LETTERS.

Who's who in your community?

I REALLY ENJOY U.S. CATHOLIC. THE JULY INTERVIEW with Sister Maria Elena Gonzalez, R.S.M. ("That all may be one") offers readers a topic that is long overdue. I am a resident of California. Five years ago, California passed a discriminatory law directed specifically at Hispanics. The California court system would later find it unconstitutional. But still the fact remains that the public voted for it.

As a public school history teacher, I address the issues of social justice as a common thread that ties us with the past and the present. I find the poignant interview with Sister Gonzalez hit the bull's-eye.

I think each parish should assess its own community, determine its ethnic makeup, and develop an educational program that would integrate its people.

Craig Kelso

Paso Robles, Calif.

I found the articles covering multiculturalism and the need for interculturalism very informative and much needed by the average parish and parishioners.

I am a recently retired registered nurse. At the hospital where I worked, all of the staff were required to attend a workshop on multiculturalism two years ago, which chiefly addressed the fact that different cultures have differing definitions behind certain actions that we interpret as normal for us. And how important it is as caretakers to be knowledgeable about this and not take for granted whatever our patients are trying to communicate to us.

It is so necessary to understand the differences in cultures that do exist so we do not unintentionally alienate or isolate patients, making them feel even more vulnerable.

Pat Federowicz

Apalachin, N.Y.

Spiritual development

Tom McGrath's inspired words in the article "How to pass on the articles of faith" (June) are a breath of fresh air blowing through the windows and doors opened by Pope John XXIII. Contemporary Catholicism is a matter of seeing with clear eyes the mysterious and miraculous ways God communicates through the simple and ordinary events of daily life.

McGrath invites us to reflect on basic family relationships as revelatory encounters with the deepest parts of life. Our children of this new millennium are the most taken-for-granted, overlooked, and pushed-aside generation of youngsters in human history. Yes, notice them and lead them toward experiences of the deeper life. Expose them to special people--good relatives, neighbors, and friends--and let God work divine magic.

I love how McGrath captured the heart of the matter through underlining those first powerful years of life. Would that we--all of us, old and young--acknowledge and treasure the opportunities that are right there and not rush by the million dollar bill that gently lies atop the grass as we run by to catch seeming success in a world quite rich in gross national product, but perhaps poor in human spirit.

David M. Thomas

Highlands Ranch, Colo.

McGrath addressed a question I hear about in every parish mission we give: How do we pass on the articles of faith to the next generation?

After reading the article, McGrath got me "what-iffing" him. What if the up-close, as well as the extended, family has already lost the practice of our faith? What if the extended family is too extended? What if the extended family is the TV set? What if the practice of having a prayer book where people keep their prayer cards is long gone? What if we are missing new faith behaviors as we are only seeing and feeling disappointments at lost ones?

Then as I reread the article, I heard some answers that I missed the first time around. Pray together. Do things together. Do your homework. Make some sacrifices, and get some extended family visits in--especially to older relatives who are faith folks. Volunteer to teach religion to the young on the local scene.

Realize that everyday moments can be faith moments: eating our daily bread; doing for each other; determining boundaries for our kids' actions; hearing each other saying "I'm sorry."

Father Andy Costello

Lima, Ohio 

God forgives

I am writing to thank you folks at U.S. CATHOLIC for publishing the article "Stop this in memory of me" (June) by Sister Camille D'Arienzo, R.S.M., my friend and spiritual advisor.

God has blessed me so very much, and one of those many blessings is the friends He has sent into my life who are members of the Catholic Church. My stay on death row has been made easier because of these friendships, the visits I've received from my Catholic friends and spiritual advisors, and the hundreds of cards and letters that I have received from around the world--most recently as a result of Sister D'Arienzo's article being published in U.S. CATHOLIC.

I have now taken steps to have my appeal dismissed and proceed to my expeditious execution.

God knows my heart. He has forgiven me, and after 23 years of continuous incarceration, I'm ready to go home, to heaven, for then I will be forever free.

David Paul Hammer 

Terre Haute, Ind.

Thanks for D'Arienzo's thought-provoking article. We must balance and increase our concern for the families of murder victims and our belief that all human life--not just innocent life--is sacred. The Commandment does not say: Thou shalt not kill, except for capital punishment.

Don Zirkel

Farmingdale, N. Y.

A Mass a day ...

I liked Joel Schorn's Practicing Catholic article "Don't get lost in the big city" (June). I have been a daily communicant for almost three years, and it has changed my life for the better. In today's world, we need all the help we can get.

I encourage every reader to make an effort today and every day to go to Mass. If you work far from your home parish, call some closer parishes for Mass times.

Kim Scarola

Miami, Fla.

Bombs away

The Sounding Board by Bishop Leroy Matthiesen "Let's do away with nuclear bombs now" (April) was magnificent. Matthiesen became known in the Catholic peace movement when he condemned the making of nuclear bombs at the Pantex plant in his diocese of Amarillo, Texas.

In their peace pastoral, "The Challenge of Peace," the United States Catholic bishops called for a whole new attitude in addressing the nuclear question.

Almost 20 years have passed, and government policy continues to be entrenched in the fallacy that nuclear weapons make us safer. The very opposite is true. Now our government wants to spend $60 billion to create a missile defense system that is marginal at best.

Hats off to Matthiesen. The path to peace involves the disarming of nuclear bombs and their total elimination.

"Let's do away with nuclear bombs now" is still another prophetic and clarion call for a whole new way of thinking in terms of nuclearism. Even present-day Russia is a step ahead of us in this regard.

Bishop-President Walter F. Sullivan

Pax Christi U.S.A

Richmond, Va.

