Fiat Lux!
Re “Do Not Despair,” by Archbishop John Quinn (Online, 5/3): Rahner’s prophetically probing question, “Why would a modern man want to become and to remain a priest?” holds the key to the future solution. Only when the church chooses to transform itself from a structure of hierarchically organized celibate sacramental gatekeepers to an all-inclusive ordained servanthood of collegiality and communion will the scourge of this latest and perhaps greatest challenge of darkness begin to dissipate and reveal the light.
Craig B. McKee
Hong Kong, China
May We Never Forget
I was impressed by the article about Archbishop Oscar Romero by Richard Amesbury and Andrew Kirschman (4/26) and the past and present state of affairs in El Salvador. Romero is truly a martyr and a strong witness of the Christian’s duty to be aligned with the poor and oppressed.
I am saddened, however, that there was no mention of the deaths of other, equally heroic martyrs of El Salvador: the brutal murders of Sisters Dorothy Kazel, Ita Ford, Maura Clarke and the lay missioner Jean Donovan; the killings of the Jesuits Ignacio Ellacuría, Segundo Montes, Ignacio Martín-Baro, Joaquin López y López, Juan Ramón Moreno and Amado López; and of Elba Ramos and her daughter, Celia Marisela Ramos. These are the names of only a few of the thousands killed or “disappeared” in El Salvador. May we never forget.
Cullin R. Schooley
Des Moines, Iowa
Catching Up
Re “An Elevating Moment for U.S. Hispanics” (Signs of the Times, 4/26); I think this is not so much a “coming of age moment for the U.S. Hispanic community” as it is a coming of age for the U.S. church. I am certain that there have long been qualified Hispanics to serve in any and all positions of responsibility. What a shame that this appointment is so unusual as to be noteworthy.
Cyrus Johnston
Montgomery, Ala.
Viva Cristo Rey!
Re “Deeds, Not Words,” by John F. Kavanaugh, S.J. (5/3): The record of the papacy in canonizing the church’s great martyrs seems laboriously slow. In 1927 the great Mexican Jesuit martyr Miguel Pro walked to the firing squad in defiance of the then-extreme anti-Catholic leftist government of Mexico.
The Mexican president had hoped to show photos of a cowardly priest quivering before the firing squad, but instead he encountered a saint who held his rosary in one hand, his crucifix in the other and, after praying for and forgiving his executioners, refused a blindfold and formed a cross with his outstretched arms, his final words being “Long live Christ the King!”
Father Pro was not beatified until 1988. The length of this process does not bode well for a quick resolution of Archbishop Romero’s candidacy.
Walter Mattingly
Jacksonville, Fla.
