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Contents © 1999
by Jim Holman.
All rights reserved.

LETTERS
SEPTEMBER 1999

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CARDOZA NOT LATINO

I am writing in regards to an article in the July/August issue of the San Francisco Faith entitled, "GOP and Latino Dems to the Rescue."

Whereas I appreciate the recognition of all the hard work of the Latino Caucus in regard to these very sensitive issues, I do have to point out that in this article you state Assemblymember Dennis Cardoza (D-Merced) is a member of the Latino Caucus. As a point of clarification, please note that Assemblymember Cardoza is not a member of the Assembly Latino Caucus, and more specifically, did not work with the Latino Caucus or its members to defeat these bills.

Sincerely,

Sarah Reyes
Assemblymember, 31st District


WHY CATHOLIC GAY PRIDE?

Regarding your July report (In a Letter to the Friends of the Ministry to Lesbian and Gay Catholics, July/August Faith) concerning Father Liuzzi's participation in a round table discussion on the Defense of Marriage Act, please clarify what is Father Liuzzi's goal relative to his cautioning the bishops against support of this act?

Also your article indicated that Father Liuzzi had scheduled to attend the June 12 and 13 gay pride parade in West Hollywood. Is Father Liuzzi's involvement with gay and lesbian activities projected to bring gays and lesbians out of their lifestyles or is this possibly a means of softening up Catholics in general to accept the homosexual lifestyle? I would appreciate a clarification of his intentions and actions. For if in fact the Church plans on accommodating the homosexual lifestyle, then what the hell is sin all about?

Very truly yours,

Vern Hunt
Lucerne


DELIGHT, DISMAY

I want to express both delight and dismay over the piece you reprinted from the Homiletic & Pastoral Review, "Hollywood's Touch of Evil," [July/August Faith].

Delight because I very much enjoyed Frederick Marks' list of movies -- which did indeed list movies that were more than simply inoffensive. Dismay because I am surprised his editors let him get away with saying the movie Sea Hawks "makes Spaniards -- and by implication, Catholics in general -- seem cruel, exploitive, and benighted in their attitude towards slaves and Native Americans. No matter that Protestants are unique in the extent to which they dispossessed the Indians...." It's a childish comment along the lines of, "Gee, they're worse than us; so that makes us good." Worse, it's an attempt to whitewash our Catholic history, which by implication makes Catholics liars. Good movies aren't going to help us if we do away with our critical thinking skills.

Sincerely,

Rachel Fong


SIMPLISTIC ON KOSOVO

I was amazed at how much space Stephen Schwartz spent in documenting that a large minority of Kosovar Albanians are Catholic -- as if this made any difference in a consideration of NATO's bombing campaign against the Serbs [see "Sheep v. Goats", July/August Faith]. The apparent message was that, if one side in a conflict includes Catholics, we must support bombing the non-Catholics on the other side. I'm relieved but not surprised that the Holy Father does not take such a simplistic attitude.

We've now learned that the "war crimes" of the Serbs were exaggerated by at least a factor of ten -- that is, that at least 90 percent of the 100,000 young Albanian men feared murdered by the Serbs are alive and well. What we already knew was that the other 10 percent were serving in the KLA. In other words, the point most grievously obfuscated by Schwartz's treatment is that the Serbian action in Kosovo is a defensive action: the Albanians, not the Serbs, started the current conflict there in the late 1980s. This does not justify the expulsion of Kosovar civilians or any of the other actual crimes committed by the Milosevic regime, but it does introduce a note of moral complexity which the enthusiastic bombers of the West would do well to consider. So do the crimes committed by our heroic allies, the KLA, now that we've given them the chance to reoccupy the province. Or does Schwartz consider the rape of nuns at the Monastery of Pec a noble act of retribution, justified because the nuns in question were Serbian Orthodox Christians rather than Albanian Catholics?

