Dear Editor: Mike Mastromatteo’s appreciation of Alice McDermott (Aug. 18) is right on the mark. If the author (or any artist) resents being pigeon-holed as Catholic, Irish, or whatever – remember the awful phrase “lady novelist”? – it is not so much that she denies her roots as that she rightly deplores the condescension that would limit the significance of her work.

Dear Editor: With all due respect, we have been getting apologies for the past 30 years all around the world from the Catholic hierarchy on clerical abuse. It’s time to clean house and excommunicate and civilly charge by secular authorities any priests, bishops and cardinals who participated or covered up these crimes. People need to go to jail. People have been leaving the church in droves around the world because of these crimes and coverups.

Dear Editor: My parents were married at St. Vincent dePaul in 1955. My mother was saddened to hear that the parish was closed, but was pleased that a developer wanted to preserve the exterior of the building. The building had severe structural problems that the developer had to contend with during the renovation and conversion to dwelling units. (“What Happens to a Building When It’s No Longer a Church?” The Editor’s Space, July 21).

Dear Editor: I’m sure that the value of the high school seminary is discerned, analyzed, and evaluated on a regular basis, but the value of Cathedral Prep can not be measured solely by the number of men who immediately continue ordination studies after graduation.

Dear Editor: I enjoyed Father Cush’s article on Sunday’s Scriptures (“True Fathers Teaching True Faith,” July 21), which included the subsequent lesson of teaching the Gospel message through the way we live our lives.

Dear Editor: Dwayne Ayers’ letter in the July 28 “Readers’ Forum” contains several references to ideas he calls “liberal.” He uses the term five times. In each instance, this is used in a derogatory manner.

Dear Editor: As we approach the 73rd anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and as we face increasing threats of new nuclear conflicts, I appeal to the Brooklyn Diocese to address this issue in every church. It is one of the most fundamental pro-life issues we could consider, and it is one of the most Catholic issues that our popes and bishops have been addressing for decades, but one many – perhaps most – Catholics don’t realize is such an integral teaching of our faith.