Letters, Jan. 3, 1938

"What of it?"

Sirs: TIME of Dec. 6 tells us how a certain Orthodox priest mended the leak in his church roof with so many rolls of paper & tar. But what of it? Three years ago, while we were collecting (& am still collecting for the matter of that) enough to re-roof our 12th-Century church, our roof began to leak so badly that something had to be done about it. The leads with the ages were worn paper-thin and were full of holes. I went up on the roof & covered the whole area with Devonshire clay. Nor has the roof leaked since. Cost? Nil. I washed my own pants.

J. H. HARVEY Cadeleigh Rectory North Tiverton Devon, England

Carpatho-Russian Schism

Sirs: Credit is due TIME [Dec. 6] for giving news of the Carpatho-Russian schism [Between Bishop Takach and priests who wanted him to appeal a Vatican order forbidding bishops to appoint married priests to Greek Rite posts.—ED.]. But why not keep the news clear of subjective coloring, in this case very inaccurate and misleading?

I am well acquainted with American Ruthenians (Carpatho-Russian Catholics). During three years in Rome, 1933-36, I used my opportunities to learn their history, liturgy, views; saw them in their sanctuary, on the stage, across the table; have eaten, smoked, drunk beer, talked, argued with them; studied about them in a Canon Law course. . . .

Why does TIME picture the saintly Pope Pius X as "feeling that a minority of married priests might cause envy among celibate Catholic priests?" In his apostolic letter (1907) he gives no hint of such squint-eyed feeling. No Catholic priest with good sense has given up home and family to spend the rest of his life envying married priests. . . .

Egregiously, TIME erred in making celibacy the reason for the recent revolt (cf. caption and the article, passim). Originators of this revolt had been censured not on grounds of celibacy, but for disobedience and other disciplinary infractions. Personal enmity with the bishop was at the bottom of it all. There has been a feud between the old-country dioceses of Munkačevo and Preŝov. The Bishop is from Munkačevo; all the revolters from Preŝov. The leader refused to leave his parish when transferred; another, excommunicated for heresy and agitation to revolt; a third, parish assistant, schemed with members of the parish to oust the pastor, then was successively transferred, suspended, excommunicated, all for insubordination not connected with celibacy. Yet they claim to be "martyrs of celibacy."

JAMES W. RICHARDSON

St. Mary's Seminary Perryville, Mo.

Reader Richardson is entitled to his conclusions about the friction within the Carpatho-Russian Church, of which there is plenty. Says the Catholic Encyclopedia of U. S. Ruthenian factions: "None . . . ever agree upon any one subject other than their Slavic nationality and Greek Rite."—ED.

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