Correspondence

...As an answer to the problem concerning the Eucharist, I would suggest that he look into the new legislation for the permanent deaconate...

...This policy causes me to Xerox items or pursue the person to whom I lend copies...

...There are many countries in Latin America where the diocesan clergy are surpassed by none: I have lived with them for long years and have admired them greatly because of the spirit of sacrifice which they bring to their work...

...That said, it is not, in my opinion, a useful document in charting the course of liberal education as we approach the twenty-first century...

...The trouble with this sort of daydream is that women will never be inducted, congressional sons will continue to be exempted or shunted into safe jobs, and working-class kids and racial minorities will end up as riflemen...

...When I read Father Ranly's article "Questions for the Pope" [July 4th] and his bald statement that eighty percent of the Latin American diocesan clergy live in concubinage—heavily hedged by the qualifying statement of his ignorance of any scientific study on the topic—I am reminded of the typical ethnocentrism of the neophyte...

...To the Editors: If you would like to increase your circulation, you'll just have to discontinue publishing so many items that are worth saving and rereading...

...If each village, for instance, which does not have a resident priest, were to have a deacon, then he could make the trip once a week, or so, to attend the celebration of the Eucharist and bring back the Blessed Sacrament, reserve it, and distribute it to the people on Sundays...

...Someone who has labored only among the Indian enclaves, and for a relatively short period of time, would not appreciate this or have the opportunity to know about the vast majority...

...One must recall that the societies he remembers with nostalgia did not exist as he depicts them...

...This, too, is the glorious civilization which gave us World War I and the horrors of Hitler's Germany...

...the enclosed check is for a friend who is a reliable returner but is now moving out of town...

...ANN STRAULMAN University College, The University of Western Ontario (Continued on page 479) Commonweal: 450 (Continued from page 450) Saving & rereading Elmira, N.Y...

...JAMES F. McNIFF False nostalgia London, Canada To the Editors: J. M. Cameron's "The* Idea of a Liberal Education'' [Apr...

...Inherent in Professor Cameron's argument are presuppositions which anyone teaching in Ontario recognizes all too well: the nineteenth century is idealized...

...He speaks of today's "moral revolution" and the "collapse of literacy," without considering the large percentage of the population, totally or functionally illiterate, in nineteenth-century Europe or the realities of the moral behavior of some of the cultivated gentlemen whom he admires in retrospect...

...What they want as they make clear time and again are the tools to intervene abroad militarily so that once again they can satisfy their need to prove that America hasn't "lost its nerve...

...Like Professor Cameron I hope some people will continue to pursue a classical education...

...To the Editors: The problem with Thomas Powers's recollections about his five pleasurable months in the Army ["The Citizen Army," July 4] is his suggestion that the return of the draft might not be a bad idea if only it were allowed to become more democratic in composition...

...GRACE ANDRES NEYLON 29 August 1980: 479...

...He is considered a natural leader in the community, and the very culture of the Indians gives him prominent recognition and a widespread opportunity to exercise the apostolate...

...The latest instance of your publishing "keepers" is Silver Donald Cameron's beautiful article, "At the Hour of Our Death" [June 6...

...Once one recognizes the soil from which Professor Cameron's "Idea" of liberal education grows, it is easy both to sympathize with his cultural dislocation in a rapidly changing Toronto and to reject his proposals...

...The permanent deacon cannot celebrate the Eucharist, but he can make the Eucharist more available through a system of distribution...

...It is, in some respects, also quintessentially Ontarian and consequently should be an interesting cultural document for American readers...

...Those who want to reimpose the draft don't want Democracy-in-Action...

...He should be a married man, one who is known and respected for his integrity and ready to serve the cause of Christ...

...All were based upon the exploitation of the bulk of the population, whom he ignores: women (who clearly don't interest him) and all men below the level of the "skilled artisan...

...To the Editors: Some thirty years ago, two diocesan priests in Buenos Aires asked me if it were true that all the priests in the United States were drunks...

...the eighteenth century (despite his nod to Pope and Berkeley) is virtually ignored because it is the cradle of American culture and "values" (the term Professor Cameron dislikes...

...The Oxbridge model of education is prized largely, one has to believe, from nostalgia for a more British Ontario...

...REV...

...Unlike Professor Cameron (I suspect) I hope that these same students will temper their studies with the insights which modern research is providing into the problems, aspirations, and wisdom of the men and women whose labors supported the leisure of earlier elites, and who continue to support the studies of modern university students...

...11 ] is quintessential^ a product of the University of Toronto of some years ago...

...Thank you...

...MURRAY POLNER Deacon's role Marblehead, Mass...

...His selection and training are also important...

...Like the catechist, he has been instructed in basic points of doctrine and can repeat these to the people as he goes about his rounds and leads them in prayer...

...The deacon can also baptize solemnly, witness marriages and give many blessings upon which the popular piety of the people rests so heavily...