No Wiggle Room

In “Governor Will Stop Receiving Communion in Public” (News in Brief, May 16-22), we find Gov. James McGreevey of New Jersey stating that, in response to Newark Archbishop John Myers' pastoral letter, he will no longer receive holy Communion publicly. He needs to add “nor privately,” since reverence for the Eucharist is the principal reason for the interdict canon law imposes on public sinners.

In the same issue good Cardinal Adam Maida of Detroit tells us that “the reception of the sacraments must be applied in the context of different cultures and it can be applied in different ways” (“Back to the Church's Roots in Tough Times,” Inperson). In general that is true, but in relation to the Eucharist, canon law is specific, decisive and unequivocal: “Those who obstinately persist in manifest grave sin are not to be admitted to holy Communion.” There's no wiggle room here even (and especially, I might add) for Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm.

As our Holy Father frequently reminds us: We must transform the culture rather than allowing ourselves to be transformed by the culture.

Father Bernardine Hahn, OFM

St. Louis

Abu Ghraib's Porn Link

Regarding “Pornography and Iraq” (Editorial, May 16-22):

We know pornography is the offspring of our culture's obsession with sexual matters over many years. Just looking at many of the movies and Broadway shows of the early ‧30s and even earlier, the female figure — especially in chorus lines — was about erotic as it could get, a gradual seduction that found its way to more and more bodily exposure and sexually explicit dialogue. In short, this whole cultural shift has been a long time in coming.

The self-indulgence that pornography promotes leads to exploitation, cruelty and violence. It depicts women and men as devoid of personhood and frequently weaves violence with sex. A person who no longer guides his life on principles of fidelity treats people any way he wants. Enter sadism.

Many members of our society have had pornography ingrained in their psyche over who knows how many years, a steady diet of porn carrying the sadistic seed. It has now come to pass this sadism component of porn has shown its ugly face to the whole world. The naiveté of persons who just “can't understand” how some American soldiers could conceivably do such a thing blows me away. Where have they been all those years? Do we share the same planet?

Did Isaiah have it right? “With their ears they have been hard of hearing and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they see with their eyes, hear with their ears and understand with their mind” (Isaiah 6:9-11).

Aubert Lemrise

Peru, Illinois

Protect Future Communicants

Overall I was deeply puzzled by the response of Washington, D.C., Cardinal Theodore McCarrick regarding Communion and pro-abortion politicians (“Invigorated by the Holy Father,” Inperson, May 9-15).

Christ's teachings clearly give preferential care to the least of our brethren: “Whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me” (Matthew 25:40). But Cardinal McCarrick and most Catholic bishops appear to be choosing not to give preferential care to the least of our pre-born brethren where the bishops have most control — that is, at the Communion moment.

Incredibly, as matters are now developing, it appears many bishops are openly choosing to cooperate with the abortion politicians in their supreme, practical, public witness to moral falsity at the Communion moment. How perplexing, since no one can serve two masters, and the objective evidence of a public, notorious, unrepentant, five-time voter against a ban on partial-birth abortion, like Sen. John Kerry, being cooperated with at the Communion moment has to reveal much about a bishop's allegiance and has to be a first-rate scandal.

Thus some of our bishops seem to be giving only lip service to the evils of abortion while their practical actions are giving preferential care to the “important” political procurers of legal abortion.

In sum, while many bishops talk conscience and tolerance for pro-abortion supporters, their practical actions are intolerant of including the possibility for the pre-born abortion victims to ever exercise their conscience and to ever receive the Body and Blood of Christ.

Frank Strelchun, PH.D.

Canaan, Connecticut

Political vs. Spiritual

With reference to the controversy over whether or not pro-abortion politicians should be given holy Communion (“On Receiving Communion,” May 9-15) and especially the article “Faith in the Spotlight” (April 25-May 1): It seems the bishops are more concerned about the political aspects rather than the spiritual.

Cardinals, bishops and priests were not ordained to be politicians; nor were they ordained to back away from powerful politicians or the state. They were ordained to teach the truth, save souls and protect the innocent. They should not be concerned that any faith-based decisions they make will have any impact on a political situation. If their decisions happen to affect so-called Catholic politicians, especially those who not only vote for pro-abortion legislation but also actually promote abortion, so be it. The truth is that anyone who is not in a state of grace should not receive Communion and to do so is a sacrilege against the Eucharist. Are not those who give Communion to people they know are not worthy to receive it contributing to the sacrilege?

The reports are that the bishops will not decide on what to do with these so-called Catholic politicians until after the elections. If the bishops do not define the Catholic doctrines prior to the elections, especially those concerning abortion, and a so-called Catholic politician gets elected president, the first thing he will do is cancel the Mexico City Policy, which prohibits the use of U.S. tax dollars by organizations that provide for abortions or that lobby for and promote abortion. He will sign every pro-abortion bill, veto every pro-life bill and appoint pro-abortion judges to the Supreme Court.

If the bishops allow this, it will be a much greater scandal than the sex scandal that rocked the Church, for it will mean the murder of millions of additional innocent babies — not only over the next four years but also for years to come.

Gerard P. Mcevoy

Coram, New York

OH, HAPPY ACCIDENT

Just after we went to press with our May 23-29 issue, we received a photo that, had it arrived a few hours earlier, would have accompanied “The Franciscan Four Go to Washington” on the Books & Education page. The article told about four legal-studies students from Franciscan University of Steubenville, Ohio, whose diligent research into forced abortions has reached the U.S. Supreme Court via a brief filed by attorney Christopher Sapp for the case Jane Roe II v. Aware Women Center for Choice Inc. Now we've learned that two of the students' names we were given had been misspelled. We know a second chance to run a great photo when we see one. So here's the photo and here, from the bottom looking up — with all names correctly spelled — are students Anne Marie Morris, Shane Haselbarth and Shannon Andreyanova, along with Sapp and Third Order Regular Franciscan Father Terence Henry, president of Franciscan University. Missing from the photo is student Heather McCombs.