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Contents © 2006
by Jim Holman.
All rights reserved.
LETTERS
January 2006
TOO MANY SAY AND DO NOTHING
I heartily concur with Victor Claveau's observations on the failure of Proposition 73. [See "The Bishops Have Failed," Letters, December 2005.] While we here in the diocese of Fresno were encouraged to support Proposition 73, I detected a great deal of individual apathy toward the issues involved.
Having been involved in the pro-life effort for over twenty years, I have learned not to depend on the support of my fellow Catholics for help in this area. Why is this? Is it an overriding desire for assimilation? Is it moral cowardice? Is it poor catechesis? Is it a secret desire not to eliminate an evil that one may need recourse to, if circumstances dictate? I do not know. We have individually courageous priests (my own parish priest among them), who will go to the wall on this issue. But there are too many (like our own "beloved" Cardinal Mahony, who will burn incense to political correctness) who will say and do nothing. Our so-called "Catholic" politicians, who merely trim their sails to the winds of popularity and party pressure, are worse than useless.
I can only pray that the Holy Spirit and our Holy Father will continue to try to repair the rot that has crept into our Church. The pope has made some good moves in this direction (instruction on ordination of homosexuals, etc.), but a huge amount of work needs to be done. I would also hope that our "shepherds" would forget their careers and focus on the jobs that they were consecrated to do, rather than pandering to the world. Keep up the fight! Cheers, Victor.
Dave Jones,
Inyokern
BISHOPS AND PAGAN WORSHIP
In your November 2005 "News" section, you had an item on a "Native American blessing" of the altar space at a recent episcopal ordination Mass in San Bernardino. This reminded me of the televised prayer service Cardinal Mahony had for the newly elected mayor, in which a Native American was performing some sort of ritual in the cathedral. I am sure that Blessed Junipero Serra is looking down with great joy to see the fruits of his missionary work.
What sort of bishop can think it is permissible or valuable to have pagan worship around an altar? Do our Southern California bishops really believe that pagan worship is pleasing to God?
Michael Soejoto,
Los Angeles
EVEN GOLF?
I would like to disagree with Cardinal Roger Mahony, who in his September 4 letter to clergy says the Church is facing a shortage of priests. [See "Revolution," November 2005 Mission.]
This statement is made by our Church in America, which has created the shortage for its own reasons. In India there are many men who want to be priests because their country believes in traditional Catholic teaching. And if they were to come to America, our priests would be obliged to conform to a higher standard. Possibly even given up golf!
Craig Galik,
Duquesne, Pennsylvania