LETTERS
2001 LETTERS
December
November
October
September
July/August
June
May
April
March
February
January
ARTICLES
NEWS
ROAMIN' CATHOLIC
Contents © 2001
by Jim Holman.
All rights reserved.
LETTERS
APRIL 2001
EVERYTHING WAS NORMAL
Thank you for publishing the news story about the Bakersfield woman who intended to abort her baby because of her fears of Down syndrome [see News, February 2001 Mission]. For your information, her amniocentesis results came back, and everything was completely normal! (It is so disgusting to think of how many women have false fears raised by these inaccurate AFP tests and then abort their babies.) "Kimber" has contacted us several times since and is very happy and looking forward to her baby's birth.
One slight correction to your news item: she talked to Family Planning Associates, not Planned Parenthood, about the abortion.
Tim Palmquist
LifeSavers Ministries,
Bakersfield
THE CHURCH IS NOT EMASCULATED
While I (ex-Marine officer, wannabe athlete, and father of athletes) understand the emotional and visceral response of Joe O'Brien's demand for "total" masculinity in the Catholic Church [see "Letters," March 2001 Mission], I think he spouts a view of Catholicism that I've never seen in my 67 years of life.
Yes, I remember well my father saying, "I do not want to see you embracing another man unless you're tackling him on the football field or wrestling him on the mat." The Marine Corps is used to that -- "if Marines were to have wives, they would have issued them to us." I love my father and I love the Marine Corps; but society has gone beyond the cave. And so has our Church.
The bishops have repeatedly spoken on love, as it is the cornerstone of our faith. I won't proof-text the scriptures to enlighten Mr. O'Brien, but the greatest spokesperson we have for pushing non-violence (a part of love) is Sister Helen Prejean. She espouses the gospel of life regarding abortion, capital punishment and euthanasia.
If Mr. O'Brien wants to be introduced to the Catholic faith, he should understand that "the God of the Bible loves all persons unconditionally." The only ones Jesus pointed at, I remember, were the hypocrites. "He, who is without sin, cast the first stone."
I don't think the Church is emasculated. As Maritain has said, "we go through the fog to learn more about the objects of our sight and senses." Mr. O'Brien, journey with us to truly understand a Christ-centered faith.
Thomas M. Whaling,
Lake Forest
POPSICLE STICK CATECHETICS
The cardinal's efforts to push conservatives out are not limited to the seminaries. [See "It Was Us Against Them," March Mission.] I spent several weeks in one of these silly "catechist formation" classes in 1997. When one of the instructors supported women priests, I asked her why I should listen to her and not the pope? She had no answer. There were other such incidents and, finally, I left the class. Not only was much of what they said doctrinally suspect, but the class itself was punctuated with silliness (like building little churches with popsicle sticks).
I was so frustrated that I dropped out. Fortunately, my director of religious education did not make me leave teaching (I did leave at the end of school year 98/99 for other reasons). There is a very clear attempt to move conservatives out of every aspect of the Church in Los Angeles.
There are so many examples that one could fill a book with them. I now live in Orange County but was still attending my old parish in La Mirada (St. Paul of the Cross). My wife and I left that parish last week when they would no longer permit us to kneel after the Agnus Dei and during communion. We now go to mass in the diocese of Orange where things are marginally better.
I agree completely with your assessment that most priests (as well as the majority of the laity) do not like what is going on at all. Once we get a more conservative bishop, then I am certain the archdiocese will gladly dispense with these "foxes who are destroying the vineyard" and the devastation they are wreaking. Perhaps this explains the stridency with which the true liberals are trying to bury conservatives.
Cardinal Mahony certainly does need our prayers and conservatives like myself need to pray for the patience God once granted to Job.
Joe Rubio,
Fullerton
AN OPPRESSION OF THE DEVIL
First, I would like to say, regarding your article on Bishop Brown and Father Coleman [see "Damnable Falsehood," February 2001 Mission] that the words "homosexual people, person, and, woman" are misnomers when they are used to indicate or state that any people are born, or are innately, homosexual. The truth is that people are oppressed by homosexual spirits and they manifest that oppression through their thoughts, words and actions. God only creates heterosexual people -- He created them male and female. And that's it. We do need to love each other with Christ's love, and we need to know and to understand that His love heals and divides.
When one is not in agreement with God, one is against Him. We do not like being unsettled, but that is how we are when we are in rebellion against Him and His commandments and His love. It is then, during the time of our separating and separation from Him due to our sin, that we look to man-made laws for comfort and peace. For a time, we may have comfort and peace from the rule of man-made law, but it is only for a while and it will not be the lasting comfort of the Father's love, nor will it be the enduring peace of His Holy Spirit. For we cannot receive Our Lord Jesus Christ while in the state of sin; we can ask Him for His help out of the sin we are in at any time, and He will gladly and joyously give it to us.
