Sir;....Is Notre Dame still Catholic???I don't know??? Is she taking any public money???Thanks...Sweeney

Help me out. Catholics are against killing, right. The denial of using condoms to prevent aids is not indirect killing, right? Lert's see, more directly we have the Inquisition, the laCK OF CONCERN, CARE OR HELP DURING THE HOLOCAUSt and plenty in between. The protection of Nazi war criminals in monasteries, the pact with Hitler by Hitler's Pope, the support of a wide range of killers and tyrants in many countries esp: Latin America, the issuance of Vatican passports to war criminals etc. etc. etc.. This is just a partial list of course. Crimes against people like Galileo are separate. How can you smugly and sanctimonously declare any moral high ground for the Catholic church. Father Jenkins is the hope of a medieval church's survival not the doctrinaire nonsense you spout.

Jesuit schools were all about power and politics when I attended over 40 years ago. They haven't become more Christlike since. Their main purpose in life is to increase the endowment and keep the cellar stocked.

Thank you, Pat.

Sir;...If I may revisit this issue: The Ten Commandments really are a pearl... I love them; and though I have even broken them all, certainly in the Catholic sense, that day is past... I do not want to advertize such behavior...But I would point out one well recognized fact... Some of those Commandments are to the mind of mankind... There is no objective method of telling if a man is honoring his father and mother, or not coveting his neighbors wife, or goods.... God , or Moses, or Jesus were alike in understanding that sin happens first in the mind before it happens in society, and there is no other proper place in which to nip the problem....Nowhere in the Ten Commandments is there support for prior restraint.... There are the commandments that thou shall not steal, or covet thy neighbors goods... What greater good is there than freedom, and upon what authority does one steal freedom from another when it is out of freedom that people consent to do good, and go to God??? I do not support abortion, and I do not encourge abortion...I do realize that if a person is not free in their body, free to lay down with whoever they should choose, and free to enjoy their privacy as they see fit, then they are not free in any political, or social, or economic, or religious sence... If Chrisitains took to heart their Christianity, and better yet, if Catholics would take their faith to heart, and invest their thoughts and lives in the word of God then there would be no need for popes and priests... Human freedom is a given condition in the Ten Commandments....If it were not so, then the forms of correct behavior would have been stated, and penalties prescribed...If freedom were not a given for individuals, then one man would have been set over the others, and that would have been the end to it... No free people would have submitted to such a condition even under the greatest duress, and neither should we... Just as much as sin is in the mind, so is much of forgiveness... We can all forgive people for being human; not only our young women, but our young soldiers, and our old politicians, and all who are too easily entertained by the taking of life....But the greatest Commandment, the condensation of the Law, as expressed by Jesus and many old testament teachers was to love God, and and love our fellow man which is in fact, one single command... Where is the Christain who follows that commanment in practice???Not here....Bob Dylan put into the mouth of Mark the words that before you can heal the sick you must first forgive them.... Jesus said: he without guilt should throw the first stone... I say: create the condition in the lives of people where sin is the furthest thought from their minds... If they would steal it, give it... If they would kill you; lay bare your breast... Ultimately, if we have faith in God, then we have no protection from harm, but God's will... In this sense, it is essential to our lives, and to our faith that we correct ourselves, and help our brothers because we cannot reasonably believe that we will not be judged for the sins of our neighbors if we did not do all that was justified to keep them from sin... Making laws is too easy, and not enough... We need to support those who want to abort their children, who are their lives, and their right, and see that they have justice in their lives, and that their sin is not a result of our own sins... Stealing rights is a sin... Helping and forgiving others is our Christian obligation... For that obligation there is no easy escape, and you should quit looking for one..The hard path is the straight path.. ..Thanks...Sweeney

Re: arthur l. finn...Sir; ...to one, religion is the way to salvation, and to another, it is the way to power... And admitting that there is no greater hypocrite than myself helps me to justify my contempt of all competitors... In fact, it is not religion that gives anyone true power, but virtue, which all reasonable people crave, and and few enough can find..I think you are on the right track....Thanks... Sweeney

Mr. Sweeney - not sure what you meant with your response to 'arthur I. finn' ... but in my opinion, he is treating Catholics the same way that he is condemning them of treating the other religion (it could be his). Hypocrisy is the worst thing, and unfortunately it is present in almost every religion. Lastly, as it is not guns that kill people, but actually people who choose to fire them ... it is not a religion that causes so much turmoil around the world, it is the use of the religions. In my opinion, if we begin to respect (not necessarily like, but just respect) other religions, we may actually drive our own religion's 'evolution' process over time resulting in certain religion-specific beliefs adjusting more to current times. We all know that Jews, Muslim and Christians (incl. Catholics) have created bloodshed at some point throughout world history.