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Contents © 1998
by Jim Holman.
All rights reserved.

LETTERS
MAY 1998

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THIS IS HATEFUL JOURNALISM

I am ashamed that this kind of hateful journalism can be called "Catholic." Please do me the honor of taking my name off of your mailing list immediately. We need loving and professional priests so desperately. You judge Fr. Sullivan only on the basis of whether his parishioners kneel during the Eucharistic prayer. How very sad!

Fr. Michael Weldon
St. Anthony Church, San Francisco


OVERLOOKING ERROR IS A SIN AGAINST CHARITY

Thank you for your insightful, orthodox newspaper.

It is a great service to all who love the Church and its authentic teachings. What many heterodox Catholics fail to realize is that to refrain from helping people overcome their errors (doctrinal, behavioral or otherwise) is uncharitable.

To allow them to continue in sin, error or ignorance, in the name of acceptance, tolerance and being non-judgmental, without charitably helping them, is a sin in and of itself.

Our Christian duty is to spread the truth of the gospel to all the ends of the earth, and our Church is the authentic interpreter and guardian of our scriptural and traditional truths.

George Delgado
Benicia


STOP DIGGING FOR SPLINTERS

I believe that your recent article in which you condemned one of the masses at St. Dominic's Church is deeply unfair and myopic in its perspective [see "American Gothic", April]. It is unfair to represent the priests and the community of the faithful of St. Dominic's in this way, and it is unfair to represent our parish to your readers with such a slanted view.

It seems doubtful that you have taken the time to notice any of the good things about our parish. Have you attended the 11:30 a.m. Sunday mass, for instance, which I dare to say cannot be rivaled for its reverence, beauty and solemnity? Do you know that our parish has four hours of Eucharistic Adoration scheduled each week? Do you know how much devotion there is among the priests and the laity to the Blessed Sacrament, to Our Lady, to the Sacrament of Penance, and to the Magisterium? Do you have any idea of how many people are nourished by the sacraments, prayer and teaching, and how many people are comforted and cared for each day in this diverse parish?

I would be the first to admit that St. Dominic's is not the "perfect" parish (in fact, there is no such thing), and that every liturgy cannot be suited to every person's standards and tastes. Yet I don't believe that taking the words of Father Xavier's homily out of context and representing them as somehow scandalous, or condemning the whole community because of the thoughtless actions of a guitarist sitting on the altar rail serves any positive end.

I'm as devoutly orthodox as a Roman Catholic can be, and yet I've chosen to take a stand to commit myself to do everything that I can to help make this parish even better. I did this because by God's grace I became weary of being only one who stood off at a distance, noting and condemning everything that was not done exactly "by the book," and yet never committing myself to be one of the disciples who chooses to make a difference. Once I accepted this challenge, God began pouring out tremendous graces, and I'm understanding for the first time the meaning of being a part of a real community, for better or for worse. I know that your intentions are good, but do you really believe that the greatest of goods that God asks of us as fellow Catholics is to do nothing but dig for splinters in everyone else's eyes?

Francene Stonebraker
San Francisco


MORE POWER TO YOU

After reading "American Gothic" (St. Dominic's 'Contemporary Mass'), I can only thank God that my parish here in Stockton is basically conservative and mindful of the traditions of the Catholic Church. We kneel and we do not have the laity delivering homilies nor do we have women bounding around the altar. We have Perpetual Adoration 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Peace and serenity prevail. Our pastor is in his early 40s. Two of my sons take assigned hours of Adoration each week. One son is 31 and the other 28.

On Sunday, March 15th, I was in San Francisco with two of my daughters. We decided to pay a visit to St. Dominic's Church around four o'clock in the afternoon so we could light a candle at the shrine of St. Jude in memory of our deceased son and brother on the occasion of his 35th birthday. We noticed a group of young people obviously sitting with their music equipment on the far side of the altar rail. They were conversing as though seated at an outdoor Starbucks cafe. My one daughter noticed the drum set and was appalled. She could not believe that drums would be allowed for Holy Mass. Incidentally, she has not even attended Mass for many years. I do not think this kind of setting would encourage her to come back. My other daughter has four young children and she was very irritated at this display and was glad her children were not along. I wondered what St. Jude was thinking.

I graduated from St. Rose Academy many years ago, obviously, and our graduation was held in St. Dominic's church. I thought of our principal, Sister Leonard, in her full Dominican habit, and know she would have been horror-struck by the scene which I just described. I certainly do not attend mass to "say hello to someone new."

It is upsetting to see some of the responses you are getting from bishops and priests in regard to some of your coverage. There is a lot of sarcasm and smugness out there on the part of the clergy. I can only think that someday they are going to have to answer to God himself. It is shocking to me to see how some are taking it upon themselves to change rules to suit themselves and pressure groups from their parishes. More power to you!

Judy Knutsen
Stockton


PREFERRING SACRED TO FOLK IS ELITIST

Though the dogma of the Catholic Church is not to be argued, the minutiae of Post-Vatican II sadly is. The liberal elite of the Church may question the teachings of abortion, contraception, or even the Real Presence. Doctrinally, they are wrong, pure and simple. Whether or not we kneel, play guitar, hold hands during the Our Father, or receive communion in the hand or on the tongue is left up to individual discretion, be it on the part of the priest or the laity.

George Neumayr's article, "American Gothic," contains some valid opinions and I agree in principle that the Church is fast losing its grandeur. Additionally, the respect for the house where Jesus lives has waned displeasingly. But it is rather elitist to criticize styles of worship or to infer one style is better than another (organ versus guitar or bongo drums). At our parish in rural Fresno County, we have several different styles of music at our Masses, as well as fully attended English and Spanish masses. The dogma taught from the pulpit (by a priest, no less) and the mass itself is not antithetical to tradition.

My point? Our Church is tremendously varied and to push one style as better than another is wrong. I may not prefer a Charismatic Mass or holding hands, but if it helps someone move closer to God, it would be wrong for me, or anyone else, to criticize.

Christopher G. Tasy
Sanger

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