In Praise of Father Lauder And ‘Listening’
Dear Editor:
Father Robert Lauder in the May 24 issue of the Tablet talks of the importance in our Church of small discussion groups (“How Social Relationships Can Foster Knowledge and Action”).
In the same issue, George Weigel (“Hopes for a New Pontificate”) warns that synodality “cannot mean that everything is up for grabs in a Church misconceived as an ongoing discussion group.”
He goes on to say that “settled matters of belief and practice in the Catholic Church … were — and are and will be — settled by the Church’s authoritative teachers, the bishops.”
Point made.
Yet, just as Weigel, who is not a bishop, makes his views known in his weekly column, other of us lay folks would also like to be heard.
Listening sessions serve that purpose. In his first address to the faithful and the world, Pope Leo XIV said, “You [Christ] help us to build bridges with dialogue and encounter … we want to be a synodal church.”
I hope to see listening sessions come to every parish in Brooklyn.
Barbara McGillicuddy Bolton
Park Slope
Praying for Father Morty
Dear Editor:
Father Morty O’Shea, I pray for you, you are in the best hospital for cancer (“Despite Cancer Battle, Queens Priest Leans on Faith to Persist in Ministry,” May 24).
I am one of the patients at Sloan Kettering being treated.
By the mercy of the loving God, I have survived four bouts of cancer already.
Every day is a bonus gift from God. I thank and praise him, and I pray for all the people who have to cope with this sickness and for the nurses and doctors who are taking care of us, now you included.
Let’s keep the faith and pray for each other.
Natalina Rotatori
Staten Island
Honoring Their Sacrifice
Dear Editor: At the height of COVID-19 there were no Memorial Day parades.
Now, they are back.
Memorial Day is a time to remember all those who gave their lives to protect those freedoms we hold most dear.
These freedoms come with great personal sacrifice for those who leave family, friends, and jobs to serve the greater good.
So, please, I hope that this past Memorial Day, everyone honored those who served by attending various parades in their community.
If you know a veteran, call them and thank them for their service, and please fly the American flag in their honor, both men and women.
Frederick Robert Bedell Jr.
Bellerose