Readers Respond -- Letter writers split on columnist’s Catholic

take

This is regarding Steve Smith’s column (“Thanks to Catholic leaders

for nothing,” April 27).

Steve Smith seems to have arrived at his opinion on the Catholic

Church the same way he arrives at all his published opinions:

superficially. He blames the church’s “cover-up” for his now having to

work with children “under a microscope,” which he shouldn’t mind because,

as everyone who reads his columns knows, he is an absolutely perfect

parent, coach, teacher and all-around citizen.

In fact, Smith is the one who puts adults in his community under the

“giant microscope” when he writes his sanctimonious snap judgments about

parents who cheer too loud at a soccer game or families who own a

television. And now he would have us believe that Catholics are “involved

in one of the world’s longest-running crimes” involving “6-, 7- and

8-year-olds” and that Catholic leaders are “making life miserable for

those of us who teach, coach and counsel.”

Father Greg Boyle, a Jesuit from Los Angeles, would be sorry to hear

Smith say that since he has dedicated his 25 years in the priesthood to

giving inner-city kids a chance to break out of gangs and into suitable

employment by starting businesses that use their talents. He is only one

in a line of thousands of men in his profession who have fought

passionately for the rights of children over the last 2,000 years,

spiritually, socially and academically.

But Smith would have us throw that all out because of some admittedly,

selectively shameful behavior in the modern church that is now

interfering with all Smith’s good work.

I am sorry that neither Cardinal Mahoney nor Pope John Paul II was

available to have a conversation with Smith regarding their remorse and

concern for the victims of this scandal, but I assure Smith that because

he didn’t happen to see it in print does not mean they aren’t

experiencing deep deep sorrow over these events.

Smith’s shallow assessments remind me of an old parenting adage:

“never throw out the baby with the bathwater.”

PEGGY NORMANDIN

Costa Mesa

It’s scary when I begin agreeing with Steve Smith. More so when I feel

he didn’t take a strong enough stand, regarding the Catholic Church.

Our children are not only being sexually abused, in staggering

numbers, by adults in authority, but by adults in moral authority. These

are not Mafia figures whom we have low expectations of anyway. These are

community leaders, at the other end of the moral spectrum.

It makes my skin crawl to see news bites of the cardinals and pope

gathering in Rome to work out “the solution.” The world waits, while the

perps and their associates meet to determine what should be done about

thousands of cases of felony sexual abuse. Are you kiddin’ me?

The pope -- that sad, dispirited, barely functional old man -- set the

tone in his first statement, weeks ago. His concern was for how this

scandal would affect innocent priests. Smith speaks of the 3,500 members

of SNAP, an organization comprised of survivors of sexual abuse by

priests.

That is, of course, just the tip of the iceberg. An iceberg,

incidentally, that will never surface. Hoards of those abused, likely

haven’t survived. Dying by their own hands or their voices only heard as

a whimpering rage in the mental hospitals. And don’t forget the endless

ripple-effect, when the abused grow up to be abusers.

I have the greatest respect for my family and friends who are active

churchgoing members; this isn’t about them. It’s about the institution,

and all its grandiosity and despicable criminal activity. My wish would

be that the Catholic Church cease to exist. What to do with all the

zillion dollar buildings, who cares? Why not convert them into treatment

centers for the victims.

I keep thinking of all the alcoholic priests I counseled with, in my

25 year career working in rehab, and the gay priest who laughingly told

me he became a priest because “that’s where the action is.” It isn’t a

pretty picture when you think of what child-abusers can look forward to

should they end up in the prison system.

GARY DRIES

Costa Mesa

Steve Smith’s relentless blast against the Catholic clergy leadership

from the local level all the way to the Vatican, in my opinion, was a

very petty, cheap bit of journalism that hardly deserves reader response.

He has a right to express his frustration and disappointment, but his

approach was out in left field, and in that form should never have been

printed.

However, if the Daily Pilot is so hard-pressed for newsprint, it ought

to think seriously of closing shop.

VICTOR H. JASHINSKI

Corona del Mar