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KARL KEATING'S E-LETTER
TOPIC:
READERS' ROUNDTABLE
Dear Friend of Catholic Answers:
I walked into my office and, just before communal prayer started, had a chance to peek at my e-mail.
The one that caught my eye was from Erik Prince.
It isn't likely that you know him or his wife, Joan, but I am taking the liberty of asking you to pray for her, for him, and for their young children.
For some years Joan has battled cancer.
I saw her late last year, when she was in remission, and she looked good.
Now everything looks bleak.
The cancer has spread widely, and Erik says, "A painful irony is that the same day we celebrate 12 years of marriage, we go home from the hospital without options."
Please keep these fine people in your prayers, asking God on their behalf, yes, for a miracle but, in the alternative, for the grace of final perseverance.
PANS AND PRAISE
Over the last two weeks 800 new people have signed up for this E-Letter.
At that rate, there will be more than 10,000 subscribers by the end of May and well over 20,000 by the end of the year.
I am happy to have so many new readers.
The large number of subscribers explains why I put this squib at the end of each installment:
"While I welcome comments and suggestions sent by e-mail, I regret that time constraints make it impossible for me to compose individual replies."
Despite the squib, people write in. (Thanks!) Frequently their messages begin like this: "I know you said you won't be able to reply, but I just want to say . . ." And then comes praise, criticism, or a tidbit of information for my amusement or edification.
I appreciate all the comments, even the ones that take me to task. Let me share with you a few messages that came in during the last week.
We start with a pan from Cas Moritz:
"I resent your use of Sister Corita's name and reference to her art as you have in your letter, Karl Keating. To me you have shown your 'true colors'. I am positive that Sister Corita would never have stooped that low to talk about someone else like you have talked about her. I am shocked and hurt that you would shame a deceased person like you have, what kind of courage is that? What kind of mentor or guide are you? I will never read your letter again. I do not want to have those kind of thoughts in my mind. Isn't it time to show leadership and quit whining about the past? But the fact that you made such negative and hurtful comments about Sister Corita grieves me. Amen."
Mrs. Moritz's comments made me re-read what I said about Corita Kent. What I said is that her felt banners, which were ubiquitous at one time in Catholic churches, were a kind of dumbing down of sacred art. They were, in short, bad art. I thought that when I first saw them, when I was in college in the late 1960s, and I still think they were bad art.
I don't know anything about Corita Kent as a person. She may have been a fine individual and a devout religious, but that is beside the point. Also beside the point is that she is deceased. Her passing does not preclude fair criticism of her work. She was a public person, and, at one time, her style of decoration was touted by many as the wave of the future.
I think it is fortunate that that future turned out to be short-lived and that recent years have seen the beginning (admittedly, a sketchy beginning) of a return to more substantial and traditional adornment for churches.
Mrs. Moritz does not like my opinion of Corita Kent's work. Her opinion is that my opinion is wrong. She is welcome to her opinion (which perhaps is shared by a fair number of other readers), but we will have to agree to disagree. More than that, she (and you) will have to acquiesce to my giving out further opinions. I'm afraid I can't help it. I'm an opinionated person, and there is no twelve-step program for people like me.
From my friend Fr. Adrian Head, of Australia:
"Thank you very much for your E-Letters. I will use your story about the Fundamentalist and his 'assurance' of salvation for my homily."
Fr. Head and I have corresponded, off and on, for more than ten years. He serves in the town of Quorn (population 1,500) in the state of South Australia. Quorn is about halfway between the Indian and Pacific Oceans, which means it is just down the road from Nowhere. I have threatened him with a visit, if I ever make it Down Under, but he suspects I won't be able to drive all the way from Melbourne or Sydney or wherever I might fly in. I'll just have to prove him wrong.
Francis J. Butel sent a very short note:
"I really enjoy the letters, especially this last one about the Masonic Martian," the reference being to Texe Marrs and his hype about Masonry in the space program.
Well, I guess one can't be too careful about the spread of Masonry, Mr. Butel. There was good warrant for the several papal condemnations, though I don't recollect any reference in them to extraterrestrial extensions of the Lodge. Perhaps I did not read the footnotes closely enough.
Sancta Cantrell went to school just down the road from me:
"I was very motivated by your article on 'WE DON'T NEED NO CATHOLIC CULTURE'. I am a graduate of USD [University of San Diego, a nominally Catholic institution], and I can't remember reading anything by Catholic writers (except a couple of text books). I do remember the felt banners though! Now, some 20 years later, I'm ready to get better informed about my own faith. Can you recommend a place to start by suggesting a couple of books?"
Happy to do so.
Among the first books I recommend when posed with this question (one that lots of people ask) are Frank Sheed's "Theology for Beginners" and "Theology and Sanity," both available from Catholic Answers or through any Catholic or secular book store.
Sheed was the best apologist of the twentieth century, and these books are clear introductions to our beliefs.
From further up the California coast, a one-liner from another friend, Tom Susanka of Thomas Aquinas College (which is as reliably Catholic as USD is not):
"Thanks for the E-Letter and especially for the tip on Dunlap's article."
In case you missed John R. Dunlap's piece, which I referred to last week, you will find it at:
www.spectator.org/article.asp?art_id=2003_4_17_22_23_48
It's worth a few minutes of your time.
This message I must share with you not because of the writer's kind remarks but because of his location:
"Keep on sending the newsletters. They are great reading. God love you. Laurier Harvey, S.J. Spitak, Armenia."
Armenia! I guess that means Fr. Harvey probably won't be driving in for the parish seminar I'm giving in Palm Desert tomorrow night.
I'll share more readers' comments in the future. I want to repeat that I appreciate each message, pro or con, and I thank the writers for them.
By the way, today begins Golden Week in Japan, when everyone is off work and travels to visit everyone else--which is to say, forget about getting anywhere expeditiously. April 29 now is called Green Day, but originally it was celebrated because it was the birthday of the late Emperor Hirohito, who died in 1989. (This is the kind of cultural trivia one picks up if married to a Japanese, as I am. My wife is a rara avis: a Japanese convert to Catholicism.)
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