Far-Flung Effect

America continues to be very relevant in Uganda. Recent articles on genetic disorders, discrimination against the disabled, homecoming (12/2/00) and ethical issues in cybermedicine have been mandated reading for third- and fourth-year medical students at Mbarara University. Of Many Things always provides humor and insight into overlooked persons, places and events! Thank you for the good job.

Mary McCarthy, M.D.

But Hey, Who’s Counting?

Just wanted to call to your attention a figure from the last 10 issues of America. Eighty percent (8 out of 10) of the first letters in the letters column were from religious.

Oops: just received the May 28 issue. Now it’s 9 out of 11! Interesting?

Jim Cullather

Misleading Title

With regard to Cardinal Walter Kasper’s Friendly Reply’ to Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (4/23), the title on your cover is misleading, since Walter Kasper wrote and published the article in German, not as a cardinal but as a bishop, in 2000. More importantly, the English translator has taken considerable liberties in sharpening the language. For instance, with reference to the lack of understanding of some Roman directives on the part of local clergy and laity, the English text states: The adamant refusal of Communion to all divorced and remarried persons and the highly restrictive rules for eucharistic hospitality are good examples. But the words adamant, all and highly restrictive (italicized in my text) have no equivalents in the German, which, accurately translated, would read: This affects ethical questions such as questions of sacramental and ecumenical practice, for example, the admission of divorced and remarried persons to Communion or the practice of eucharistic hospitality. (Dies betrifft ethische Fragen wie Fragen der sakramentalen und der okumenischen Praxis, etwa die Zulassung wiederveheirateter Geschiedener zur Kommunion oder die Praxis eurcharistischer Gastfreundschaft.) The tone of the article has been changed to make it appear inflammatory.

Whether the various local churches should be free to decide these issues for themselves, as Kasper maintains, is quite another question. I would regard them as matters in which local churches ought not to go their own way, since the very nature of the Eucharist as a sign of communion is at stake.

(Cardinal) Avery Dulles, S.J.

Lucan Glitch

In Cardinal Walter Kasper’s article, On the Church (4/23), there is a puzzling paragraph (p. 11, top of first column): In the Gospel of Luke, the word ecclesia can signify a domestic community as well as a local community; further, Luke already has a theological conception of the universal church. The word ecclesia doesn’t occur at all in the Gospel of Luke. Is the Cardinal talking rather about Luke’s Acts of the Apostles?

George Ratermann, M.M.

Mother’s Good Example

Enclosed is a picture of my mother at the age of 99 reading America. She read it from cover to cover for as long as I can remember. Although at this time she needed help to get out of bed, she needed no help to read and ponder and pray with America magazine. My father was a graduate of Brooklyn Prep and Xavier College in Manhattan.

I am trying to follow their example and read America from cover to cover.

Elizabeth Hillmann, R.C.

God-Sent

I was just at your Web site and found you now have search capabilities by topic. I hoped someday it would be done. My prayers have been answered. Thank you. Now my growing shelf of saved hard-copy issues can more easily be accessed during discussions with friends and family. Please tell your print readers about this new service. It is a godsend.

Paul Schmid

Reasonable Expectations

While I found Bernard M. Daly’s article The Coming Synod of Bishops (4/2) interesting and challenging, it occurred to me that the synod of bishops he describes is not that set forth in Canons 342-48 of the Code of Canon Law. It is important, I think, that the synod of bishops, a sort of new institute since the Second Vatican Council, be clearly described so that its true functions can be understood and reasonable expectations be entertained for its work.

It seems to me that Bernard Daly might perhaps miss the mark when he appears to describe the synod of bishops as a mini-council. That it clearly is not. And it should be noted that it is a synod only by analogy with the synod as that institute has existed in church law.

The synod of bishops is to promote the close relationship between the Roman Pontiff and the bishops. These bishops, by their counsel, assist the Roman Pontiff in the defense and development of faith and morals and of the preservation and strengthening of ecclesiastical discipline. They also consider questions concerning the mission of the church in the world (No. 342). The function of the synod of bishops is to discuss the matters proposed to it and set forth recommendations. (No. 343).

(Most Rev.) Thomas G. Doran

Catholic Common Ground

I couldn’t agree more with John Dean’s letter (3/26) asking for intra-church dialogue and praising Cardinal Joseph Bernardin’s Catholic Common Ground Initiative. But I want to assure him and your readers that the Initiative is alive and well and that the committee, now headed by Archbishop Oscar H. Lipscomb, has been working diligently to foster the vision and to create opportunities for dialogue within our church.

Translating the vision into programs and getting visibility have been enormous challenges, but we now have published resources (two books, a set of videos and a quarterly newsletter) and regular activities. We have just finished our fifth annual conference (this time with young adult Catholics); we gathered leaders in liturgy for two small dialogues on worship space in November and January at Mundelein and Holy Cross College; a four-part dialogue on women in the church was held at the College of New Rochelle; and Cardinal Avery Dulles, S.J., will deliver our third annual lecture in Washington, D.C., in June. Anyone who would like to be on our mailing list and receive our free newsletter can contact Sr. Catherine M. Patten, R.S.H.M., coordinator of the initiative, at: The National Pastoral Life Center, 18 Bleecker St., New York, NY 10012; (212) 431-7825; e-mail: commonground@nplc.org.

(Rev. Msgr.) Philip J. Murnion

Mature Support

In his article Coming Out’ as a Catholic School Teacher (3/19), Gerald D. Coleman, S.S., makes some valid points. He indicates, for example, that it is not right for a mature adult to depend upon adolescents for emotional support and that young students should not be required to cope with matters beyond their level of maturity.

But, if homosexuals should not suffer from prejudice against their basic human rights, and if they have a right to respect, friendship and justice, why must their orientation be kept a secret? There is a further question. What does Father Coleman propose to do if a teacher ignores his advice and does come out? Officially, the church has declared that the homosexual orientation is an objective disorder, but it does not level any sanctions against persons merely because they have the disorder. Should a person who comes out be fired? What for? The violation of a prohibition against revealing one’s sexual orientation, or the imprudence of doing so? The loss of credibility as a role model? If these reasons will not suffice for dismissal, must the institution launch an investigation to prove that the individual is sexually active?

James Cosgrove