Correspondence
Correspondence On these happy shores St: Cloud, Minn. To the Editors: Thank you for the excellent editorial ["Which Revolution?" February 22] comparing the president's State of the Union...
...And will not history judge the silence as a loss of moral wisdom as well...
...But I would also welcome an insistence, against the puffery of "democratic capitalism" now in vogue, on some essential conservative truths...
...In effect it is simply asking the bishops to continue to exercise some moral judgment and not to let the question die...
...Especially in view of the continuing weakness of the secular left, the bishops would do well to be on hand to pick up the pieces...
...Why didn't the bishops address the candidates and parties before the election on "The Challenge of Peace" pastoral as if it really mattered...
...If nuclear weapons are to be multiplied by some 17 thousand between 1983 and 1993, and if a trillion dollars is budgeted to be spent within five years from the issuance of the pastoral, and if in that time no concrete criticism emerges from bishops either collectively or individually within their dioceses, then I fear one could safely suggest some lack of moral passion...
...What would the church say to a father who let his children starve while he kept valuable family treasures in his house...
...Specifically, my questions are as follows: Why did the bishops act as if the anti-abortion crusade was the only issue the church cared about during the 1984 election campaign...
...Finally, just what are the priorities of the bishops for the redemption of the human race...
...From the bishops' viewpoint, where lies the greater evil: is it abortion, or child abuse, or world hunger and mass starvation, or the arms race and the threat of a nuclear holocaust, or poverty in the midst of plenty here at home, or the widening gap between the rich nations and the poor nations, or human rights violations, or dissent within the church...
...I welcome the bishops' endorsement of a social democratic political perspective...
...Zahn says it almost too gently...
...Perhaps there is a way in which passion short circuits a needed unraveling of honest complexities, but Zahn's article clarifies one way in which wisdom and passion are healthily integrated...
...How can the pope return to the Vatican after seeing the desperate poverty of Latin America and not do what it is in his power to do — raise funds by selling the non-devotional art objects in (Continued on page 287) Commonweal: 258 (Continued from page 258) the Vatican Museum...
...ANTHONY J. DiSTEFANO The Canadian way Calgary, Alberta To the Editors: Nora Magid states ["Ticket to Delay," Feb...
...PHILIP E. DEVINE A time for passion Immaculate, Perm...
...McCarthy for bringing this out...
...Should not the bishops make the comparison explicit in subsequent drafts...
...the fact that technical progress guarantees neither virtue nor happiness...
...Why did the bishops wait until after Reagan' s landslide victory to issue their pastoral on the economy...
...R.M.CHADBOURNE The church's treasury To the Editors: In Abigail McCarthy's article "Can We Light the Way...
...I believe that serious thought and dialogue about these questions is vital if the church is to be faithful to the teachings of Christ, and a genuine voice for peace and justice in the world...
...To the Editors: Gordon Zahn's "On Not Writing a Dead Letter" [March 8] managed to say out loud what so many have inwardly sensed: that the bishops' peace pastoral is being left to die on the vine...
...These include the fact that change, however just, necessary, or inevitable, is unlikely to occur without pain...
...Therefore, I would appreciate some answers...
...FRANCIS X. MEEHAN The bishops' priorities Alexandria, Va...
...February 22] comparing the president's State of the Union Address with the bishops' pastoral letter...
...Christ founded a church, not a museum...
...To the Editors: With regard to "On Not Writing a Dead Letter'' [March 8], I still have some serious questions which, to date, have not been answered...
...He simply asks that there be some monitoring mechanism to see if the pastoral's norms on deterrence are being violated...
...the fact that even on these happy shores there is such a thing as evil...
...If the church wants to preach to the consciences of the "haves" in this overwhelming world of the "have-nots," let her first be an example...
...The Reagan administration and its court preachers have been marketing optimism...
...This strategy has worked so far, but is unlikely to survive even a mild economic downturn, or a foreign adventure less successful than the conquest of Grenada...
...22] that in applying for a passport "Canadians living abroad have to start over each time.'' As a Canadian citizen residing in Canada, when I wished to "renew" my passport the last time (1984), the procedure I was obliged to go through was exactly the one described in her article...
...I would like to commend Mrs...
...Canadians living abroad would thus appear to be under no special disadvantage...
...We do not honor him with art treasures, nor with the gold and gems from the earth, but with hearts of gold and gems of the spirit...
...To the best of my knowledge, this absurd system complicates the lives of all Canadians...
...EILEEN M. RUTH 3 May 1985: 287...
...One time I heard a distinguished speaker hazard an opinion that in the area of peace morality, what is needed is not so much moral passion as wisdom...
...February 8] reference is made to portions from the 1971 Synod's "Justice in the World" which seem to have been ignored — specifically "that the call to justice undertake an examination of the modes of acting and of the possessions found within the church herself...
Vol. 112 • May 1985 • No. 9
