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Contributions to Reader's Forum should be limited to 250 words.
Letters must be signed and must include the writer's address and
phone number for verification purposes. All letters are subject
to editing.
Mail your letter to:
The Catholic Voice
2121 Harrison St., Suite 100
Oakland, CA 94612
FAX: (510) 893-4734
Our email address is:
cathvoice@gmail.com
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A mystical experience
In response to the letter “Latin doesn’t nourish” (Forum,
Oct. 6), I would like to add that it nourishes me and many young Catholics.
In contrast to the author who is a 45-year-old “cradle Catholic,,
I am a 23-year-old convert. I was raised in a secular, nominally Christian
household and was baptized and confirmed at Newman Hall Holy Spirit Parish
in Berkeley when I was a 19-year-old Cal sophomore.
Recently I have become involved with the Catholic student community at
Newman. Some students and recent graduates carpool to St. Margaret Mary
Church in Oakland for the Latin liturgy on special feast days.
The Latin Mass is a mystical spiritual experience. With the beauty of
incense and prayer, it is a time to contemplate the mysteries of Christ
and to involve ourselves in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist.
The rituals and the contemplative pace of the Mass bring into focus what
and why we celebrate. Indeed, if my heart is in the right place, any service
in any language or form is spiritually rich and meaningful.
As we believe in a Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church, we acknowledge
and accept that people are called in different ways to worship the one
true God. I thank our Pope Benedict XVI for acknowledging the beauty of
Novus Ordo and Extraordinary Mass forms. And God bless him for his wisdom
and acknowledging that there are “as many [ways to God] as there
are people” (Ratzinger, “Salt of the Earth”).
Gina Gemma Lopez
Berkeley
A sign of distinction
I grew up in Los Angeles during the 30s and 40s, attending both a Catholic
grammar school (St. John’s Military Academy, Sisters of Mercy) and
a Catholic high school (Loyola, Jesuits) including all of the pomp and
circumstance of the Latin Mass and other ceremonies.
As Catholics, we were different from other religions is using Latin for
our Mass. It was stated that this was prescribed because Latin was a “dead”
language where word meanings would not change with time, and that the
Mass would be the same all over the world (Universal Church), not varying
as world language meanings changed from time to time.
We were different, and with the High Mass and an organ and choir, it was
impressive. I hope that we return to the glory days when we were not just
the same as the many other churches of the world. Maybe attendance would
also improve.
Byron D. Lott
Livermore
Integrate Latin with English
In regard to the Latin Mass, Stephen Brainerd (Forum, Oct. 6) says
he can’t “get any spiritual nourishment out of a Mass”
when he doesn’t understand the language. Not to worry. First, the
amount of Latin one needs to know can be learned quickly. Second, people
attending a Latin Mass usually have a missal written in both Latin and
English.
Which brings me to this proposal: Blend the old and the new Mass. Go back
to Kyrie Eleison (that’s Greek), return to Latin for the Sanctus,
the Consecration, the Pater Noster, and Agnus Dei. These are the
“fixed” parts of the Mass. The variable parts (e.g.,readings,
Gospel) would be said in English. However, I’d say the Gloria in
Latin and the Nicene Creed in English.
Rituals are our way of identifying ourselves as a community in the present,
our connection to past members, and our confidence in the future of the
community. Our elimination of Latin from the new ritual symbolically
appears to cast aside what the Mass was in past centuries.
We’ve held on to the basic structure of the Mass, but the Latin
language was its most distinctive and defining characteristic. Some say
that Latin was “merely” symbolic, but symbols are the unique
way we express ourselves as human beings; they set us apart. In short,
they are sacred. And you deal with the sacred cautiously.
It’s no sin to cast aside Latin; there were good reasons the Church
had for doing so. But it would have been wiser to attempt a revision that
emphasized integration, not one that led to choosing up sides, to the
point of schism. We still have a chance to integrate, Deo gratias.
Tom Mader
Walnut Creek
Pride as Cuban Catholic
As a Cuban-American, it was with great pride that I reviewed in the Oct.
20 Voice the photo and caption about the forthcoming beatification of
Father José Olallo Valdés in my native city of Camagüey.
Father Olallo, that saintly 19th-century priest, will be the first Cuban
to receive such an honor. My family and I have been invited by the Archbishop
of Camagüey to attend the ceremonies, which we will do with even
greater joy because they will be held at our old parish church, Nuestra
Señora de La Caridad (Our Lady of Charity), where we used to be
parishioners for generations until we emigrated to the U.S. in
1966.
It was heartwarming to see even so brief a mention related to the Catholic
Church in Cuba, which has been so troubled by international politics,
and has suffered so much at the hands of a dictatorship, and yet has remained
so steadfast in its loyalty to our Catholic faith throughout the last
50 years.