Look and see. I Corinthians 6:9-11 says that sodomites and idolaters, fornicators and adulterers, thieves and drunkards, slanderers and robbers and misers -- referring to those who refuse the merciful forgiveness of God -- none of these will inherit the kingdom of God. Why? Because Jesus Christ is our inheritance, and there is no sin in Him. Those who choose to remain in sin, cannot receive Him and His kingdom -- for He has said the kingdom of God is within. All people guilty of the above-named sins can find forgiveness through the mercy of our God -- for Paul tells us so right in the quotation from I Corinthians. We can all be cleansed, washed, consecrated, and justified in the name of Our Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God. Seek God with all your heart, and He will answer you. He did me.
We have a problem here in the response of the Catechism of the Catholic Church concerning homosexuality and the persons affected by this tendency, condition, compulsion: it is that there is no advice on how one can be set free from these depraved desires. While the teaching does say that homosexuality's "psychological genesis remains largely unexplained," there is no mention of any spiritual, demonic origin of oppression as cause. One after another of our fellow Christians are being attacked in this way -- just think of the teenagers being afflicted and when they go to the Catholic catechism for help, all they see is that they are in the homosexual condition for life and that to stay in union with the Church, they just practice self-mastery for the rest of their lives. All of us must practice self-mastery in all areas of our lives, but that is only a partial solution for those of us who are demonically oppressed. Being wholly set free from the oppression is the answer.
The actions of us Christians in the past have been very wrong in that we have only presented hatred and fear towards people who are under this oppression. If the Roman Catholic Church had sought God for healing and deliverance as needed for people suffering in this way, rather than teaching them to be resigned to their condition, how much of God's love and goodness would have been forthcoming. How much healing could have taken place. We are called to be healers in Christ's own name as he leads us by His Holy Spirit. We are called to go forth and do the work He has called us to do.
It is wholly wrong before God for any bishop or priest to support in any way the "homosexual lifestyle." It is understood that any priests out of fear might not speak up against what their bishops say, for they get their bread and butter from him. Dearest priests and bishops who are true lovers of God, will you place your hearts and souls before God and ask Him to be your full provider, and then will you speak up and speak out for God and for the salvation of his people who listen to you in your parishes? So many of His little lambs are being led astray by shepherds who refuse to look and refuse to speak. Stand up for His people who need to be set free.
Claudia-Marie Person,
Sacramento
Editor's note: The Church is very cautious in offering hope of deliverance in this life from sinful desires, or concupiscence. We know not God's will for individuals; it may be the lot of some to suffer under various oppressions -- even sinful desires -- until death. St. Paul said as much (II Corinthians 12:7-9) when he spoke of a "thorn" in his flesh: "thrice I besought the Lord that it might depart from me. And he said to me: My grace is sufficient for thee: for power is made perfect in infirmity."
SCANDALS MIRROR SCANDALS
We are deeply grateful to the Mission for its courage and diligence in defending Catholic faith and traditions. A few comments, regarding two news items in yesterday's (February 13) Los Angeles Times report of Cardinal Mahony's involvement in the Clinton pardon of drug dealer Carlos Vignali and, also, the Mission's article in the February 2001 issue regarding Bishop Tod Brown's promulgation of the homosexual-agenda writings of Father Gerald D. Coleman.
It is ironic that these unfolding scandals so nearly mirror the scandals now swirling around former President Bill Clinton. In questions of morality, there is not only Clinton's blatant womanizing to consider, but also his militant promotion of the gay and lesbian agenda -- and doesn't that later immorality mirror Bishop Brown's causing scandal by mandating the publication of the pro-homosexuality writings of Father G. D. Coleman in not only the official Orange county diocesan newspaper, but among the clergy as well?
In questions of corruption, doesn't Cardinal Mahony's involvement in attempting to further the political ambitions of questionable Clinton-friendly legislators and politicians by soliciting on their behalf the pardon of an inter-state drug dealer, raise yet another specter -- that of possible archdiocesan corruption and quid pro quo favors? (For example, how much did those legislators and politicians, did the drug-dealer's father, contribute to Cardinal Mahony's cathedral project?)
In questions of self-aggrandizement, doesn't Cardinal Mahony's cathedral bring to mind Bill Clinton's proposed presidential library? That is, important men using questionable means to raise money for their own self-aggrandizement? And in Orange County, is not Bishop Brown also busy formulating plans to build his cathedral?
In the face of this type of brazen degeneration within the Church, is it any wonder that there are so few vocations?
Paul and Susan Stone,
Santa Ana
START YOUR OWN CHURCH.
In trying to be charitable -- let's just say Monsignor Edward Kavanaugh is not the brightest guy in the world -- more like a big bull in a china shop. [The writer refers to a Pro-Life America advertisement that has appeared in recent months in the Mission.] He is wrong, and you should check your facts.
