Tautology
Another point to Nicanor Austriaco’s fine article, “Scientific Faith” (December 2000): The scientific assumption that everything can be explained by strict scientific laws if we only knew enough is itself a tautology. If your thought—or the scientist’s thought—can be reduced to nothing more than brain chemicals responding in a precise way to precise phenomena, how can predictable scientific phenomenon (i.e., thought in the brain) recognize itself for what it is? Its explanations are totally predictable and therefore meaningless in terms of truth or untruth.
Logically, the concept of truth of any type requires us to step out of the purely empirical paradigm.
Benjamin Bunée
New Haven, Connecticut
Cuomo No-No
Bravo to the Jewish beth din that excommunicated former vice presidential candidate Joseph Lieberman for his un-Orthodox views on moral issues such as abortion and homosexuality (“House of Judgment Falls on Lieberman,” December 2000)!
This was akin to Msgr. Michael Wrenn, pastor of St. John the Evangelist Church in New York City, taking to task one of his prominent parishioners, Mario Cuomo, for saying that members of the U.S. Electoral College who were pledged to support George W. Bush could change their minds and vote for Al Gore as a matter of “conscience.”
According to NewsMax.com, which got its hands on a letter from Msgr. Wrenn to Cuomo, the priest wrote, “If the word conscience is used in the traditional sense to refer to one’s best judgment about what one ought to do,” then Cuomo was right about what electors might be able to do. “But if conscience is used in the popular contemporary sense to refer to one’s preferences, which may well be incompatible with moral truth, then of course, the answer is no. . . .
“In undertaking to serve as an elector, a person assumes a grave moral responsibility to vote for the candidates of a particular party,” said Msgr. Wrenn’s letter. Any elector who failed to accept the “only morally acceptable solution”—of voting for the candidate they agreed to—would engage in “a betrayal of trust.”
Religious leaders need to step up to the plate like this more often. Catholicism isn’t the only religion that’s been dumbed-down in the face of our vociferously anti-God, anti-morality society. I guarantee more people would be attracted to the truth if it would speak out on a regular basis. Like This Rock does.
Nadia Delaport
New Rochelle, New York
Little-Picture Response
Regarding James Akins’ “Big-Picture Apologetics” (“Brass Tacks,” December 2000): Micro exposition of a macro topic.
Mack Crowe
Alhambra, California
My Husband Used to Torture Himself
As the widow of someone who long suffered from scrupulosity, I want to thank you for your wonderful article on the topic (“Thoughts That Will Not Go Away,” December 2000). People like [author] Fr. Thomas Santa are quietly doing God’s work in an area that gets almost no attention yet is surprisingly widespread. For just one example, my dear husband—back in the days when we were required to fast from midnight before receiving Communion—used to torture himself with the thought that it wasn’t long enough, or that there was some particle of food in his mouth left over from the night before that would make it a sacrilege to our Lord if my husband were to accept the consecrated host into his mouth.
Fr. Santa mentioned that scrupulosity might be described as a type of obsessive-compulsive disorder. What he left unsaid was that SSRIs and other mood-altering drugs such as Prozac used to treat OCD might also be used effectively in the controlling of scrupulous tendencies. If you suffer from “tender conscience,” it’s certainly something worth exploring with your spiritual counselor and your doctor.
Rita Barrows
Shreveport, Lousiana
Refocus on the Family
Regarding the “Apologist’s Eye” piece reporting on Focus on the Family’s apologizing for the anti-Catholic sentiment in its magazine (“We Hold These Fellow Believers in High Regard,” December 2000):
It seems you received the same sort of letter from Focus on the Family alluding to “theological differences” that I received a couple of years ago when I responded to an undercurrent of anti-Catholicism and anti-Judaism I noticed on their radio broadcast.
Can a leopard change its spots?
Nicola Tomaino
Aurora, Colorado
Bras Stacks?
My husband and I are loyal readers, and fondly remember the days when each cover used a single color (usually pastel) with the big black letters on front. So we greeted the “new look” gingerly and are still unsure whether or not we will get used to it.
