Correspondence
O'CONNOR, (MISS) FLANNERY & SHAFER, BENEDICT F. & SKOUSGAARD, SHANNON McINTYRE & LANGAN, BARBARA & Terzian, Philip & Callahan, Sidney
CORRESPONDENCE To the Editors An author displeased I suppose a Milledgeville girl ought to be pleased with most Any notice in Commonweal 31 years after the Event but I am not Over-Gratified to...
...Now for the problem of the phrase "however cruel" set off by commas...
...SHANNON MCINTYRE SKOUSGAARD Reston, Va...
...Some death-penalty supporters pray and weep for those executed...
...A simple one would be to reduce the number of Masses where the number of those participating is significantly smaller than the church's capacity...
...It was hard to resist...
...They have to be taken seriously because they vote-for capital punishment...
...BENEDICT F. SHAFER Chicago, III...
...He does seem a nice earnest fellow though...
...The figure given by the Center for Defense Information is 52 percent...
...These were the numbers cited by Arnold J. Olenick, a financial and management consultant, in a letter to the New York Times published February 1 of this year...
...Like Ms...
...How'd he like somebody studying over the Remains of 18 years of his labor on the evidence of a bin-full of his used Kleenex Tisuus (sp...
...About "The Thirst for Revenge," by Sidney Callahan...
...I can appreciate the rage of Commonweal and its readers at the spectacle of Speaker Gingrich, but has Correction - The prices of two books reviewed in our November 17 issue should have read as follows: The Psalter, Liturgical Training Publications, $25...
...Would that this were true...
...suggests that we may be seeking a quick-fix, Band-Aid solution to an actual problem without really considering the consequences...
...The piece never does take on the serious arguments of those who defend capital punishment out of their understanding of how justice is to be served- perhaps because Callahan turns retribution into revenge throughout (Continued on page 4) CORRESPONPENCE (Continued from page 2) the article...
...BARBARA LANGAN Montclair, New Jersey The editors reply: The editorial did not say that Social Security absorbs 34 percent of the budget, but rather that Medicare and Social Security combined do so...
...I should imagine that the word "stole" was chosen with care...
...Why take on those who say "these criminals are vile animals," or who believe that any persons are "inhuman scum who don't deserve to live...
...CORRESPONDENCE To the Editors An author displeased I suppose a Milledgeville girl ought to be pleased with most Any notice in Commonweal 31 years after the Event but I am not Over-Gratified to read [November 3] that Mr T P Schilling finds my letters the "most satisfying" of my "works...
...It is not one we discussed in our editorial on the threat to Medicare...
...I guess I thought that commas would provide ambiguity and let it be clear that it is my view that the death penalty is cruel, not that proponents are for the death penalty however cruel...
...I know several who support the death penalty in certain situations, and none who support it "however cruel...
...The title aims at the low point of the article...
...So, finally, I am doing what I must do, something I've never done before, writing to the editors...
...To argue that there is a position in support of capital punishment is not to thirst for more...
...second, that in my view Callahan is usually a fine commentator...
...I can't imagine anyone who thinks like this even stumbling across an issue of Commonweal...
...Callahan slammed them with an aside...
...Is Commonweal suggesting that the results of the 1994 congressional elections-upsetting a half-century of Democratic control of the House of Representatives-were somehow illegitimate, or obtained by unlawful means...
...Death penalty revisited Every time I try to clear off my desk I'm left with one intractable item, the June 16 issue of Commonweal...
...But what happens...
...I hope that the silence of the pro-celibacy side does not mean that they cannot hear the "signs of the times...
...Carlin is logical David R. Carlin, Jr.'s column, "On the Way to the Altar" [October 20] is the most logical and common-sense formulation I have ever read on the subject of a celibate vs...
...paper, $16...
...Skous-gaard, I was trying to make the point that we should not dismiss our opponents but should try to understand their views of the death penalty, not as a thirst for revenge but as a symbolic moral witness to "true justice," as well as an act of ritualized reparation and corporate purification...
...From the editors: Our correspondent is perhaps not familiar with the lighthearted fable by Dr...
...The percentanges we quoted were based on Office of Management and Budget spendng figures for Fiscal Year 1995...
...PHILIP TERZIAN Oakton, Va...
...Unfair...
...Without indicating a source, the editorial says that 19 percent of the budget goes to the military...