Also, I thought people went to Mass to worship God, but you have given us another reason -- to see who serves, who reads, how they dress -- all the wrong reasons, according to my education, and I have been at this for 45 years. I am not a rebel, but I am not a manipulator, cheat, or liar.
You people have as much class as a modern ex-president. It's too bad that the pope did not know about you before he made Cardinal Mahony archbishop of Los Angeles. One of you would be so much better. All the time I thought the Church was guided by the Holy Spirit -- how did the Spirit of Wisdom miss you?
I feel sorry for you. He that will not hear the Church! Like so many others like you in history, there won't be a word about you in a few years. If you want to make a little mark in history, start your own church. At least a few will remember you that way.
There are none so blind as those who will not look. Of course, your church never heard of charity.
anonymous
RESPECTED BY WHOM?
Bishop Tod Brown is typical of the misguided liberals in the Church in his defense of flaky theologian Father Gerald D. Coleman. Coleman is the rector of the almost empty, dying St. Patrick's seminary of the archdiocese of San Francisco. Jesus' words come to mind, "by their fruits you shall know them."
Bishop Brown states, "Father Coleman is a highly regarded and respected theologian in the United States." One should ask -- is Father Coleman highly regarded and respected by heretics and dissenters? I cannot imagine any faithful, orthodox, loyal Catholics having any respect for those who confuse or promote false doctrines.
On the bright side, I truly enjoyed the very inspiring article, "I Wasn't Alone" [February 2001 Mission], about John David Black coming into the Catholic Church. What a moving story! Would that so many, ignorant, lazy and luke-warm Catholics read his marvelous testimony and be moved by the Holy spirit to spread the truths of the one, holy Catholic and Apostolic Church that Jesus established.
C. N. Santos,
Atascadero
WHEN TRUE REFORM
WILL COME
Well, hooray for the Mission! You had fine articles in your March 2001 issue. I was particularly pleased to see the piece, "It Was Us Against Them," about the left's aggressive efforts to weed out orthodox seminarians from St. John's Seminary, Camarillo. It is important to identify the nefarious activities of such persons as vocations director, Sister Kathy Bryant, and to lay the blame at the feet of the man ultimately responsible, Cardinal Roger Mahony.
Loyal Roman Catholics in Southern California need to face the facts -- Cardinal Mahony and many of those in his employ (including his yes-man bishop here in Orange County, Tod Brown) are enemies of the Faith of our Fathers. We can and should pray for Mahony's conversion, but most likely true reform will only come with his removal from office. Please God, that day will come soon!
Tom Davis
Tustin
NEW PROTESTANTS
The life story of the now schismatic independent Sister Mary Alphonsa [see "Ballet Was My First Convent," January 2001 Mission] was so interesting. Her search for an authentic Catholicism led her straight outside of the Catholic Church and the teachings of Pope John Paul II. Her vows were approved by schismatic Bishop Bernard Fellay of the Society of St. Pius X. I wonder how much of this is going on unreported?
Don't these independent Catholics know that they are now new Protestants? They think that they are the Church independent of Rome. So was King Henry VIII of England.
We are really living in some historically interesting times.
Dr. Alan Albert Snow, Th.D.
Balboa Island
A SAD EXPOSÉ
Thank you for the complimentary copy of the Mission. I did not know that your newspaper existed. What a blessing to have an alternative to the propagandist, error-spreading Tidings. Your hard-hitting exposé of the conspiracy to destroy Saint Vibiana's cathedral was so sad. I hope and pray that some day Mass will again be celebrated in Saint Vibiana's.
James M. Berkery,
Westlake Village
PRINT SPACE FOR LIUZZI
The continuing battle with Father Peter Liuzzi and his homosexualist agenda will never be won by faithful Catholics as long as you let him write on his own terms. The article in the March LA Mission, "Dishonest and Unfair," while attempting to show Father Liuzzi's muddying of Church teaching, continually allows him to use the term "sexual orientation". Although (and maybe because) these terms have unfortunately been used in Church documents, Father Liuzzi puts his own spin on the term as essentially meaning that there is a "homosexual orientation" and a "heterosexual orientation." That is nonsense. God created man and woman -- heterosexuals -- for a purpose. Those homosexualists who like to promote the "born that way" concept are happy to yammer on and on about "orientation" so that the average, compassionate and caring Catholic will be confused about the whole issue and be misled into believing that "they can't help being that way", or think what is even worse, "God made them that way." If you are going to be giving Fr. Liuzzi print space, please define the terms and clarify their legitimacy first.
Laurette Elsberry,
Sacramento
Editor's note: The term "orientation" is neutral in regard to good and evil. An orientation is a certain "ordering" or inclination of a person -- Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary defines it as "a usually general or lasting direction of thought, inclination, or interest." Thus, one may have an orientation towards something good or towards something evil. In either case, it is still an orientation. Homosexuality is an orientation toward an objective moral evil -- for that reason, it is a disorder.