A senile church.

In his article "Information Deficit" (March 12), Andrew Greeley describes an organism--the Catholic Church--that is detached from conditions around it, responds to imaginary threats, and dwells in memories of a monarchial past. If this organism were a human being, we might conclude that it suffers from senile dementia.

A particularly ominous note is Greeley's observation that "many Catholic women who are devout and active in their parish think the church hates women." The problem likely extends to the laity in general. Each issue of Commonweal seems to have an example of devout, intelligent, and articulate lay Catholics who feel that they are dismissed by a church that regards them as noisy, disrespectful children. The problem, then, is not an information deficit but a cognitive deficit.

One source of the problem may have been identified in the letter from Fr. Ernest Ranly ("Veritas vincit," Correspondence, March 26). There, Ranly says of Pope John Paul II, "His writings do not reflect a moderate realism based on human experience. Rather, the pope has a quasi-neo-Platonic epistemology that supplies him with an a priori certainty of truth."

To function in a state of reality is a fundamental requirement for the healthy continuation of any organism. Unfortunately, that is not the present state of the church. Until that is attained, the steps suggested by Greeley will not be helpful or even possible.

JOHN GALLAGHER

Westminster, Calif.