NATO's intervention in Yugoslavia's civil war was illegal not only according to established international standards but according to NATO's own charter. It was cowardly and unjust in bello, since NATO accepted increased civilian casualties in order to avoid coming to grips with an enemy that could fight back on the ground. NATO deliberately targeted civilians in a TV station and at bridges, and by using graphite bombs designed to disrupt the civilian economy. NATO's cowardice rendered it woefully deficient in its strikes on military targets -- but no matter: the Serb civilians were always the real targets, after all. Finally, NATO's motives were obviously corrupt, and the humanitarian excuses given for the campaign were patently fraudulent in the eyes of all Europe.

If recognizing these truths makes me anti-American and a fellow traveler with Communists, I plead guilty as charged. Better that than the contemptible bigotry that would kill Orthodox Christians just because some of their enemies happen to be Roman Catholics.

Tom Riley
Napa


FRUITS OF MEDJOUGORJE

In his July letter criticizing your recent article on Medjugorje, M. J. McLaughlin complains that no mention was made of "Medjugorje fruits" i.e. long confession lines, return of lapsed Catholics to the sacraments, vocations, etc.

Indeed, the constant prayer and endless devotions taking place in Medjugorje do create an ambiance of extreme holiness. This, coupled with the belief that the Blessed Mother is appearing regularly to the local seers, sets visitors on fire and sends them home with an enkindled faith based on subjective feelings.These "feelings" however stirring, in no way prove the authenticity of the alleged "apparitions" nor should they be used to encourage others to believe otherwise.

Writing on the subject in May of l998, Archbishop Tarcisio Bertone, Secretary of Congregatio Pro Doctrina Fidei, warned that: "...pilgrimages to Medjugorje, which are conducted privately, this Congregation points out that they are permitted on condition that they are not regarded as an authentication of events still taking place and which still call for an examination by the Church."

As for the "fruits" attributed to Medjugorje per se -- when one is sincerely seeking the Mother of God, even along a mistaken path, or in a dubious place, they will find her.

Jane L. Sears
Via email


PAULISTS SCANDALIZING LITTLE ONES

Editor's note: we received a copy of the following letter sent to Father Francis De Siano, president of Paulist Fathers, with copy to Archbishop Levada.

Dear Fr. De Siano:

In the Paulist Center bookstore of Old St. Mary's in San Francisco I was appalled to discover that it appears as if your order is endorsing and promoting sodomy.

Near the children's book section were at least a dozen books on homosexuality, the titles of two of which are Religion is a Queer Thing and Coming Out as Sacrament. Do the Paulists really agree with the sacrilegious implication in the second title, i.e., that the Catholic Church is mistaken in teaching that there are seven sacraments, and that the flaunting of homosexuality can be equated with such Sacraments as Baptism, the Eucharist and Holy Orders? Do you actually believe that homosexuality is a religion? Is it your order's policy to actively promote the commission of what the Catholic Church teaches are intrinsically disordered acts, or is the sale of these books the autonomous action of the local pastor, who perhaps seeks to promote a lifestyle in which he participates? Or has he completely abdicated responsibility for the operation of an allegedly Catholic bookstore?

Over and above the scandal, bad example and occasion for sin which this display is to adults, its juxtaposition to the children's section could well be construed as a deliberate attempt on your order's part to corrupt the most vulnerable and impressionable Catholic members of society, whose parents make the mistake of letting them browse in the Paulist bookstore. Situated on one of San Francisco's major tourist streets the store appears to be attempting to reach as broad a cross-section of Americans (and other nationalities) as it can to spread the message of the acceptability of the sodomite lifestyle.

I find it passing strange that a Catholic institution, whose ostensible purpose is to be missionaries in America (presumably to bring the Faith to the pagan), should appear to make a much greater effort than secular bookstores to promote homosexuality. I have been told that when secular stores sell pornography they frequently keep it under the counter or display it in a so-called "adult section," away from the inquisitive eyes of children. If it is Paulist policy to allow members of your order to be proselytes for the homosexual lifestyle amongst Catholics (and others), I would ask that in your book-selling procedures you at least emulate the pagans. Have the minimal decency to leave the purity of children intact for a few more years yet by removing your pro-sodomy literature to a place where the innocent are not exposed to it.

May God have mercy on your soul,

George Carter

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