Letters to the Editor

"We read Peter Steinfels, A People Adrift for our small Christian community. At the heart of his book Mr. Steinfels seems to be addressing the bishops and their lack of leadership. While I appreciated his broad perspective, his insights, his balance, and I did learn a lot, I also found it depressing. I could do little about the issues Steinfels addressed. I felt the book had a slight generational and gender gap, for all the women in our group reacted the same (especially to the chapter on female Church.) The issues that I care about, that give me hope, were addressed not at all or in a rather perfunctory way. I am a 40 year old mom as well as a lay minister for families in our church, and the issues I care about, the ones that give me hope, are helping women and families take charge of their own spiritual development. Thus the book did not speak to me or for me. The hope in the Church must come from the grassroots." Meri McCoy-Thompson, God is Calling Catholic Community of Pleasanton, CA

"VOTF seems to be going the way of "Call To Action.." I and my fellow parishioners at Our Lady of Victory in Paris, Texas do not want to go that way. We do not speak of ourselves as the "American Catholic Church." We are faithful to our Holy Father, the Magisterium of our holy Catholic Church, the teachings of the Church and we belong to the Roman Catholic Church. We began our organization over one year ago because of your second agenda "To support priests of integrity". This was because we had a good and holy Catholic priest whom our bishop tried to literally destroy, while the bishop supports active homosexual priests. We are Catholics who do not want women to be ordained, who listen and adhere to our Holy Father, who do not support those who want to do away with priestly celibacy, or who promote artificial contraception, pro=choice, etc. I was especially discouraged to see that Anthony Padovano has been a speaker at your meetings and others whom I consider dissenters of our Catholic faith. If these things are supported by VOTF in general, then we are in the wrong organization. We still want to help our good and holy Catholic priests, but we do not see VOTF as a vehicle which supports our goals - we mean those priests who are loyal to our Holy Father, who adhere to the Magisterium, who follow the teachings of Christ and the Church. We do not want to elect our bishops or our leaders. We want truth to be known and we do pray for good and holy Catholic bishops, although we do not always have them. The Holy Spirit knows much better than we do who will be a bishop who will sanctify, teach, lead and guide us. Please do not let your organization go away from the holy Roman Catholic Church. God bless you. Mary Emerson, Our Lady of Victory, Paris, Texas

"My suggestion is to continue to give clergies respect only when they deserve. Otherwise, simply ignore them! You get better grace and peace and love that way! After all, the proof of one's worth is by the fruits one bears (not by hierarchy or appointments or observance of the laws alone)! Soon, calls for obedience may take on an ugly meaning unless what & whom you obey are truly centered on LOVE !! Paul Chang, Malaysia

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