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Regarding “PETA targets abbey’s egg farm” (NCR, March 2): I am surprised that Fr. Stanislaus Gumula does not see the rationalization in arguing that his chickens are better off caged because there’s no chance of a rodent or snake snaring them. By that kind of logic, we would all be better off caged -- no chance of being run over by a car or shot in a convenience store. I made a retreat on a few occasions at a Trappist monastery in Utah. I was shown the prize-winning poultry farm, very like the monastery in South Carolina. No chicken ever touched the ground or had a chance to roam, yet the monks won an award for their efficiency, if not their humanity. As visitors, we were always treated well by the monks. It’s a pity their animals are not treated so well. Uncage the chickens, Father. And don’t go back to holding them in a barn. Let them roam outside. It’s possible you might sustain some financial loss but your reward will be great in heaven.
HARRY DONAGHY
Las Vegas
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It’s strange that there are so many intelligent people who erroneously attribute human feelings to animals, revealing a pathetic misunderstanding of the realities faced by free-running animals. I had firsthand experience while residing at Holy Trinity Abbey in Huntsville, Utah. In the winter of 1983-84, it was sobering to watch some of those wild animals, namely the deer, slowly die of exhaustion and starvation as they struggled to pull themselves from brisket-deep snow, which goes to show that such animals are anything but free. They are locked in a battle with the elements for survival. On the other hand, well-fed animals housed in a controlled environment, provided with medical care, protected from predators are much better off. They get a more humane death from the ultimate predator, man, instead of being eaten alive by a pack of winter-gaunt coyotes. Speaking from 20 years experience working with caged chickens as well as with dairy cows, I can authoritatively declare: Animals who suffer will not produce. If dairy cows are mistreated, their milk production drops, and if chickens suffer cruelty, their egg production wanes. Caged chickens have never known any other kind of environment. They have been in confinement since the day they were hatched. This is a case where the adage holds true: “Anyone will get used to hanging, if they hang long enough.”
(Br.) JOHN O’DRISCOLL, OCSO
Peosta, Iowa
I am appalled by the angry picture of Sen. Hillary Clinton portrayed by Stephen Zunes in his opinion article (NCR, March 2). At a time when she is the front-runner for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination, this is an obvious hatchet job. Over the many years I have read NCR you have seemed to be fair and balanced in your political offerings. As for Sen. Clinton’s vote to go to war in Iraq, she has said, “If I had known then what I know now, I would not have voted for the war,” and, more important, that if she is elected, the first thing she will do is “end the war in Iraq,” reminding us of Dwight Eisenhower when he said, “If elected I will go to Korea.” I wonder if Mr. Zunes is having difficulty with the idea of a woman president. He will be in my prayers.
LAURA RYAN CALDWELL
Cleveland
Regarding the article “Study of priestly models” (NCR, Feb. 23): Can anyone imagine a medical or eye doctor, dentist or other professional being moved to another work site just because his/her time (for example, a six-year appointment) was completed and he/she had sworn “obedience” to a regional supervisor for his/her work site? Only in the church do we allow priests to be moved merely because a bishop wants to exercise power and control over them. The article says: “Catholics see the deployment of married clergy to be far more difficult, as it would need to accommodate the ages and education of children and employment of the spouse. As such, bishops would have much less freedom in moving married priests.” Exactly. And just another reason among many others for the shortage of priests. While the people of God understand competitive work practices in this country, the medieval-minded “church” continues to keep its “serfs” in bondage to their “Lord.”
PAUL J. ACKERMAN
Columbus, Miss.
Regarding Fr. Raymond Schroth’s media column (NCR, March 2): On weekdays as a 7-year-old I sold newspapers on a street corner. The Cincinnati Times Star and The Cincinnati Post each cost 3 cents. Mornings I would take my unsold newspapers and hawk them as I walked several blocks to a beer joint. Inside I shouted out something about the last chance to get the news. If I had earned 5 cents, I went up to the bartender and ordered a Coney Island, which was a hot dog on a bun with chili, onions and mustard. What a treat for a kid living in a big family during 1938. When I wasn’t selling the papers, I scanned them. How impressed was I by the logo at the top left -- something about light and truth. Later I was distressed to see the logo disappear from the masthead. In today’s institutions, truth has been brutalized. Profit has become our primary virtue.
