A ‘Legend’ in the Diocese
Dear Editor: Bill Guarinello and I both attended Xaverian High School (“St. Bernadette Chairman Says He’s Ready For Challenges Ahead,” Feb. 4) — he was a freshman when I was a senior.
After high school, I became a Xaverian Brother. While assigned to Xaverian High School, Bill was a senior, and I taught him religion. It was weird for me to be so young and to have known the high school seniors previously when I was a student.
We have maintained contact through the years.
He is a legend in the diocese, and we are very proud of him. It’s great that he can devote his time and energy to his home parish and school.
St. Bernadette’s and Fontbonne Hall will both benefit from his service.
Dr. Vincent Maligno
Staten Island
Inclusion and Catholicism
Dear Editor: I would like to thank George Weigel for this recent column (“ ‘Inclusion’ and Catholicism,” Feb. 11) in which he informed his readers about an article written by Cardinal Robert McElroy that was published in America magazine.
According to Mr. Weigel, the cardinal, in the name of inclusion, elliptically suggested that the issues of the ordination of women, gender identity, and the moral integrity of homosexual relations are open questions for the Church.
These issues are not open questions. They all were answered by the Church.
As Mr. Weigel said, “How can a highly intelligent man who has taken solemn oaths in which he accepted that teaching and promised to uphold it think otherwise?”
I pray that more and more Catholics learn the rationale behind their faith so they can articulately defend it.
The Church needs us.
Joseph J. Puntino
Flushing
A Missed Opportunity
Dear Editor: It would have been such a more joyful story if Pope Pius IX had actually answered Harriet Thompson’s letter of anguish (“NYC Woman’s 19th-Century Letter Asks Pope for ‘Salvation of Blacks,’ ” Feb. 11) regarding how black people were being treated in America at that time and also not any better by the Catholic Church.
This letter, which is called a “historical Vatican icon of joy,” should be regarded as a missed opportunity for one of our popes to show real love and concern for one of its faithful.
Paul Manheimer
Oakland Gardens
Love for Father Lauder
Dear Editor: Father Lauder’s column is consistently clear, easy to understand, and his point is always well constructed.
In a column last month (“My Personal Relationships and Sunday Communion,” Jan. 21), he wrote a sentence that resonated with me: “If you are going to teach someone, you have to love that individual.”
I agree with Father, but I would add to be a good and dedicated teacher to teach with love.
We should pause to recognize all good teachers who teach in our schools with love because they teach with dedication and purpose.
I salute Father Lauder, who is definitely teaching with love, and just regret that he was not my professor at St. John’s.
Maria F. Mastromarino
Manalapan, N.J
