The Dialogue: A Sample
My Saturday column (see post just below this one) generated 50 e-mails and about 20 phone calls. Also, some people responded directly to it on our Web site. See column on Web Site. And Read Replies on Web site.
About two-third of those who gave me feedback agreed with my view; the other third disagreed. I was surprised. I thought it would be the opposite.
What the e-mails had in common was this:
They were all wonderfully written and well-argued. Catholics can write! All that good education, I think.
One of the best examples came from Bernie Korth of Spokane. I asked Bernie if I could post the entire content of the e-mail sent to me. Permission was given. So here it is.
Dear Ms. Nappi,
This is only the third time in my life that I have responded in writing to a news article. In that respect, you should consider this letter a compliment. The first time was when I was 21 years old and on active duty in the Navy. My comments were printed in the Williamsburg, VA newspaper.
The second time was when I wrote a letter to Chris Peck. I don't remember the subject, but it was not published because it was too long. My intent in writing this letter is not to be published, and I request that you not publish this letter without my permission. Consider this as a "personal letter" to you as one Roman Catholic to another. I am a 62-year-old retiree. I was baptized a Catholic in Detroit, Michigan. I attended St. Philip Neri and St. Brigid elementary schools, and I spent one year at Salesian High School (Salesian Brothers). Personally, I never experienced abuse by the priests and nuns who taught me and nurtured my Catholic "Baltimore Catechism" religious education. To my knowledge, no abuse ever happened to my schoolmates. Until recently, I never knew anyone who had suffered abuse. I recently learned that a son of one of my friends was a victim of Fr. O'Donnell. I am as outraged as the next person that the abuse of young people occurred in the church, and I agree that justice
needs to be rendered to those responsible. The abuse of any young person,
whether by parent, minister, scout leader, or teacher is abominable. It's too bad that the media seems intent on singling out Catholic priests as society's primary child abuser.
Yesterday, I returned late from a road trip to the coast. Before I went to bed, I read your article. I can tell you that I was very angry when I first read it, and I continue to be angry today. Only last week, I attended one of the sessions you described where the Diocese of Spokane discussed fundraising for the training of seminarians. My wife and I will contribute to this fund, as we have in past parish and diocese fundraising efforts, and we will continue responding to future requests, as long as we are financially able to do so. Your article will not dissuade us. Thanks to your article, we most likely will increase our donation and perhaps there will be many like me who will contribute more. At the end of the day, you may well add to the endowment without having to spend even one "precious dime" of your own money, so don't lose any sleep over your non-contribution. You will have more money to spend on new outfits, SUV's or whatever suits your fancy. I am upset at your article because you took advantage of your employment to express your personal views on a subject that many non-Catholics are not aware of and have no reason to have an interest. What was the purpose, except to create another "pulpit" for all of those non-Catholics and lapsed Catholics who are so eager to point out what they see as failures by the Church.
What I personally don't need is another opportunity for my Protestant and non-religious friends to criticize Catholics during our morning coffee get-togethers. I'd rather talk about cars, boats, and the latest Craftsman tool catalog. Nor do I think that you need to feed the "frenzy" that seems so common today as the news media seeks to fill papers with more scandalous discussion. . How come you are not writing about all of the good priests that you and I have known in the diocese who have dedicated their lives to the Church. You know who they are! Rather, you prefer to mention unknown Jesuit academics, psychologist priests and others who may never have preached from a pulpit. Who are these guys? They have never given a homily at a mass that I have attended. Was this name-dropping intended to impress your reader, or did you simply want to include only those who would be portrayed as supporting your "personal agenda"? Your comments would have been more appropriate if they would have been published in the Inland Register. In that way, you would have reached the target market that I think you may be trying to reach.
The request for funds for the seminarians could not come at a better time.
We are privileged to have as many as 20 seminarians in Spokane, and as Catholics, we should feel blessed. In this age when so many of our young people are more interested in secular careers, MTV, wearing baggy pants, and the pursuit of material possessions, it is remarkable. If we want young men to commit to the church, we need to support them. When would you suggest is the right time for this fund raising effort? Would it be after we have chased away all of these young men because the press has already branded them as potential predators, even before they take their priestly vows? Is it to be only when we have accepted married priests and women priests? You think that it may not be in your lifetime? I suggest to you that it may not be in my lifetime, but you are younger and one or the other of these may happen in your lifetime. I was amused while listening to BBC during a 2003 visit to the UK. It seems that the wives of the clergy in the UK are trying to unionize. Because they are 24/7 as wives of vicars in the Church of England they feel that they should be compensated for the many hours they spend alongside their vicar husbands. They have to answer the telephone, make coffee or tea for visitors, and attend to all of the other duties that being the spouse of a vicar entails. Now they want to be compensated! The male spouses of the female vicars have joined the campaign. Where will it end? Perhaps your children and mine will have to deal with the same issue.
The time to invest in our young seminarians is now. I happen to know Lucas
(Luke) Tomson, who is currently at the American University in Rome. He is a fine young man and he will make a fine priest. I hope to be present at his first mass. As fellow Catholics, we need to "step up to the plate" and show Luke and his fellow seminarians that we are ready to rebuild the Church. We need to give him and his colleagues the facility and the tools to learn their profession. You say you respect Bishop William Skylstad?
How can you say that when you have just written an article that may only serve to distract and inhibit his efforts? In the meantime you provide fodder to those looking for ways to not participate. Do you really think that you have contributed anything to the future good of the Church?
I think that I will skip this week's coffee "klatch" with my Protestant and
lapsed Catholic friends. I don't need any more stress at my age. As for
you, I would hope that you pray that when the day arrives (and it probably
will) when we are able to recruit women to the priesthood, that some "forward looking" Catholics were willing to make a contribution in 2004 to insure that they had a suitable seminary.
Yours very truly,
Bernie Korth
