Letters

A Children’s Crusade Re “Grading the Missal” (5/28): My fear is that the ancient rule “Lex orandi, lex credendi” (the rule of prayer is the rule of faith) will prove all too true, and we will begin to imagine and relate to the formal, distant deity enshrined in our litu

Core Corruption Thanks to Raymond A. Schroth, S.J., for “The Plagiarism Plague” (5/14), a timely article on an important matter. As a college teacher, I have encountered a fair bit of plagiarism and have always sought to expose it and address it with students to get them to take it serio

Renewal Service Re “Vatican Seeks Reform of L.C.W.R. After Doctrinal Assessment” (Signs of the Times, 5/7): No organization is immune from criticism from within or without. That certainly is true of the Vatican and the various dicasteries and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. It i

Anti-Evangelization Thank you for the April 30 issue, with “Why They Left,” by William J. Byron, S.J., and Charles Zech, and “The Convert’s Tale,” by the Rev. John Jay Hughes. I found them relevant, refreshing, insightful and hopeful. Despite being a religion teacher at

Inexpert Witness Re “Stand Your Ground,” by the editors (4/16): Nobody really knows what happened that night in Sanford, Fla., yet you assert that Trayvon Martin’s offense was “to be a black youth delivering a bag of Skittles.” The editors do not concede that there is c

Cosmic Conversation Adam D. Hincks is certainly correct to say that modern cosmology gives no new theological insight into questions of origins and bigness (“Wonders of the Universe,” 4/16). But it does raise two intriguing theological questions. The first is easy: With whom might we spe

Quiet Too Long Re “A Voice in the Wilderness,” by Raymond A. Schroth, S.J. (4/2): J Street is a miniscule Jewish organization philosophically opposed by the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee. To give this face-off some perspective, in 2006 two distinguished political scientists, J

Walk the Walk Re “Engaging the Spirituals” (3/26) by Drew Christiansen, S.J.: Many of my students are among the “spirituals”—“recovering Catholics” who are exploring world religions as a source for understanding their own spirituality It is not that the chur

Slathered in Sarcasm Bishop William Lori, instead of offering reasoned opposition to what he believes was a misguided editorial (“Policy, Not Liberty,” 3/5), slathers his response (“Letters,” 3/19) with sarcasm. He has served neither himself nor his cause well. Lathering sarc

Pray Before the Mystery Re “Staying Civil” by Bishop Blase Cupich (3/5): However much the Catholic Church is convinced of the righteousness of its own position on the right to life of the unborn, such conviction—as I myself am convinced—cannot be imposed on the secular politi