Following are NCR reader responses to recent news articles, opinion columns and theological essays with letters that have been edited for length and clarity.
Biden's legacy, faithful?
I am writing in response to your article about President Biden appearing on the front page of the Aug. 30-Sept. 12 print issue (ncronline.org, Aug. 19, 2024). More than anyone, except possibly Netanyahu, Biden is responsible for the genocide in Gaza.
Lancet, the prestigious and most precise source of medical information in England, estimates that over 180,000 Palestinians and at least 30,000 children have been killed in this war. I am hardly one to "cast the first stone" but just by way of speculation, I believe it might take more than church attendance and "carrying a rosary" in his pocket for Biden to avoid rubbing elbows in the next life with the likes of those others in history responsible for the slaughter of thousands of innocent people.
Perhaps there is a lesson in this for everyone, especially us Catholics. We live in an age when those who take no action and remain silent become complicit in the terrible evil that pervades our world.
TOM CHARLES
Spokane, Washington
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Finding a new story
Fr. Reese’s article, "You Need to Abandon God to Find God" calls for a wholesome reframing of faith — one updated theologically to match our growth in maturity (ncronline.org, Sept. 10, 2024).
Overhauling theology is inadequate in a paradigm shift. We must embrace what "geologian" Thomas Berry called a New Story. As astrophysicist Brian Swimme explains, the First Story wove a worldview of religion and myth that held sway for millennia. Around the 18th century, the Enlightenment and scientific revolution burst upon the West, and the Second Story was born. The former paradigm based on mythical narratives and rituals was eschewed by many intellectuals who knew better.
Today, the Third Story is dawning with its recognition of an interconnected, purposeful future. This new way of thinking (holistic/planetary) and living (a global ethic) draws on the best of the other two: the sense of meaning and community of the First Story, along with reason, technology, and applicability of the Second. It's a narrative that includes us all.
Behind Fr. Reese’s reflection lurks the old Sky God, the sum of our projections—pulling strings in a magical cosmos of miracles and fables. But we can no longer live in a scientific age while tolerating this sideshow. On the other hand, deterministic modern science also falls short, presiding over a mechanistic, soulless world. The New Story, however, is transformational — imbuing science with cosmic meaning and resurrecting religion as enlightened faith. It's a story that inspires and motivates us to make this paradigm shift as the best possible world beckons us.
REV. DR. JOHN CUNNINGHAM
County Mayo, Ireland
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Apparitions affirm female apostolate
Your article about 'Father Anne' (ncronline.org, Aug. 9, 2024) invites attention to the coincidence of the reopening of the Synod on Synodality taking place near the Oct. 5 feast of the female Apostle of Divine Mercy. Perhaps, the Church should take the opportunity to correct its neglect of Jesus’ own modern actions.
Jesus has already appeared bodily to three modern women and given them missions. In 1281, in Helfta, Germany, Jesus started appearing to St. Gertrude the Great who wrote extensively for us about divine love. On December 27, 1673, at Paray-le-Monial, France, Jesus showed his Sacred Heart to St. Margaret Mary. On Sunday, February 22, 1931, in Plock, Poland, Jesus began appearing to St. Maria Faustina Kowalska in her convent.
He sent them with a message about his love, his Sacred Heart, and Divine Mercy. As with St. Paul and gentiles, with His modern women apostles Jesus has opened the door for ordination to women.
FRANCIS THOMAS RAFFERTY
Crownsville, Maryland
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