I hope The Catholic Voice will have a lengthier story about
the beatification itself next month, such as about the pride that Cubans
and Cuban-Americans in the Oakland Diocese feel at this wonderful honor
back in our native country and about the state of the Church in general
in Cuba today, one that still struggles daily but that also has great
hope about pivotal changes coming in the foreseeable future.
Oscar Ramirez
Via email
Gay relationships are wrong
Homosexual relationships are forbidden by the Church for many reasons.
The principal one being that “God created them male and female”
(Gen. 1:27); another being that all sex outside of marriage is a serious
sin. Any other opinion should not be expressed in The Catholic Voice.
If you want to be a secular paper, that’s one thing, but being a
Catholic is not a matter of opinion but a matter of faith and morals.
By printing opposing opinions, you are misleading the laity, who are already
confused. You should be careful to print a rebuttal to letters that do
not agree with the Church’s teaching because, otherwise, you are
not exerting leadership.
Dr. Robert Spitzer, who originated the idea that homosexuals were born
into this lifestyle, has already publicly admitted that he ws wrong. Hundreds
of people have rejected this lifestyle through excellent programs such
as Homosexuals Anonymous, Exodus International, and Streams in the Desert.
All of these are run with the aid of former homosexuals and lesbians.
The motto of the 12-step program is “God not only can, but He will
help you.”
To those who are struggling with these issues, I say, Do not listen to
secular America. Seek the Lord through meditation, prayer and a good support
group. “The hand of God is never shortened that it cannot save.
(Is. 59:1)
Barbara Meistrell
Alama
Refrain from judgment
I was offended to read in my Sunday bulletin the statement of the Catholic
bishops of California regarding Proposition 8. I suggest a crash course
in the study of the separation of the Church and State.
The third “counsel” of the bishops states that “we need
to remember that we are all children of God possessed of human dignity
and that each of us is created in God’s image.” It flows logically
and spiritually: Who am I, as a child of God, to make a judgment on homosexuals.
Therese Hauer
Alameda
Aides to the disabled
Our therapeutic horseback riding program at High Five Stables in the Hayward
hills needs weekend afternoon volunteers to help stabilize our riding
students, a couple of whom are in wheelchairs. We have a wheelchair mounting
ramp and can train volunteers to help students mount and to ride.
Please see our web site at www.kariannowen.com/Wildhorse_.html.
Interested persons can contact our program at penomee@yahoo.com,
(510) 860-8188.
Kari Ann Owen, Ph.D.
Director
Wildhorse!
Response to survivors essential
The magnitude of the sex abuse scandal could only have occurred in the
Catholic Church, where forgiveness of sin is central to the Lord’s
plan and the Church’s mission.
It is true that as the sex abuse scandal was festering there was unnecessary
confusion and debate within the Church concerning the nature of sin and
forgiveness. The necessary context for true forgiveness of sin was often
absent. In the process, there was often a loss of focus on the beauty,
truth and centrality of the family and marital love. As John Paul II reminded
us, the love between husband and wife is a reflection of Christ’s
love for his Church.
Also compounding the explosive sex abuse tragedy was a confluence of other
powerful forces, including modern society’s idolatrous relationship
with sexuality; a rabid anti-Catholicism in control of powerful institutions
such as the media, academia, business and politics; as well as the global
explosion of information technology.
As long as human beings trod the earth there will always be egregious
misbehavior; certainly so within an institution of one billion souls.
Hopefully, however, these problems will be on an individual basis, not
institutionalized.
When a written complaint is filed against the Church, by definition it
is automatically a formal complaint, regardless of who files it and regardless
of its merits. Therefore, in our modern, sophisticated society, consisting
of empowered individuals (often radically so), a written, timely response
to such complaints is mandatory; it is a litmus test for propriety. Failure
to respond in writing indicates that square one of processing such complaints
is absent, resulting thereafter in an awkward and indefensible position.
In addition, the Church’s time-honored tradition of treating each
individual with respect and nobility, regardless of status, mandates a
written response to written complaints.
The great majority of priests live heroic, inspirational lives. They are
true leaders in an age of dire need. Forthright, transparent and open
written responses to complaints are painful, but much less so than the
alternative. And, of course, the facts will prevail; truth will triumph.
The Church, like Christ, is both human and divine. This human dimension
results in absorbing the world’s pain, but in the process each individual
is appropriately toughened, strengthened, becomes resilient, and, most
certainly, the Church will be victorious. Anything less is inappropriately
“other worldly” and is a poor reflection of Christ and his
Church.
Can we say that the sex abuse scandal is over? Probably yes, if each written
complaint of sexual abuse presented to a chancery office receives a timely
and appropriate written response.
Ronald G. Connolly, M.D.
Walnut Creek
The opinions expressed in letters to Reader's Forum
are the writers and do not necessarily reflect the views of The
Catholic Voice or the Oakland Diocese.
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