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Letters to the Editor

‘Rebel Hearts’ research rings true

Deacon Tom Brandlin • Aug 17, 2021
Thank you for the excellent review of the documentary, “Rebel Hearts,” in the Aug. 13 issue. Ann Carey did an excellent job researching and preparing this article. I can attest from personal experience that each one of the bullet points in the article is correct. One that jumped out at me was regarding Anita Caspary's misinformation that Cardinal James McIntyre forced the sisters out of the schools. In fact, I recall one of the members of the renewal team, Joan Campion, telling my mother and me in 1967 that the IHM sisters were going to stop wearing habits, etc.  When my mother asked, “What if his eminence objects?” the response was, “We’ll withdraw from the schools.” They did everything Campion told us they would do. I've never understood why the sisters were so vitriolic against Cardinal McIntyre. He hadn't harmed them in any way — unless following canon law in the exercise of his authority is harmful.  Thank you so much for this charitable correction of much misinformation.  — Deacon Tom Brandlin, Los Angeles

Incomplete reporting on pope’s Latin Mass decision

Sister Karen Derr, DMJ • Aug 05, 2021
I was very disappointed in your brief, “Pope reimposes restrictions on Latin Mass,” in the July 30 issue. It left out the Holy Father’s reasoning for doing so, the fact that he consulted the bishops first, the way he outlined his continuity with the thinking of the pontiffs that preceded him, and, most of all, his emphasis on the unity that is to be exemplified in the Mass.  I would expect that Angelus would give its readers more than the secular press. It is well worth going to the Vatican website to read the original letter.  — Sister Karen Derr, DMJ, Los Angeles

The US bishops and the death penalty

David F. Pierre Jr. • Aug 05, 2021
A July 30 letter to the editor asked, “Where was [the bishops’] outrage with the federal death penalty and the 13 individuals who were executed at the end of the Trump administration?” In fact and in fairness, on Sept. 22, 2020, Dec. 7, 2020, and Jan. 11, 2021, the American bishops issued statements strongly urging Trump to halt executions. “We say to President Trump and Attorney General Barr: Enough. Stop these executions,” one statement urged. “Executions solve nothing,” said another. Thank you for correcting the record. — David F. Pierre Jr., Mattapoisett, Massachusetts

Where do the bishops’ concerns lie?

Sheila Anderson • Jul 22, 2021
I am distressed by the use of deliberately inflammatory language in the article “Teachers or policymakers?” in the July 16 issue. There are no pro-abortion politicians or any others. If the bishops are so concerned with pro-life concerns, where was their outrage with the federal death penalty and the 13 individuals who were executed at the end of the Trump administration?  It would seem to me that the bishops are more concerned with politics than teaching. — Sheila Anderson, Redondo Beach

Room for disagreement

Father Robert Caro, SJ • Jul 22, 2021
The judgmental view expressed in the letter, “The choice for pro-abortion Catholic politicians” in the July 16 issue that “nobody who embraces the Democratic Party can be a Catholic” seems oblivious to the fact that neither of our major political parties fully aligns with Catholic social teaching. Even the bishops’ conference, while highlighting the “pre-eminence” of abortion, has reminded us that “Catholics often face difficult choices about how to vote” and for grave reasons may at times “reasonably decide” to support a candidate in spite of a morally unacceptable position.  In making such decisions, one “should take into account a candidate’s commitments, character, integrity, and ability to influence a given issue” (cf. Nos. 34, 35, 37, Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship, NCCB, 2020). In the end, we should be able to agree on basic moral truths, but there is room for conscientious disagreement about how best to promote them in civil society. — Father Robert Caro, SJ, Loyola Marymount University

Thanks for a lesser-known theologian

Chris Streip • Jun 21, 2021
Thanks to Heather King for making better known the important work of theologian John F. Haught in “Evolution and faith, working hand in hand.” When evolutionary evidence contradicts doctrines based on a literal interpretation of the Book of Genesis, it is imperative that we come to a more refined explanation of Church teaching. If we fail to do so, we will certainly see more people with a basic understanding of science who find the Church irrelevant because we are either unable or unwilling to reconcile the Good News and the eternal truth we possess with the discoveries of science. — Chris Streip, Playa Del Rey

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