LETTERS

National Catholic Reporter, August 13, 1999

A matter of justice

* As a retired criminal justice professional, I found the July 2 cover article on prisons and the current state of our justice system to be both important for your readers' reflection and provocative to any policymaker who would come across it.

I must add a few comments, however. It strikes me that cost considerations rather than what is useful or ethical will probably drive what we do in the near future.

I also think we need to have a clear notion of what justice means if we are to contribute to any public debate on the ethics of the system. Surely it is not only a matter of rights (both defendant's and victim's) but some finding of truth and, if guilt be established, an attempt to deal with that proportionately.

Finally, one should be aware that those who cry out for "fairness" are often seeking to enhance their share of control in the system: Real accountability structures are needed for judges, prosecutors and defenders all.

Even if we can get behind the "lock 'em up" rhetoric our politicians so dearly love, much work still needs to be done before we have an effective and ethical justice system.

ROBERT A. NUNZ Grand Canyon, N.M.

The Spirit leading

* When I read the letter from Paul Ackerman in the June 4 issue, I had to chuckle. I once had a similar thought: If the loss of ordained priests continues to be greater than the newly ordained, the time will come when only the laity will be left to guide the people of God. But, isn't this the way it all started? Jesus was not a Jewish priest; neither were the lay leaders, men and women, who first carried out his commands to spread his message to the world. Perhaps the Holy Spirit is leading the church to a new form in the third millennium!

ALTHAIRE GREEN Louisville, Ky.

Stifled alleluias

* Your story about Archbishop Justin Rigali banning women from preaching at the Aquinas Institute (NCR, July 16) made me wonder where Christianity would be today had the Code of Canon Law been in place on that first Easter morning.

As Mary and the other women return from the-empty tomb the disciples ask, "Any news?"

"Uh, no," the women reply, "nothing that we are allowed to share."

MARK DEATON Oak Park, Ill.

Henninger's witness

* Sr. Maureen Fiedler's tribute to Sr. Margie Henninger (NCR, July 16) was a beacon of hope to those who are quite familiar with the dehumanizing elements of "ecclesial vises." Sr. Margie's conscientious decision to remain with her people in the New Faith Community of Rochester, N.Y., rather than cave in to ecclesial persecution and the added threat of dismissal from her obviously compromised religious community is, indeed, worthy of praise.

Those caught in the grip of fear are not free, fear which Fiedler says is "so rampant in the church that it can even lead good people to justify cooperation with oppressive acts" and "cleansings" of one kind or another.

Over the past six years, it has been my astonished observation that those who authorize or are even remotely connected with such cleansings are themselves, sooner or later, subjected to cleansings of the most humiliating and public fashion.

Dare I suggest that God does not permit his dear Holy Spirit to be contained, ignored or mocked?

NANCY J. McGUNAGLE Petaluma, Calif.

* As someone who spent nine years as a Sister of St. Joseph, I cannot imagine anyone who better exemplifies the community's charism of love of God and love of neighbor than Sr. Margie Henninger (NCR, July 16). Her commitment to the New Faith Community obviously flows from her deep love of God and God's people. I find it extremely sad that this commitment may force her out of the Sisters of St. Joseph. It is this kind of authoritarian strong-arming that continues to push me from the church.

I applaud Margie for her witness and I pray that the Sisters of St. Joseph can follow her example of faith.

ANNE VOLK La Porte, Ind.

In praise of poetry

* This is a long overdue letter in praise of the poetry section of your paper. In particular I've enjoyed "Psalm of Trust" by John Montague (March 19), "Dada, Abba" by Kevin Anderson (Feb. 19) and "Tell A Phone" by Ann Tuxbury (April 30).

Like the author of the 23rd Psalm, John Montague urges trust in the face of the worst example of human depravity. Kevin Anderson shares his joy in the miracle of new life and fatherhood. Ann Tuxbury's offering regales the reader with a gift of laughter as she converts an often mundane and frustrating experience into a transcendent dimension of much humor and mirth.

I wish to express appreciation to these authors and a hope for additional contributions from them.

CLARENCE B. JOHNSON New Alexandria, Pa.

A Jesuit sellout

* Is there a future for Jesuit higher education in the United States (NCR, July 16)? In name, perhaps. As a point of reality, it's not very likely. You have to call a spade a spade.

During the '60s and '7Os, the Jesuit administrators of many of the Jesuit universities sold out their universities to the quest for academic excellence at the expense of religious mission, and in particular Ignatian spirituality. During that period the universities hired faculty that were not only not Catholic but were indifferent at best to the mission of Jesuit schools. Now we find many of these faculty members in senior faculty and administrative positions at their respective universities.