Care for Creation
Dear Editor: I was pleased to see The Tablet coverage of the efforts of parishes in our diocese working to protect the planet and its inhabitants (“Bay Ridge Parish Embraces Laudato Si’,” May 22).
As a supporter of the Catholic Climate Covenant and a member of the Care For Creation Committee at the Catholic Association of Diocesan Ecumenical & Interreligious Officers (CADEIO), I support the work of Tom Hinchen and his colleagues.
CADEIO, along with the Catholic Climate Covenant and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, has produced “The Ecumenical and Interreligious Guidebook: Care for our Common Home,” prepared with a sense of urgency about the health of planet Earth and the well-being of its peoples, particularly the most vulnerable.
More parishes in our own diocese can take a lesson from the churches of Bay Ridge. Reach out to me. You can also find plenty of resources at creation.cadeio.org
Father Michael J. Lynch
Richmond Hill
Editor’s note: Father Lynch is the Diocese of Brooklyn’s vicar for ecumenical and interreligious affairs.
No Compassion For The Undocumented
Dear Editor: I’m dismayed by the content and tone of some letters which show no understanding or compassion for those people so desperate to seek better lives within our country. Because our forebears — who were European, i.e., white, and had an easier time gaining entry into a country which allowed them to do so — were “legal,” that leaves no understanding for the desperation of those who are not so lucky (or so white)?
My father, who jumped his ship and sought asylum shortly after the Second World War, told me if he’d not been allowed to stay he’d have found an illegal way to do so. Those who believe their own parents or grandparents would not have done the same might be fooling themselves.
I certainly do not claim to be a good Christian, but please stop your harsh judging for a moment and ask yourselves what Jesus would think about this situation.
Are we to no longer be that country because, now that our families are established here, we’ve ceased to care about others?
Christine Pratt-Scanlon
Bay Ridge
Jesus Welcomed Migrants
Dear Editor: It is so disappointing to read the opinions of so many Tablet readers who fail to see the face of Jesus in the families of migrants to this country. Especially since most of our ancestors were immigrants.
How selfish of those who reap the benefits of our great nation being all too willing to roll up the gates and mislabel the newcomers as “illegals” not worthy of the opportunity that we take for granted.
Tom Morano
Rego Park
In Agreement With Archbishop Cordileone
Dear Editor: I totally agree with Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone regarding pro-choice Catholics not being able to receive the sacrament of holy Communion.
If you believe in killing, then you are not in the State of Grace.
Wanda Lucci
Brooklyn
God is the Giver
Dear Editor: I am deeply saddened by George Weigel’s support of the excommunication of government officials whose public positions are contrary to church teaching (“A Most Unfortunate Roman Intervention,” May 22).
Eucharist is Jesus’s gift of Himself, and we should not decide who is worthy to receive the bread of God. The truth is, not one of us deserves the tremendous, incomprehensible gift of the Blessed Sacrament.
Better to let the Holy Spirit work in the hearts and souls of all of us, to foster humility and contrition as we approach God’s gift of His Body and Blood.
In Jesus’s words, “Judge not lest ye be judged.”
I would not want to explain to the Lord the decision to separate anyone, even the worst sinners among us, from His love. We need to pray, not punish. Jesus never withheld Himself, or His love, from anyone.
We should not want to do that, either.
Alice C. MacLarty
Woodhaven
Enchanted Evenings With Ezio Pinza
Dear Editor: In The Tablet issue of May 15, “Tuned Into Faith” by John Alexander profiled the late, and much loved, Perry Como.
It is true that Perry Como had a popular hit of “Some Enchanted Evening” back in 1949, but the real credit for that song’s fame was the superb rendition by the great Italian basso singer Ezio Pinza, who left the opera world and became a popular Broadway star as Emile De Becque opposite Mary Martin’s Nellie Forbush.
Like Perry Como, Ezio Pinza (1892-1957) was also born on May 18. I saw the great romantic Ezio Pinza in “Fanny” on Broadway in 1954, and I saw him in concert at Lewisohn Stadium circa 1951.
Pinza became a U.S. citizen and is fondly remembered by his many fans.
Nino Pantano
Brooklyn