The following letters to the editor appear in the edition of June 3, 2004. Letters appearing in this space do not necessarily reflect the views of the Arlington Catholic Herald or the Catholic Diocese of Arlington. The editor reserves the right to edit letters as necessary. There is no guarantee of publication. Send letters to: letters@catholicherald.com.

Undermining Respect for the Eucharist

The article on Cardinal Mahony (ACH 5/13/04) exemplifies the serious problem existing in the Catholic Church today in the United States-dissent, even in high places. The Pope, various congregations and the American bishops have been constant in stating that it is a grave and clear obligation to oppose any law that attacks innocent human life. Disregarding these teachings is a grave sin (as Fr. Saunders so clearly states in his column of the same issue) and according to canon law: those "who obstinately persist in manifest grave sin are not to be admitted to holy Communion" (915). Yet Cardinal Mahony insists that what is utterly holy be given to those who support what is utterly base.

But the cardinal is "slightly mystified" as to why the Church is now holding politicians accountable. He is "mystified" like politicians are "personally opposed." His arguments are specious and his dissent strongly encourages those many culturally dominated Catholics who find dissent perfectly natural, each feeling free to judge the validity of Catholic teachings and so form a religion suitable to oneself. It is this free-wheeling attitude toward Church authority, authority sanctioned by the Holy Spirit, that allows many Catholics to accept abortion, divorce and contraception, which has caused the terrible scandal of clerical abuse of minors.

The cardinal is no stranger to dissent, gathering together every year the major dissenters for his catechetical congress, so his action is no surprise. But dissent has a price. When a Catholic asserts private insights against the Spirit-guided teachings of the Church he rejects the life-giving truth that Christ commissioned the Church to preach to all nations. His self-willed actions will be found to be in opposition to the will of God.

The cardinal says we should concentrate our efforts on education. What he doesn’t seem to realize is that many are being falsely educated when Communion is given to those who publicly support abortion. When these politicians are given the holy Eucharist then the message goes out that abortion is not such a terrible thing. Besides all the killing, pro-abortion politicians are also supporting the godless brave-new-world mentality found in Roe v. Wade: God is irrelevant on matters pertaining to human life; the state will decide, and so our right to life is no longer inalienable. The cardinal’s attitude toward the sanctity of life does great disservice to the faith and to the nation.

D.F. McNeill
Front Royal

A Warmonger

The inane diatribe of Remington's "Disgust Over Detainee Abuse" (ACH 5/27/04) was unworthy of publication. It reads like snippets from antiwar posters going back to the 60's. Too bad she wasn't around to offer her world peace solutions to Mussolini, Hitler, Stalin, Mao Tse-tung or even to Sadam. She seems to suggest that if we all make nice to Lucifer, he will revert to being God's adoring angel. She offers her personal solutions but left out kicking the dog, blowing up the Statue of Liberty and leaving a nasty note for the mail man.

Of course, the HERALD and all the newspapers are filled with pictures of our aged, vicious warriors who desecrated Europe, the Pacific and elsewhere in decades past. I do find it odd that she mention the sign by Nicholas Berg's father with not a hint that the young man's head was cut off by whom — some good guys?

And, her solution of leaving her country: would she have Jesus leave us at a time of great need? I think, likely, no. May I respectfully and prayerfully suggest she use Jesus' examples in a positive, not self indulgent, way for peace and that the gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit are ever with us, surely at what may appear to the writer as the worst of times.

Finally, who is this "we" to whom she refers. She would hold the entire "we" of the nation as warmongers.

William F. Cavender, M.D.

Encouraging Words

My parents were longtime members of St. Charles in Arlington and all of my siblings have attended Catholic schools there.  While I now live in California, I continue to read the HERALD with great interest. The Bishop's homily on cultivating the peace of Christ was near and dear to my heart. His words, "the more open to the Holy Spirit we are, the more we are able to receive Christ's peace and become peacemakers" were of great consolation in these tragic times when many of us feel that we are just voices in the wilderness.

Marie Montavon Collins
Crestline, CA

Focus on Prisoners

As a practicing Catholic, I was very dismayed at article regarding Iraq prisoners (ACH 5/27/04). Yours is the first reference I have seen to the word "torture." With so many other things going on in our Church, your worrying about a few prisoners in Iraq makes little sense. Albert Hunt's commentary in Thursday's Wall Street Journal should give us pause. As a conservative Catholic, I am tremendously disappointed in the impression our bishops are putting on the Church while our internal issues have been swept under the rug.
Jim Cummings

Over Reacting

Mary Rose Remington's remarks (ACH 5/27/04) concerning the prisoner abuse scandal in Iraq seemed to verge on hysteria to the point of threatening to leave the country. Although the behavior of a few rogue army reservists to humiliate a handful of Iraqi detainees is indeed despicable, but to threaten to leave the country seems to be at least an over reaction. The millions of babies that are massacred in legal abortion is much more reprehensible; but, I do not recall reading any threats to leave the U.S.A. in reaction to this wholesale slaughter.

Pete Kapitan
Kilmarnock

Veterans and Prisoners

When a handful of U.S. soldiers mistreats Iraqi POWs, it is the lead story in the HERALD, interestingly enough, placed directly under the photo of the WWII memorial to be dedicated this Memorial Day weekend (ACH 5/27/04). (Why not some more gratitude for the veterans who kept us free from Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, and Tojo's Japan, instead?)
It is very interesting how conversely, the brutal, disgusting beheading of Nick Berg is buried in the paper, not even worthy of a title. There was also no mention of Sergeant Donald Walters, a U.S. soldier, who, as a POW in Iraqi hands, was murdered with two shots in the back.
Will you make a comparison between Abu Graib and Sergeant Walters, or will you continue to shed crocodile tears over the mistreatment by U.S. soldiers whose actions are being addressed? Or, perhaps, it is so unimaginable that this great nation would mistreat prisoners that it is headline news, and the fact that those who hate us would butcher Nick Berg and Sergeant Walters is no big deal.
Gerard Zapiain
Woodbridge

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