Our immediate reaction was to mourn the loss of “Dragnet,” which always has been our favorite column. “The Apologist’s Eye” doesn’t have the same zing. Also we preferred the anonymity of the writers of Dragnet; having everyone sign their particular little take on a piece seems a bit too aggrandizing. We were sure that “Dragnet” wasn’t all written by the same person (although we guessed it was written mostly by Mr. Akin), but in our mind we pictured two police detectives (like Sergeant. Friday and company) sifting through news clippings and giving their dry opinions on it. We’re afraid that having everyone sign their own paragraphs will make the column lose its valued coherency of style. Please reconsider.
If a new look for “Dragnet” is essential, why not consider creating a semi-fictional character (see Michael Farrell’s “sic” in the National Catholic Reporter, the only thing in that paper I would read) under whose guise the same usual bits and pieces can be worked over?
Also the headings of the columns, no spaces in between the words, is a bit confusing. I misread James Akin’s column as “bras stacks” several times before I realized what it really said.
Sigh. We know it’s too much to ask your talented graphic designers to reconsider returning to one-color pastel covers and black-and-white interiors, so we will resign ourselves to the new look. We will resign ourselves to anything so long as you keep carrying articles by your great writers—Karl Keating, James Akin, Mark Shea, Rosalind Moss, and company.
We are fond of the publication Be, which gives a “sweet and light” approach to apologetics that is so needed. But This Rock has a hard edge and personality to it that some other apologetics magazines, as good as their content is, don’t really have.
Keep the intellectualism and the occasional borderline sarcasm, and the fighting (but charitable!) spirit. Keep that generous letters column. And we welcome the return of Mr. Keating’s editorials! We will put up with just about anything so long as you keep publishing!
Andrew and Regina Schmiedicke
Front Royal, Virginia
Editor’s reply: We appreciate the kind words and will take the constructive ones into consideration. You’re wrong about Mr. Akin mostly writing “Dragnet,” though that’s all we can say. The author has sworn the staff to secrecy under penalty of excommunication.
Ammunition for the Battle of Ideas
I want to thank everyone there for all the work that goes into This Rock. It is much more than a magazine—it is a gold mine of wisdom for Catholics or anyone else who is looking for answers.
I had three visitors from the Mormon church stop by yesterday, but because I was able to draw from what I have learned with the help of Catholic Answers, I was able to present the truth in love.
They will be back in two weeks for the second of six canned presentations. I am reading the articles from past This Rock issues that deal with Mormonism and have been tremendously helped.
I need all the ammunition I can get for this battle of ideas. Thanks for all you do to help all of us out here.
Anita Usher
Mesa, Arizona
Here at Sumter Correctional Institute
I am writing this letter in two capacities. The first is personal and the second is as lay leader (inmate) of the Catholic community here at Sumter Correctional Institute.
Recently our community received a box of six years of This Rock back issues (1992–98). This was received through our neighboring diocese of St. Petersburg (our own diocese seems to have abandoned us) and was a real blessing. I’ve read six issues in the last three days alone and have learned a lot. I’m a convert to Catholicism from Satanism and have been strong in the faith for about four and a half years now but wish to become stronger.
The back issues of your magazine have given us a lot of ammunition to use in defense of the faith against the Fundamentalists who are constantly trying to pull our community apart. Even the two prison chaplains (both Assembly of God ministers, one an ex-Catholic) try to subvert our group. If it weren’t for the chapel clerk—who happens to be a practicing Catholic and a Knight of Columbus—we would be dead in the water.
We have about thirty-five active members of our community, and as lay leader I’d like to ask for any help that you could offer. My community is about sixty percent Hispanic, so anything you could do in terms of donations or materials would be a great help.
If you have any questions and would like to talk to a staff member, the chapel clerk, Mr. Bill Squires asks that you give him a call at 352-793-2525, extension 339. Department of Corrections rules prohibit staff from soliciting donations of any kind. But if someone calls and offers help, that’s okay.
Thank you for all the fine work you are doing in the Lord’s name. May God bless you.
Matthew McConnaughy
Bushnell, Florida