DON SHEEHAN
Cincinnati
The recent church embezzlement stories breaking all over the country bring to mind the story often told among priests. Two pastors were chatting. One asked, “Joe, do you have your annual financial report finished yet?” “Which one?” was the reply. “The one I send to the bishop, the one I give to the people, or the real one?”
WILLIAM J. BOW
Riverside, N.J.
I’m a theologically progressive NCR subscriber and fan, but your March 2 “Last Words” feature -- based on a Page 3 story -- prompts me to write this caution. The story concerned the Newark, N.J., Catholic archbishop -- a hard-line theological traditionalist -- who’s winning praise for coauthoring a science-fiction adventure. His editor said: “It just tickles me, the idea of a science-fiction writer and his pal, the archbishop.” Whoa. An archbishop’s true measure is in his church governance, not in whether he’s a fun guy. This archbishop of a grimly poor diocese is a tough advocate of the Vatican birth control position, which is that -- for a fertile person -- absolutely every deliberate orgasm must occur under conditions that could cause a pregnancy. Otherwise, an eternally punishable sin against God has been committed. In the 21st century, this attitude itself seems like dangerous science fiction.
M. HOLASEK
Milwaukee
The name “Venezuela” has been fanned into a hot flame by U.S. pundits and politicians, but the article by Bart Jones, “Alarm over Chávez ignores Venezuelan complexity” (NCR, Feb. 15), was helpful. I was with the Witness for Peace delegation to Venezuela, Feb.16-25. From what my 17 companions and I saw and heard during those busy days, no doubt Mr. Jones is correct in identifying some of the complexities of that country. One thing is clear: The venom spewed from the United States is not helpful and less than honest. From what we saw and heard, there is hope among the poor majority who are being fed, given free access to health clinics and education, as well as microcredit loans especially to poor women, among other opportunities previously denied the poor.
(The Rev.) JAMES E. FLYNN
Park City, Utah
Phyllis Zagano’s essay “Trying to measure the unmeasurable” (NCR, Feb. 23) underscores what may be described as the creeping secularism in intellectual debate that is often thinly veiled anti-Catholicism. Lawrence Krauss’ attacks on religious faith versus scientific reasoning, as published in The Chronicle of Higher Education seem self-contradictory. As Ms. Zagano points out, Pope Benedict XVI’s talk at Regensburg expressed the church’s long tradition that reason and faith are compatible. Pope John Paul II’s encyclical, Fides et Ratio, articulated such a tradition in detail. But for Professor Krauss reason and faith have an odd, even an “oxymoronic,” connection. Rather than seeing one sharp (reason) and the other dull (faith), perhaps Professor Krauss might look at how and when they complement each other for the sake of deepening and widening human understandings.
The ongoing dialogue among those engaged in the Metanexus Institute funded by the Templeton Foundation is a case in point. In his essay when Professor Krauss called the priorities of the Templeton Foundation “ill-conceived,” he seems to be attempting to remove religion not only from academic debate but scientific research. As one engaged in research pertaining to the psychology of religion, I can attest to the field’s collaborative and fruitful incorporation of concepts and perspectives from both science and religion. Professor Krauss’ bias toward a reified reason in the academy eventually serves to limit one’s education as the processes and problems facing human thought and belief are neither addressed nor argued. The avoidance and suppression of such debates and dialogue do not bode well for future generations.
C. KEVIN GILLESPIE
Baltimore
Thomas Plante, in his book review of Perversion of Power: Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church (NCR, March 9), faults author Mary Frawley-O’Dea for focusing on the “historical, theological, and cultural factors of the church about which she is no expert,” rather than exploring the psychopathology of individual pedophiles. Can he have missed the point of Ms. Frawley-O’Dea’s book altogether? As a psychologist, Mr. Plante must be aware of the multitude of books on the psychology of sexual abusers. No psychologist other than Ms. Frawley-O’Dea, to my knowledge, has taken on the challenge of exploring the organizational dynamics that may have contributed to the cover-up of sexual abuse within the Catholic church for so many years. Thomas Plante takes exception to Ms. Frawley-O’Dea’s assertion “that many bishops and cardinals still do not ‘get it.’ ” I am saddened to see that Mr. Plante, psychologist though he may be, appears not to “get it” either.
JOAN E. SARNAT
Berkeley, 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, March 23, 2007