From major Robert Near re media.

I very much enjoy Catholic Insight, and agree entirely with your March 2002 editorial about the near impossibility of seeing in the Canadian media any point of view that challenges liberal secular values. So you are quite right about Catholic Insight being well worth its subscription price!

I further value the magazine as a source of instruction in the Catholic faith, as well as being a means for keeping informed on developments in the Church. It is especially useful for providing knowledge and information on what the Church expects of its members--both priests and the lay faithful-- with respect to worship practices and the ministry of the sacraments.

The latest "missive" from the pastor of St. Martin de Porres parish here in Ottawa is titled, "Why do we stand at Mass?" As you know, St. Martin's under its current pastor, Fr. Dan Hawkins, strives to be at the leading edge of the "new model" Church, which was so accurately described in the March 2001 edition of Catholic Insight. The excessive emphasis on laity and community, coupled with the abandonment of reverence and sanctity during Mass, forced me to leave St. Martin's.

Nonetheless, because of weekend minor hockey schedules, I still periodically attend there. The wisdom of my decision to leave it however, was confirmed last Sunday. Just before the final prayer and blessing, we in the pews experienced the spectacle of a man wearing chef's hat and apron, and waving a big cooking fork, stride up to the altar to announce that the Knights of Columbus would be serving breakfast after Mass. That such a profane act (with accompanying quips and laughter) would occur while the Mass had not yet concluded is representative of the attitude towards the sacred which characterizes St. Martin's.

Ottawa, ON