Following are NCR reader responses to recent news articles, opinion columns and theological essays with letters that have been edited for length and clarity.
Church vs. 'tradition'
Daryl Grigsby spoke for me as well in his candid article (ncronline.org, June 25, 2024). For all the shame I feel about being Catholic and a Religious in an ecclesial culture plagued with the constant avalanche of sexual abuse and cover-up; for all the pain and anxiety I experience when I read news report after news report about how our Catholic leaders and many of our faithful are participating in partisan patriotic rosaries and even Masses; for all the anger that boils within me at prelates who have gone the way of total self-absorption, I still love the Catholic Church. There's got to be something quite powerful within the Church that is not of its leadership. It must be the gospel that still impels selfless people to enter into prayer and into ministries that serve the least among us; it must be the Holy Spirit who continues to nudge people, young and old, to question everything and seek out the truth; it must be the Eucharist that still nourishes us who are starving for depth and clarity. Yes, like Daryl, I love and believe in the Catholic Church — what it was and what it has the potential to be. I am convinced that this must be because so many of us know that the Catholic Church is a whole lot bigger than an institution with a "tradition" that really has nothing to do with the genuine tradition from which it came.
BR. ROBERT FRAZETTA, OFM
Boston, Massachusetts
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Indigenous responses
It is virtually impossible for most bishops and lay people of our generation to even begin to comprehend the magnitude of heartless abuse and sadistic cruelty endured by previous generations; especially by indigenous children, torn from their families and "re-educated" in government mandated, church schools. Thus I am not surprised that the bishops' latest document did not contain an appropriate apology acceptable to the tribes involved (ncronline.org, June 21, 2024). Here in Montana this is especially true. What happened at the boarding schools “was an act of genocide and it continued on and on for decades”, said Claire Charlo of the Confederated Saliish and Kootenai Tribes connected with St. Ignatius Mission in the beautiful Mission Valley.
The Crow Indian character, Teonna Rainwater, from the popular series 1923, portrays just one victim of the horrors of boarding school life as it must have been for countless young ones. Since those days, lawsuits against various religious orders have happened (such as against the Ursulines at St. Ignatius)) with millions of dollars quietly, expeditiously and heartlessly paid to survivors and their descendants, but the "heartbreak and loss" among tribal members persists and no amount of hush money or properly written bishops' document can make it go away.
NANCY MCGUNAGLE
Kalispell, Montana
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Eucharistic hypocrisy
Grants for the 2024-2025 USCCB Catholic Campaign for Human Development, a program that addresses poverty's root causes, will be put on hold. Brian Fraga's article on the topic also mentions the National Eucharistic Revival which has an estimated cost of $14 million, reduced from $28 million (ncronline.org, June 6, 2024). The logic is more than a little confusing as the Eucharist is celebrated globally each day while the poor struggle to eat each day.
The third paragraph in the Prayer For Eucharistic Revival:
"Give us the eyes of faith to recognize His presence in our brothers and sisters, especially in the face of the poor and suffering."
RICHARD GRALL
Eugene, Oregon
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