly vocations from the requirement of celibacy, but he makes no comment on the impact that this would have on gay clergy. Couldn’t we expect that freed from the mandate, they would emulate the married heterosexual clergy and feel it permissible to engage in sexual release with male partners? Even if acted upon by only a minority of gays, wouldn’t widespread homosexual conduct by our clergy have serious consequences for the church?

As Cozzens demonstrates, the merits of abandoning mandatory celibacy are compelling, though not without consequences. It would likely work to rebalance the sexual orientation of the clergy toward a demographic more reflective of the population overall, both by attracting more married heterosexuals and, as a result of reducing the “cover” for gays, attracting fewer homosexuals. We are experiencing crises in multiple dimensions: the priesthood becoming a gay occupation; a rapidly advancing shortage of priests, a shortage that will not be corrected as long as it seems to be a gay occupation and one incompatible with family aspirations; and a clerical situation that has threatened our young men and made our clergy so suspect that thoughtful people would worry about their boys being regularly in the company of a priest.

You deserve credit for the package “Soul Sisters” about former prostitutes in recovery in Chicago (NCR, Feb. 23). Margot Patterson’s sensitive reporting and writing should help create a better understanding of prostitution, which is one more way that women are systematically abused in a male-dominated culture. The figures included in the sidebar “Hard truths about prostitution” are shocking and disheartening. This dark side of society has too long been shrouded in mystery. Perhaps Ms. Patterson’s reporting will stir compassion in readers, who may be inspired to reach out in small ways to help these women who are often despised. She demonstrates that with help, prostitutes can break the grip of street life, which often includes multiple addictions.

I think that you missed an important opportunity to break the narrow confines of our upbringing (at least mine) that limit the definition of “religious life” to only priests, monks, sisters and brothers (NCR, Feb. 23). What I felt was missing were other groups like married, singles and gays. Why didn’t the special section include these others? Are not all of us going through a transition as a result of Vatican II? Do we not all have a religious life that needs to be affirmed, clarified and encouraged? Maybe the term religious life needs to be thrown away or redefined.

Reader's profile
Editor’s note: When we have room, NCR will from time to time offer profiles of some of our most frequent contributors to the Letters page.

Janelle Lazzo
Roeland Park, Kan.
Age: 71
How long have you been reading NCR?
11 years.
How many of your letters have been published in NCR?
Maybe a half-dozen or more, beginning in the last four or five years.
Do you have a favorite letter we’ve published?
I had a letter reminding the bishops that they were part of the church, but not the entire church, that I liked a lot.
Job?
I am a retired high school teacher, and for the past 20 years, including most of the years I was teaching high school, I have been teaching English part-time at Penn Valley Community College, Kansas City, Mo.
Tell us about your family life?
I have been happily married for 46 years, have six grown children, and eight grandchildren.
What stirs you to write letters?
I am an avid reader and an activist for civic and church causes. I am active in local organizations that support institutions whose work I value. I see many injustices in both community and church affairs, which I would like to help to eradicate. I write letters to try to persuade people to look at sides of an issue they might not have considered before.

John Allen’s column, “A new church-state standoff” (NCR, Feb. 16), is based on a false dichotomy laid bare by the sub-headline: “Adoption case pits traditional family values against gay rights.” It does not. This is sloganeering borrowed from the so-called Christian right. Traditional family values are about caring, nurturing and love. And that’s exactly what is happening among the 10 million to 14 million children in the United States who are in families headed by two moms or two dads. Rather than obsess about an abstract concept, “homosexuality,” the institutional church should focus on the real issue: Is it in the best interest of the child to deny adoption to same-sex couples? As with opposite sex couples, the answer depends on the particular child and the particular couple involved. And studies show that children in same-sex-headed families do just as well as those in opposite-sex-headed families, and better than children who remain un-adopted.

Regarding “Migrant deaths documented” (NCR, Feb. 16): Why will no one speak out about the Mexican government’s cruel, repressive and deadly treatment of Central American migrants entering Mexico, yet endlessly tell us that it is our duty to “welcome the stranger”? Why do they place no restrictions on the number of immigrants entering our country and totally ignore telling those immigrants of their obligations and duties to their adopted country? Why do our prelates ignore Catholic doctrine on immigration, which is clearly spelled out in Paragraph 2241 of the Catholic catechism, while scoffing at our immigration laws as inhumane, restrictive and antiquated? Perhaps Pope Benedict XVI, who wrote the catechism guidelines, should recall these prelates to the Vatican for a refresher course in authentic Catholic doctrine.

s an atmospheric scientist, I want to thank you for your editorial on global warming (NCR, Feb. 16), citing an astute Kansas City reader who noted that the phenomenon is called “global” warming for a reason, despite the recent Midwestern cold snap. Our day-to-day and seasonal weather patterns are responsible for most of the temperature difference we experience. Daily temperature swings range typically from a few degrees to as much as 50 degrees Fahrenheit or more depending on where you are and what’s happening. Likewise, there can be more than a 100-degree swing between the hottest summer day and the coldest winter day. By contrast, global warming is a slow (many decades to several centuries) upward trend of anywhere from a few to around 10 degrees Farenheit. This is not perceptible over and above the daily and seasonal swings, meaning that there will always be cold days in January, as your reader correctly noted.

However, relative to prior natural cycles of warming and cooling that are measured in the tens to hundreds of thousands of years, the warming process currently underway is very rapid and has some likely consequences that are foreseeable. Some have pointed out that doing something about global warming will be costly. However, they often fail to take into account the cost of having to do something after the damage is already done. Given a predictable rise in sea level, for example, one can envision having to relocate coastal populations many tens of times the size of what we saw in New Orleans in fall 2005. Your advice that we should therefore seriously consider erring on the side of caution and reason is quite reasonable.

The phenomenon that David Bohm’s eidolon concept seeks to explain (NCR, Feb 2), “Spooky electron behavior suggests hidden wholeness,” is also discussed in Peter Coveney and Roger Highfield’s 1991 book, titled The Arrow of Time. We are told that when the wave function of the electron of a particular atom collapses, and one of the infinite possibilities of that electron emerges, this collapse “alters the physical state of the electron everywhere in the universe at the same instant.” Like Bohm, these authors see the wave function as a “kind of abstract field which pervades the whole of space.”

My layman’s view of this phenomenon, shaped by my years in Catholic schools, is based on two premises: First, God created the material universe out of nothing. Second, everything -- that is, building a house, writing a book or painting picture -- starts with an idea. To create out of nothing means the power to turn ideas into things, like sea and sky, bricks and mortar, flesh and blood. Thus, for me, the unity that underlies the physical universe results from the reification of God’s grand idea for an evolving universe that combines fixed rules, trial and error and human agency. If so, each of us and all we encounter is a part of this idea -- indeed, “a reified thought” in the mind of God. I am an optimist. Like Fr. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, I believe the evolutionary process, though not particularly efficient, has a positive direction.

Regarding “Trying to measure the unmeasurable” (NCR, Feb. 23): Prof. Phyllis Zagano aptly points out the virulent attacks on religion and religious belief rampant in the academy, which serve to shut out any discussion that includes a religious viewpoint. The common argument that “unbiased” means wholly secular and antireligious has crept into every sector of society and has formed a belief system in and of itself that threatens to eradicate genuine pluralism and diversity in intellectual dialogue and debate and remove even the memory of religious belief from curricula nationwide.

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