I support Matthiesen's position. The use of nuclear weapons, even in so-called justified war, is evil.

There is no question that nuclear warheads may not be used in offensive war, and even in a defensive war there is no way that the use of nuclear warheads can be justified because of their potential for mass destruction, especially to civilians. Even the threat to use atomic weapons is immoral.

The only conclusion that can be drawn is that it is wrong to even possess nuclear weapons. They must be abolished entirely.

Bishop Raymond A. Lucker

New Ulm, Minn.

Please address letters for publication to You May Be Right, 205 W. Monroe St., Chicago, IL 60606. Or fax your comments to 312-236-8207. You can also e-mail us at [e-mail]. We will withhold names upon request, but all letters must be signed. We regret that space limitations force us to condense letters and prevent us from publishing letters commenting on already published letters.

The editors

Where are our table manners?

U.S. CATHOLIC readers wanted to continue the conversation on the June Sounding Board, which argued that the Catholic Church should change its strict rules against eucharistic sharing with non-Catholics. The following is a sampling of their responses:

Your June Sounding Board ("Let's stop posting bouncers at the table of the Lord'" by Meinrad Scherer-Emunds) was superb; A tradition is genuinely alive when it elicits and sustains such intelligent criticism of its own failures. There is nothing quite so characteristically, wonderfully Catholic than taking Communion seriously enough to get mad when the power of the sacrament is distorted by all the rules and regulations you describe--or by the behavior recounted in the letters from readers.

I once heard a Communion announcement that bettered even the Lutheran invitation you quoted: "Come all who hunger and thirst, you are welcome at the table of the Lord." A profound, unquestioning welcome not only true to the gospels, it is also distinctively Catholic. We take the sacrament seriously enough to trust its uncanny power to shape someone's life.

Who are we to blockade the fire of the Lord? Demanding a membership card trivializes the sacrament.

It's reading stuff like this in U.S. CATHOLIC that makes me feel I really do belong in this church after all.

Catherine Wallace

Skokie, Ill.

The reason Lutherans and other Protestants do not receive the Body and Blood of our Lord at Communion is quite simple: They do not believe in one of the central doctrines of the Catholic Church--transubstantiation. Since they do not accept this, why on earth do they want to accept Communion at Mass?

To receive Communion means you accept Christ and his church in its entirety, which our Protestant brothers and sisters clearly do not.

And for Catholics to receive Communion at services outside of the Catholic realm is to accept those beliefs as well. Though I would love to see the day when all people feel welcomed at a celebration of the liturgy, this should not be achieved at cost to the sacred sanctity of our church.

Annie Starkus

Durant, Okla.

Bravo on your courage in publishing the article on bouncers in the church. You cite my remarks in The Tablet about the Holy Father giving Communion to six Lutheran bishops. The archbishop who told me that was just as shocked as I was.

Recently, it is becoming increasingly clear that there is a frightening division between the ideals of the pope and those of the curia. The Holy Father seems much more open and pastoral in his concerns. He is trying hard to heal wounds among Christians, and also to heal wounds in the church. His giving Communion to Lutheran bishops and allowing Eucharist to married couples of different denominations are dramatic expressions of that concern.

Unfortunately, so many curial promulgations are undermining the pope's bold attempts at bringing Christians closer to one another and are making the Eucharist a cruel sign of division rather than unity. If doctrinal purity is a requirement for Eucharist, the day may come when a vast number of Catholics may be turned away because of questionable beliefs, not to mention those already excluded because of irregular marriages.

When Jesus said he was the Good Shepherd who goes out in search of the bruised and hurting sheep and carries them back home, I cannot imagine him, after carrying them back home, then telling them to go sit in the corner while the rest of the family has supper.

Father Joseph F. Girzone

Altamont, N. Y.

I'm in complete disagreement with you. I'm an orthodox Catholic, not a raving reactionary, but after reading this type of intellectualized drivel, I can see why some get this way.

It's not a matter of making people "feel good" to take the Body and Blood of Christ, it's a matter of being in communion with the church Jesus instituted. To allow others to receive is tantamount to saying it just doesn't matter.

Barbara Klipa Westland, Mich.

The church should read John 6:1-14 and ponder on it. When the multitude came to see and hear Jesus and needed food, he fed them all. Jesus turned no one away, and all were full. If people seek spiritual food, then this church as an institution must feed them.

David D'Angelo

Howell, Mich.

I am a 76-year-old widow, and I am not afraid of change--indeed I welcome it. The church must not remain so closed, so separate. We are all God's people.

Once in a while I visit an Episcopal Church. Their priest says before Communion, "This is the Lord's table--not my table--and all are welcome." It is sad that we cannot be so welcoming. We should get our own house in order before we blame others. It's called love.

Rachel P. Murphy

Twinsburg, Ohio 

Scherer-Emunds' article totally disregards the unique status of the Holy Eucharist as the source, summit, and center of our Catholic faith. Would anyone deny that virtually everyone is invited and encouraged to investigate the Catholic Church's teaching handed down by Jesus through the apostles? We have an obligation to draw souls to the one true church by our teaching and our example "that they may all be one" (John 17:21).

Let us not devalue the treasure that has been entrusted to us. The desire to receive Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament should motivate the individual to learn what it takes to be allowed to participate in the greatest privilege extended to God's people on earth. The individual has to make a choice: Am I willing to accept that the Catholic Church is the one, true church established by Jesus himself and become a full member of the church so that I can receive his Body and Blood present in the Holy Eucharist? The desire alone is not enough. It must be coupled with a knowledge and full acceptance of the teachings of the Catholic Church.

Ron Eason, Station Manager

KSMH Catholic Radio/1620 AM Sacramento, Calif.