...If Social Security taxes were fair, that is, if corporate chiefs were to pay 7.6 percent of total salary, as do those making under $61,200, it has been estimated the revenue generated could cut the deficit in half...
...There is an important distinction that must be preserved...
...in my judgment, Commonweal contributed to this problem with this article and its title...
...Does/can the death penalty properly give symbolic witness to the importance of the vic- tim's life and the community's absolute rejection of crime...
...To repeat the Washington propaganda, as do the rest of the media, is beneath Commonweal...
...Our culture suffers from the divisive and dishonest rhetoric that surrounds many of the most important debates of our time...
...Well, obviously I did not succeed in my efforts in this column...
...Appreciatively, sort of, (MISS) FLANNERY O'CONNOR Address indecipherable Consider our source While "writer and former lawyer" James Duffy's review [October 6] of Newt Gingrich's book was no particular surprise-churlish, juvenile, crudely phrased-the headline appended by the editors intrigued me: "The man who stole Congress...
...third, that I believe capital punishment is almost always morally wrong, and certainly always so in the United States in our time...
...The editorial noted that Social Security takes 34 percent of the budget, but failed to point out that this trust-which should not be part of the budget-had a surplus in each of the past three years of between $46.2 billion and $53.2 billion, thereby reducing the annual deficit...
...In light of them, we wonder how the Center for Defense Information arrived at its calculations...
...The Parent is crazy about that title...
...To be perfectly clear, let me mention, first, that I have come to expect that your analysis of social issues will be not only penetrating and balanced but fairly representative of diverse opinions...
...Things are even funnier here in Purgatory where I've recently been named Senior Resident Emerita...
...It is true that at the present time Social Security taxes produce a large surplus over the amounts needed to pay for current Social Security benefits...
...In fact, then, whether or not the surplus should be part of the budget, it is...
...Other solutions may actually work without requiring so great a change in the sacrament of orders...
...The author replies: Let it be known that I vigorously protested the title given to my column by the editors, because I thought the phrase, "The Thirst for Revenge," gave a completely false impression of my main message...
...Callahan wants to take on the symbolic meaning of the death-penalty, a task in great need of her expertise...
...Finally, the rate of Social Security taxes for various income groups would make a good editorial topic...
...Is it the best way to do this...
...If we choose to ignore the tradition (heritage) of the priesthood in the Catholic church, we will indeed diminish the priesthood, not only desacralizing it but creating a totally other ministry, like the permanent diaconate, with its glut of members in the United States but with blurred meaning and purpose...
...We get phrases such as "the thirst for the death penalty," suggesting that supporters are salivating for more...
...married priesthood...
...This will not always be the case, however, and that is a legitimate concern for future recipients, since the surplus is not being held in trust but is being spent to meet today's budget requirements...
...Seuss that inspired the headline: The Grinch Who Stole Christmas...
...I mentioned people who think "criminals are vile animals," not because they read Commonweal, but because I regularly meet great numbers of these folks voicing these opinions in my classes...
...I do believe your editorial, despite its title, does much harm...
...Carlin's question, "[H]ow do we know there is a shortage of priests...
...anger really reduced you to this...
...Who can imagine either of them thirsting for revenge or speaking of anyone as a vile animal...
...Paul Baumann and Immanuel Kant win again...
...sidney callahan Harmful editorial I was dismayed by your editorial, "Do No Harm," in the issue of October 6.1 had grown to expect more from Commonweal (and from its readers: There were no protests in the following issue...
...For example, while she purports to have listened "hard" to those who believe the death penalty justified, she denigrates one of their points by inserting an unnecessary and false (because unqualified) aside: "The act of execution, however cruel, gives symbolic witness both to the importance of the victim's life...and to the community's absolute rejection of crime" [italics added...
...And Psalms for Morning and Evening Prayer, Liturgical Training Publications, $25...
...paper, $16...
...Of course one can argue, and I do, that all execution, however swift and painless and sanitized, is disrespectful of the dignity of the person-but that's another point...
...Though in places Callahan seems fleetingly to glimpse the valid moral depth of arguments favoring capital punishment, her article emphasizes extremist caricatures of that position...
...My complaint is that Callahan didn't go after the argu- ments of her opponents...
...Nevertheless, both the title and content of this article disturb me greatly...
...Immanuel Kant and, in your own pages, Paul Baumann have presented morally cogent arguments in support of capital punishment...
...My parish has five week-end Masses but could function very well with three...
Vol. 122 • December 1995 • No. 21
