Recent Letters

I am so glad, relieved to read Father Rolheiser’s column, “A slur that cuts deep” (July 26). We need this strong defense of our human worth, especially his defense of people called “losers” and similar slurs, the marginalized people who remind him of the ostracized lepers of biblical times. There has been too much cruelty in public speaking in recent times. It must stop!

The National Shrine of St. Francis is a North Beach gem. I enjoyed reading about its visitors (“A summer day at St. Francis’ shrine,” July 26) but was disappointed in Catholic San Francisco’s failure to recognize that a layperson – Angela Alioto – was the driving force to build the Porziuncola Nuova chapel.

The editor’s note under Richard Morasci’s letter (“Priesthood and gender,” Letters, July 12) on the exclusion of women from the priesthood suggests that the Catholic “faithful” must unquestioningly accept the church’s teaching reserving the priesthood to males. Quotes from cardinals and popes, however, should not dissuade the faithful from employing their God-given intellect.

Mary, the mother of Jesus, has been giving messages to six people since 1981 in Medjugorje, Bosnia-Herzegovina. A message for the world is given on the 25th of the month. The message is peace, rosary, Mass, confession, fasting on Fridays.

Faithful disposing Many Catholics have religious articles, rosaries and missals among them, that are in bad shape or no longer wanted. It seems sacrilegious to toss them into the trash or recycle bin.