Correspondence
COHEN, MELVIN N. & HUGHES, REV. JOHN JAY & GLICK, DARYL J. & DINTER, REV. PAUL E. & J., Joseph H. Fichter, S.
CORRESPONDENCE Blacks & Jews Baltimore, Md. To the Editors: As a practicing Jew who is working in ecumenical and black-Jewish relations, I was anxious to hear Julius Lester's talk to our shul on...
...The demand that the former be readmitted to priestly ministry amounts to the demand that their abandonment of a solemn commitment, publicly made after years of preparation, should have no consequences...
...Joseph H. Fichter's article "Rome Welcomes Married Priests" [March 25], mixes valuable reportage with misunderstandings...
...Notwithstanding, the undiluted brand continues to sell...
...REV...
...Apart from their sacrifices, most of these men have educational attainments beyond those of all but a small minority of Catholic priests...
...For the Catholic church to refuse to these men the continuation of priestly ministry would be to give the lie to our statements at Vatican II, and since, that dogmatic agreement alone is necessary for reunion, and that all other matters are negotiable...
...Newman lost faith in Anglicanism several years before accepting the claims of Rome...
...We cannot minimize our differences, but we must work together in coalition building for our common good...
...Though the Episcopal church's 1976 decision to ordain women may have been the occasion for some of these Episcopalian clergy (not all) to enter the Roman Catholic church, this was in no case the cause...
...That additional step requires, in every case, something more: what Fichter calls "the conviction that the fullness of Christianity lies in Rome.'' Mere dissatisfaction with another church never made anyone a Roman Catholic...
...DARYL J. GLICK The author replies: What appears to Daryl J. Glick as a' 'gratuitous slight" at "fellow workers in the Lord's vineyard," is, regrettably, ajudg-ment made after years of rehabilitating students (not all of them successfully) who have been exposed to Opus Dei's notion of the "undiluted message of Christ...
...To the Editors: Rev...
...For many the period in limbo is two years or more...
...MELVIN N. COHEN Priests & their wives Arnold, Mo...
...I should have been more forthright in my disapproval...
...Perhaps my problem is more with their method than their message, but I have heard too many young people's stories of coerced confessions, cult-like recruitment and indoctrination, degradation of sexuality and women, and promotion of a merely individualistic moral and social ethic, and have been treated to too much disrespect for my own efforts at ministry to associate Opus Dei with either a healthy or authentic presentation of the Gospel or the tradition of the church today...
...PAUL E. DINTER...
...In the civil rights movement under Dr...
...Equally unfortunate is the confusion between Catholic priests who resigned to marry and married convert clergymen...
...JOSEPH H. FICHTER, S.J...
...The charge that these are "less than quality men" is sad indeed...
...This is not popular with students in any age-less so when it is caricatured and dismissed by a clergyman as a harmful "brand" of Catholicism...
...JOHN JAY HUGHES The author replies: Father Hughes is well known for his precise writing, but in this instance he has slipped up twice: (1) Several convert clergymen told me that the ordination of women was the reason why they switched to Catholicism...
...There are documented cases to support every one of those statements...
...Fichter's language ("sharply decreased income and lowered living conditions for the family during the year or more of preparation for ordination") masks the harsh realities...
...I apologize for the "slight...
...To the Editors: As a practicing Jew who is working in ecumenical and black-Jewish relations, I was anxious to hear Julius Lester's talk to our shul on one Shabbat...
...In many cases those sacrifices are heroic...
...Paul Dinter writes ["Catholics at Columbia," April 8] of what must have been a trying and soul-draining labor for the church in a difficult setting...
...Students & Opus Dei New York, N.Y...
...Is it "repressive and moralistic" to confront students with the undiluted Gospel message of Christ...
...Martin Luther King it was the Jewish community who helped finance the movement...
...But why the gratuitous slight of Opus Dei, fellow workers in the Lord's vineyard...
...To invite them to repent and return to the sacraments...
...They married in good faith...
...How many of our seminarians would persevere to ordination if forced to undergo tests of that magnitude...
...Not to pick a quarrel, but as director of the Opus Dei center near Columbia, I must object in the interest of fairness...
...Overnight the clergyman passes from being a respected figure in the community with a comfortable home, good income, and near total security, to homelessness, unemployment, food stamps, utility cut-offs, even welfare...
...To the Editors: Rev...
...Convert clergymen made no such commitment...
...Julius Lester ["Pilgrims of the Absolute," by John Garvey, March 25] could be the leaven in the bread and make a considerable contribution...
...Their acceptance as Catholic priests is the church's response to the sacrifices they and their families have made...
...Christ was as uncompromising with sin as he was merciful with the sinner...
...Moreover, few if any will ever again enjoy the living standard they left for conscience sake...
...Many have doctorates...
...Thousands of Episcopalians have left that church in protest against that decision yet have, even today, not the slightest intention of becoming Roman Catholics...
...And the convert clergy have not only themselves to think of but wives and children as well...
...The movie star Ossie Davis said that the black-Jewish coalition is gone...
...2) The distinction between these convert priests and the priests who resigned to marry is very clear in my article on p. 178...
...REV...
Vol. 115 • June 1988 • No. 11
