Tired rhetoric
To the editor:
Your editorial on April 22 is the final straw in what has been a media frenzy surrounding the selection of the new pope. It seems that the media just cannot tolerate an independent institution with moral authority. By what impudence do you consider yourself qualified to establish criteria for the success of the papacy and the Catholic Church?
The Catholic Church is not a democracy. It is a private organization with established criteria for membership. Acceptance of certain moral absolutes is central to those criteria. For those who do not agree with those absolutes there is no mandate for membership. Perhaps it is better to have fewer members who hold to the truths of the Church than many who do not understand or choose not to understand those truths.
Your criteria for success reflect the tired rhetoric of the “progressive” left in this country. I would humbly suggest that the pope might believe in focusing on a very different imperative. At the risk of demonstrating the same arrogance reflected in your editorial, what follows might be part of such a theme:
- Reversing the drift toward moral ambiguity in this country.
- Reawakening an acceptance of community responsibility for the needy.
- Redressing the accelerated accumulation of wealth by the few.
- Encouraging equal and just treatment under law for all (including the church).
George Lippencott,
Lawrence