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Contributions to Reader's Forum should be limited to 250 words.
Letters must be signed and must include the writer's address and
phone number for verification purposes. All letters are subject
to editing.
Mail your letter to:
The Catholic Voice
2121 Harrison St., Suite 100
Oakland, CA 94612
FAX: (510) 893-4734
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Many valid forms of music
As a fellow musician and colleague, I respectfully respond
to Sebastian Romeo’s comments (Forum, Sept. 7) on music of the people.
This diocese’s gift to all of us is diversity. It is a gift to share
our faith with people of many ethnicities and languages — our Catholic
faith, which has remained constant, no matter what our individual heritage,
for 2,000 years.
It’s all good. Every liturgical and musical expression of our faith
is valid, as it unites us with Christ and with each other. As such, all
our music — every ethnic tradition’s music, as well as the
wealth of Catholic contemporary music cited by Mr. Romeo —
is worth performing well and worth hearing.
Far from being “elitist,” the traditional music covers our
2,000-year Catholic history, and as such it is worthy of exposure and
serious study. The Church still sings the chants sung by the Desert Fathers,
by St. Benedict and his first group of monks under his newly written
Rule, and by St. Francis and his earliest followers. And the motivation
for sacred music composition was the same for Thomas Tallis as it is for
Janet Sullivan Whitaker — expressing the amazing love of Christ.
The Cathedral of Christ the Light will offer several Sunday Masses each
week, which provides Mr. De Vos, the new music director, with
the opportunity to create several co-existing and equally worthy choirs
at the different Masses. These will hopefully include choirs which sing
ethnic music in various non-English languages, one which is enthusiastically
young-adult contemporary — and one which sings traditional classical.
With 50 years of all kinds of church choir experience, I say: If it brings
each of us individually to the collectivity of Christ, it’s all
good!
V. Graham
Oakland
Not a ‘great’ Catholic
I felt moved to add my comments to the letter (Forum, Sept. 7) titled
“A great Catholic.”
The writer Gwen Watson says that Senator Ted Kennedy was a “great”
Catholic and cites his support for various health care, immigration, and
racial equality initiatives and his stand against violence and war as
qualifications for a label of being a “great” Catholic. She
also seems to cite the presence of two cardinals at his funeral also as
support for being called “great”.
The term “great” is thrown around so loosely. I suppose almost
everyone can be called “great” if the only prerequisite is
to care about the issues that humanity faces today. Certainly, Ted Kennedy
wasn’t alone in his support for these causes — they are universal
amongst Democrats and Republicans alike and his efforts routinely were
bipartisan. Cardinals being present at his funeral simply reflects the
political influence he had in this country as a Catholic — not a
measure of his Catholic “greatness”.
I want to remind Voice readers about Senator Kennedy’s long
support for abortion — a practice that goes against Catholic teaching.
Some bishops have even gone so far as to withhold the receipt of
Communion to those politicians supporting abortion. Sena-tor Kennedy would
have fallen in that category. He would not have fallen in that category
if he was a “great” Catholic.
Senator Kennedy may have been a historical figure and a powerful and politically
savvy politician. I would agree with calling him a great politician
or a great orator. But calling him a “great” Catholic goes much
too far. He was simply a Catholic and one that may need our prayers.
Edward Nowicki
Concord
Selective excommunication
I am saddened by the news (Voice, Sept. 7) that Father Roy Bourgeois was
excommunicated automatically for not recanting on his views on the ordination
of women and their needed equality in the Church.
Another person suffering from similar views is Sister Louise Akers in
Cincinnati, who was banned by Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk from teaching
at archdiocesan parishes and institutions. I could never imagine looking
my mother, sisters or wife in the eye and telling them they are less worthy
than me, as they are not male and cannot be ordained.
Too bad Church teaching does not specifically address abusing children
or supporting the abusers, as it does the ordination of women. The priests
who abused children were put into treatment and moved to a new assignment.
Only recently are they removed from office, banned from public ministry,
and it takes years before the Vatican agrees to laicize them, but they
are not excommunicated. No bishop has been held accountable and only Cardinal
Bernard Law resigned, but got a promotion.
Mark Gotvald
Pleasant Hill
Cathedral concern
I am a little concerned about the request for the cathedral’s debt
to be paid off by parishioners.
Before the cathedral was built, we were told that the cost for the project
would be funded by private donations, not parishioners. The new high school
in Livermore was put on hold because the bishop had to concentrate on
the funding for the cathedral.
Now parishioners are asked to pay down the debt. Where is the high school?
We need the school. We did not need another show place.
A. Christensen
via email
Listening devices
A summer issue of The Voice (June 22) carried a story about handheld listening
devices for hearing-impaired parishioners to use during liturgy. St. Anne
Parish in Walnut Creek has had such devices for years. Any parishioner
who needs one can ask; then it is tuned in with the proper frequency and
it is theirs to use as long as necessary.
Betty Jane Rank
Walnut Creek
Bow at Jesus’ name
In St. Paul’s letter to the Philippians (2:9-10) it is written that
“at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, of those in heaven
and on the earth and under the earth.”
This same theme is in Isaiah (45:22-24), “For every knee shall be
bowed to me.”
There are several other descriptions similar to the above that are used
in both the Old and New Testaments.
How easy it has been made for us, yet we still forget. We no longer have
to bend our knees with a genuflection, but only simply bowing our heads
at the name of Jesus.
It would be very nice to see more Catholics bowing their heads at the
name of Jesus.
Bill Beiriger
Livermore
Prevalence of killing
In addition to abortion and the death penalty being the worst sins that
humanity can commit against itself (Forum, Aug. 10), there is the
deliberate killing of soldiers and massacres of innocent civilians during
acts of government wars. These numbers from the wars are
so much more massive than the numbers of abortions and death penalty executions.
Add in the multitudes of people killed in genocide by their own kinsmen.
And there are generations of people all over the world who have been
killed during centuries of religious wars. What about those sins
of man against man? It is very difficult to comprehend that we should
cherish life when we, as a species, persist and prevail in killing
each other for no good reason.
Barbara Wright
Concord
The opinions expressed in letters to Reader's Forum
are the writers and do not necessarily reflect the views of The
Catholic Voice or the Oakland Diocese.
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