LETTERS

LETTERS
October 2004

---

ANGER, SAD AND DEEP

I wanted to respond to the article in your September issue regarding Father Gerald Brown and St. Patrick's Seminary in Menlo Park ["Groovy St. Patrick's"]. I have been ordained for the archdiocese of San Francisco since December of 1982. I was a seminarian at St. Patrick's from 1978-1982. After ordination, I was assigned to Star of the Sea Church in San Francisco. My first pastor was Monsignor Cornelius Burns, himself a seminarian at St. Patrick's who was ordained in 1955. Monsignor was a devout, conservative churchman with broad knowledge and an unshakeable commitment to teach orthodox Catholic faith.

I well remember that he allowed the Wanderer to hold a forum/evening lecture in the school auditorium one evening. He and I stood in the entrance watching people arrive. I well remember how Monsignor Burns (and I) were so struck by the expression on the faces of the people. He commented that "they seemed so sadly and deeply angry" and found it difficult to understand. We both wondered if this was an irreversible condition. In any case, he never allowed the Wanderer folks return.

I do read your publication, and I agree that there are insightful comments from time to time. But they are set against a backdrop of "sad and deep anger" that has a way of touching every article and every printed word. I am certainly not as conservative as my first pastor, but in every way I can, I try to teach orthodox Catholic faith, and I pray to God that I might be able to follow the example of compassionate pastoral care and faithful shepherding that marked his many years of priestly ministry. I repeat, both of us attended St. Patrick's Seminary; we both felt at home and learned much, even if we might have been from different theological camps and seminarians in different years.

Why do you have to raise "red flags" and sound all sorts of alarms before Father Brown has even begun his new service to the Church? I know that the "sad and deep anger" continues in this publication. Perhaps this newspaper might someday be an instrument for reconciliation, helping to bring the Church together rather than deepening the division.

The Rev. Piers Lahey
received via e-mail

Editor replies: It is nothing unusual for a newspaper to report on an important event -- such as the appointment of a new rector at a seminary that trains so many priests for service in the Catholic Church in California. In reporting on such an event, it is proper to look at what the new rector has said and done in the past in an attempt to discern how he might act in the future. In looking at Father Brown, we consulted his writings -- a perfectly fair procedure. If Father Brown had in his writings evinced a zeal and love for the Catholic faith, we would gladly have reported it. Sadly, he did not.

Yes, I say, "sadly." The Catholic faith, given by Our Lord to his apostles and handed down through scripture and sacred tradition, is the sole means for the salvation of man. To water it down, to nuance it to a bland Unitarianism, is to jeopardize souls and weaken the Church's witness to the world. This should be a source of sadness to any right-thinking Catholic. It is also an occasion for tempered anger. It is right to feel sorrow over error -- and rightly-ordered anger when the most precious gift to man -- the Church -- is compromised. Our Lord Himself wept over the infidelity of Jerusalem and burned with anger against the money-changers in the temple. Of course there is joy, and joy must accompany all we do; but in this life it dwells with sorrow and is, at times, accompanied by a anger over sin and error.

In the Faith we report on clerics teaching and abetting heresy, on the toleration of moral perversion, on abortion, on priests molesting minors, on injustice to the poor, on the evils of modern war -- in a word on the sad state of the Church and of the world. If Father Lahey does not think these things sad; if his heart does not burn when confronted by such evils, then perhaps he needs to re-evaluate what he means by "compassionate pastoral care and faithful shepherding."

NEGATIVITY AND LOST HOPE

I discovered your website this morning while doing a search for the correct spelling of the name of a staff member at a San Francisco parish.

After reading all the "Roamin' Catholic" entries, I'm puzzled that there are no reports of liturgies that are reverent, beautiful, and inspiring. I know from experience that they certainly do exist, and I feel sure your readers would enjoy and benefit from such encouraging news.

While I agree with much in the reviews, as is, the "Roamin' Catholic" column gives the impression of cynical negativity, almost of lost hope. Rather than existing solely as a sort of "liturgical chapter of faults," how about some stories of success?

Kim Armbruster,
San Francisco

Editor replies: The "Roamin' Catholic" is largely descriptive and, unfortunately, the liturgies it describes are more typical than not. In our time, reverent, beautiful, and inspiring Masses are rare, but we would be glad to report on them if anyone wishes to send us information on where to find them.

TOP