Letters: Nov. 29, 1968

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Church in Crisis

Sir: Exalt ye citizens of the secular state, for the Roman Catholic Bishops of the U.S., supposedly in communion with the See of Peter, have essentially repudiated the legitimate teachings of the Roman Pontiff [Nov. 22]. Who knows, these enlightened individuals may next choose to elect their own "assistant Pope" who somehow will share the teaching authority of the Pontiff. And someday the Church of Rome may be declared to be nothing more than a schismatic sect!

GERALD MICHAEL SCHNABEL Assistant Professor of History Bemidji State College Bemidji, Minn.

Sir: "Saintly reformers" among the dissidents in the Catholic Church? You've got to be kidding. When did the church ever canonize anyone for pride and disobedience? It is the Holy Father who is holding the church together. Nowadays, everyone is infallible but the Pope.

And what's this about traditional Catholics being "peasants" and uneducated? I happen to be a college graduate, but I'd rather be a humble peasant than a vainglorious "do-it-yourself" theologian.

DOROTHY BRODINE New Rochelle, N.Y.

Sir: Life for everyone is enough of a struggle. Human beings need a religion based on compassion and understanding, as opposed to one that emphasizes the threat of hell. Catholicism will truly be tried when it unshackles the compact majority and forces it to make its own decisions on matters of faith and morals. The hierarchy may discover that this majority would indeed be harder on itself than the institution would ever dare to be.

A historian said: "There is nothing wrong with religion, it just hasn't been tried yet." If he were alive, I think he might agree that it is being tried now.

CONSTANCE MALAK Madison, Wis.

Sir: The Vatican's inflexibility with respect to altering long-held dogmas should surprise no one. The whole Ecumenical movement has never resulted in any substantial changes, only in talk about changes. The rulings that the Mass may be sung in English, that it isn't a sin to eat meat on Friday, and that the Jews didn't kill Christ after all, are hardly of major importance. On all the significant issues—birth control, divorce, abortion, censorship —the church hasn't budged an inch.

GARDNER WHITCOMB Manhattan

Sir: Perhaps Cardinal O'Boyle is at least partly correct when he says that many of us wish to tear down everything and put nothing in its place. We do, indeed, put "no thing" in its place. We put what we find to be true relationship with God there. And that's not a "thing." We find it a very real abstract.

If we continue to communicate our conscientious internalizations of faith with one another, we will continue to see the natural, healthy tension that is keeping—or making—us more alive than we've been in years. And it's great to be alive!

CHARLES F. LIST Catechist

Our Lady Queen of All Saints School of Religion Fraser, Mich.

Imperial Image

Sir: This likeness of the Emperor Vespasian [979 A.D.] from the Bardo Museum in Tunis, may well interest any of your Texas readers who are themselves concerned with their place in history.

JAMES LOCK Halifax, England

Looking Forward