Letters To the Editor

Time for Purification

Dear Editor,

It is very telling that the recently resigned Bishop of Palm Beach, Florida, Anthony O'Connell, gave as an excuse for having molested a young man 25 years ago that he had been influenced by the Masters and Johnson way of thinking, as reported in The New York Times. This same amoral and prurient view of sex has also been evident in classroom sex education in recent decades, over the objection of many concerned parents.

This malaise first insinuated itself into the moral teaching of theologians and faculties of Catholic universities. Not one dogma or moral teaching of the Church—including the very authority of the Church herself to teach and govern—was left unscathed. The Pope was mocked and denigrated. Started by academicians, with the help of a gleeful media, it came right down to the pews, and into Catholic schools. We have experienced liturgical abuse, sex education abuse, and deficient and even heterodox catechisms in our schools, so that we now have a generation who are, to a large extent, ignorant of the faith unless it was taught in the home. Of the sex education scandal Lyman Stebbins rather prophetically quipped that "the business of millstones will one day become big business."

In short, there was a widespread and marked decadence within Catholicism, which caused enormous harm and suffering. Catholics United for the Faith realized that we needed to spread and build up the faith by every means possible, for instance, with the Faith and Life catechisms, which CUF produced. In a special way Lyman Stebbins always called us to prayer, fasting, and holiness, realizing there's no other way to cast out this devil (cf. Mt. 17:20). The renewal of our own hearts will start the renewal in the Church. We prayed for divine intervention for a great renewal.

This is the background which gives us the perspective for interpreting the unprecedented crisis we are in. The book Goodbye! Good Men by Michael S. Rose gives further background concerning the decadence in seminaries, the nerve center of the Church. To say we are in need of reform seems to be the understatement of the year.

So now just when it appears that the devil has his victory, the scandal is exposed and we see his hideous face. C.S. Lewis' Screwtape instructs Wormwood that no suspicion of his existence must arise for his infernal plans to be carried out. So what happens when the evil is exposed? The whole world is in revulsion. The media, in its relentless attack on the Church, becomes the instrument of God to cleanse the Church. It is a kind of ironic miracle. At last we recognize the cancer that has been caused by the false teaching.

Suddenly our leaders, many of whom had not seen the gravity of the situation, see the necessity of reform. We pray and hope that the problem will be seen at its deepest level and tackled at its roots. Committees, boards of advisors, and better procedures certainly can be helpful. But in the last analysis it will be like the shuffling of deck chairs on the Titanic, unless the deeper causes—a lack of faith, a dimming of the sense of the supernatural—are seen. The fullness of the Catholic faith taught in all its richness, strength, and luster, leading to divine charity, will engender the renewal through God's grace.

As never before there is a profound discouragement among the faithful, but I think that as never before there is reason for profound encouragement. At last the evil comes to full light. Now there is hope. Through this public humiliation of our beloved Church, a real purification can take place. This defeat can yet result in Christ's victory. We can pray and work for it beginning with the renewal of our own hearts.

—Madeleine Stebbins
Bronxville, NY

Mrs. Stebbins is the widow of CUF founder H. Lyman Stebbins and a member of CUF's board of directors.

Pivotal Issues

Dear Editor,

Many, including myself, feel abortion will not be conquered until the sacredness of procreation is restored. Could you please do a Lay Witness issue devoted to Humanae Vitae and all related topics? Much appreciated!

—William Neu
Lyons, WI

At Catholics United for the Faith, we cannot agree more. In 1998, we published an expanded issue of Lay Witness dedicated to the 30th anniversary of Humanae Vitae. We will be exploring this topic further in the upcoming January/February 2003 issue of Lay Witness. In the meantime, for more documentation on the Church's teaching regarding contraception, abortion, and related topics, call us toll-free at (800) MY-FAITH, or visit www.cuf.org.

Up in Arms

Dear Editor,

As a reservist in the U.S. Armed Forces, I would like to thank CUF for publishing in the March/April '02 issue of Lay Witness the clear and articulate article, "Conquer Evil Justly," by Fr. William Saunders, which reviews "just war" theory, its application criteria, and current world circumstances.

I was recalled to active duty last October as part of our nation's response to the unconscionable act of violence against the "defenseless and unsuspecting" innocent, non-combatant civilians of this country. Quoting again from the Holy Father's own words, "thousands of innocent people of many ethnic backgrounds were slaughtered." Such an incident is undeniably the height of legitimacy in a call-to-arms that can ever be made to a nation's citizens.

