Church Needs Women in Leadership Roles

While I am pleased that current events have shed new light on how out of touch the Catholic Church hierarchy has become and how these events have placed pressure on officials to reform, I am disappointed that there has not been more of a discussion about the role of women (or lack thereof) in church leadership.

Any system or organization dominated by men--the way the Catholic Church is--will continue to be dysfunctional and will continue to create a climate where power and superiority become more important than protecting children. I have come to the conclusion that my wife and other women in my life have insight and compassion that I will never have as a man. These are exactly the gifts that were missing for so long in business and in government (albeit there is still a long way to go).

The Catholic Church, however, has yet to even begin the process of representing the other half of the human race. Until it does, I will not be hopeful that any real reform can occur.

Andrew Kerr

Long Beach

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Re “Church of the People, Not of the Priests,” Commentary, March 28: Father Edward Beck, like most people, is tiptoeing around the subject. If this scandal was another Enron, everybody would be saying, “Off with their heads.” These bishops, archbishops and cardinals sent these monster priests back to prey on new sets of parishioners, stonewalled American justice and spent millions of dollars covering up.

Basically, the Catholic Church is 99% pure and it is the most beneficial social organization in the U.S., if not the world. If we don’t start cleaning up this mess, God help the church, and all of us who depend on it, to reach the father through his divine son.

Fred Mulcahy

Sun City, Ariz.

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With due respect to Cardinal Roger Mahony and columnist Steve Lopez (March 27), the problem devastating the Catholic Church in America today is not pedophilia but homosexuality.

If it were pedophilia, then a proportionate number of females would have been victimized. But such is not the case. By far an exceedingly high percentage of male victims are teenagers and not the children we associate with pedophilia.

By his own admission, Orange County’s Father Frederick is gay. So whom would Mahony and Lopez have him marry? His same sex partner? While they haven’t directly said so, is this what Mahony and Lopez advocate and/or want to talk about?

OK, we are listening. So start talking.

Alfred Lorona

Whittier

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Clever ruse by Cardinal Mahony to attempt to switch public interest from his refusal to “name names” to the debate on marriage and the priesthood. This type of arrogance is what drove me, and I’m sure others, from the Catholic Church.

Joe Heinz

Los Angeles

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It’s preposterous to relate celibacy to molestation of minors. As evidenced by our society, marriage does not stem sick-minded individuals from preying on children. What Cardinal Mahony ought to do is to confront the truth and not manipulate it. Moreover, expose the molesters and make them atone for their crimes.

Simon Yang

Monterey Park