I am puzzled by the letter to the editor submitted by Casimir Dadak (May/June '02 Lay Witness), in which he asserted that Fr. Saunders failed "to show how in this particular case the just war criteria were met," while warning that Fr. Saunders' opinions should be kept as his own and not misconstrued as those of CUF or the Catholic Church.

I find it ironic that Mr. Dadak criticized CUF's failure to print excerpts from "Living with Faith and Hope After September 11,"when in their own document, the bishops too do not see their role as being to validate the case of "just war." Rather, the bishops explain that "we seek to articulate traditional Catholic teaching as a guide for our people and nation, offering a moral framework, rather than a series of specific judgments on rapidly changing events."

Rather than an "unproven claim" that Fr. Saunders is accused of making, it sounds like Mr. Dadak somehow misread the article, which in fact, based on the U.S. bishops' statement, rightly assumes the United States entered this campaign with just cause, and then exhorts us to pray that those criteria will continue to guide our military actions. Fr. Saunders cannot endorse or ratify whether "just war" conditions are met, but simply clarify what they are. Even the Pope doesn't pronounce general judgment over the U.S.-led coalition war against terrorism. Although it is presumably obvious to most people that "just war" criteria are reasonably met for this campaign, there are still months—if not years—of particulars that will affect the final judgment of the war on terrorism in its entirety.

In his message for the World Day of Peace 2002, the Holy Father admonishes, "Terrorism is built on contempt for human life. For this reason, not only does it commit intolerable crimes, but because it resorts to terror as a political and military means it is itself a true crime against humanity. . . . There exists, therefore, a right to defend oneself against terrorism, a right which, as always, must be exercised with respect for moral and legal limits in the choice of ends and means."

We should not miss considering the point that prosecuting a carefully targeted war against terrorists justly may be far more "humane" than a large-scale economic action that indiscriminately affects a mass populace.

—Gary Helfeldt
Tampa, FL

The "Gay" Factor

Dear Editor,

In all the media circus about the sexual abuse scandal, I am most confused by the allegation that the Church is laying blame at the feet of homosexuals in order to make the problem appear to be less than it is. The Church seems to be saying that many of the alleged cases of sexual abuse involve homosexual men having consensual sex with male teens, and thus she is trying to avoid dealing with a more insidious "problem." This "problem," celibacy, is alleged to be the cause of the perpetrators' sexual immaturity, and thus the Church's teaching is blamed for the perpetrators' action.

Others point out that teens cannot give consent to sex, both legally and due to their lack of maturity, and thus even homosexual sex with teens would be abuse. Therefore, they would say it would be false to indicate that these cases were not "abuse."

What is the Church actually saying about the role of homosexuals in this problem and how should Catholics respond to these questions about the sex scandal?

—William French
Raleigh, NC

This letter is representative of a number of inquiries we have received on this complex subject. That is why we've issued a position paper that addresses the various issues raised by the current scandals. For a free copy of this position paper, call CUF toll-free at (800) MY-FAITH, or visit our website at www.cuf.org.

With respect to Mr. French's question, it is true that pedophilia proper (abuse of prepubescent children) shares much in common with the abuse of teenage boys. Both cause untold harm. Both involve an interplay of unchaste activity and psychosexual deviancy. Both require the vigilance of superiors and prompt intervention.

There are reasons, though, for distinguishing the two. First, the vast majority of reported cases involve teenage boys, not children. That's simply the fact of the matter. By downplaying this fact, the media does two things: (a) it downplays the intrinsic homosexual dimension of the problem, and (b) it gives the impression that the misconduct they're reporting on involves very young children, which most people find even more repulsive than abuse of teenagers. Further, pedophilia in the true sense afflicts a small cross section of the population, and objective studies show that there is not a higher incidence of pedophilia among Catholic priests. There doesn't seem to be an effective way to totally eliminate this very significant, yet very infrequent, form of abuse from happening. The best the Church can probably do at this time is ensure that a known pedophile is never put or maintained in a position where he can harm children.

With respect to the molestation of teenage boys, studies show that one out of three homosexual men engage in homosexual acts with teenage boys. Combine this with the facts that (a) most of the sexual abuse cases involve teenage boys, and (b) it just so happens that the cases arose at a time of unprecedented dissent from Church teaching on sexual morality issues—resulting in a lax approach toward homosexuality in general and a significant influx of seminarians/priests with homosexual inclinations in particular—you have the recipe for a real problem. That's why the U.S. cardinals identified seminary visitations and upholding the Church's moral teachings as key components of the solution. Several leading Church authorities have spoken out recently about the homosexuality problem in the Church.

—Editor

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