|
L e t t e r s
SECRET AGENT MAN
|
This Rock
Volume 4, Number 11
 November 1993 
|
|
|
AFTER reading the caustic, unscholarly, ad
hominem attack by James Akin on Dr. [Robert] Morey and R.E.F.
[Research and Education Foundation] and Dr. [Robert] Fastiggi [August
1993], I want no part of your publication. Mr. Akin impresses me as
a typical uneducated, argumentative individual who scoffs [at] both
Roman Catholic and Protestant scholars while vociferously proclaiming
himself as being the authority! I doubt if there is much light or
knowledge about the real issue that I can gain from such a man's presentation.
I would suggest you remove Mr. Akin from your staff and send him to
school, where he can perhaps (I say perhaps because it's questionable
whether or not he would listen to his teachers) learn his craft and
his subject. Then--assuming God has implanted in him some desperately
needed humility--let him write about these issues, rather than
impugn and insult the abilities of men like Dr. Fastiggi and Dr. Morey!
Adolph "Bud" Fleisher
Northridge, California
Editor’s reply:
This seems to be a put-up letter,
since Mr. Fleisher, according to his admission on the telephone, has
worked in one capacity or another with Robert Morey. Fleisher is not
a disinterested party. He perversely misreads James Akin's article.
He wrongly lumps Morey and Fastiggi together, as though both were
criticized by Akin. Morey was, but Fastiggi, a Catholic professor
in Austin, was praised as "a good man and a good theologian."
Cradle Catholics' lack
ALLOW me to explain why I feel that my views--these
"comments from a convert"--may be of value to you. You
may easily ask yourself: Why and how does he think his evaluations
are worthwhile? He is new to the true faith, isn't he?
Let me answer with a story. Once a man was at the home of a girl whom
he was dating, discussing politics with the girl's father, who had
been drinking a bit. The father's tone became a bit strong, though
he never became coarse, nor did he attack the guest personally.
After he left, the sister of the girl called the man to apologize
for her father's behavior. She tried to blame it on the drink. The
man laughed. His father had been a real problem drinker. If
she wanted to see real arguments, she should watch his father argue
a subject. What caused the unnecessary apology of the sister?
It was because she was one of the family. She could not see things
the way they were, because of the conflict of her feelings of embarrassment
and defensiveness with concern for her father and sister. She had
no idea how other families behaved. How could she? She'd only been
born into one.
You "cradle Catholics" are the daughters of the family.
Let a stranger make a few comments. Maybe it will be worthwhile for
you to see what you already have.
I do not have to tell you that in the conflict between the world and
the Church, it does not seem that the Church is winning. In fact,
it seems that the Church has already lost. Abortion is available everywhere.
Contraception is considered a normal part of everyday life. Most people
ignore the authority of the Church. The media treats Catholic views
as irrelevant at best, and laughable at worst. Why, then, have I come
to join the "losing" side?
There was another "loser," a long time ago. While everyone
else did the conventional thing, his actions seemed not only out of
style, but utterly ridiculous. The media would have described him,
with patient condescension, as a harmless lunatic.
However, this loser became the world's greatest winner. He was Noah.
Noah left the winning world, because that world was going to be destroyed,
and he wanted to be saved. And there was to be only one boat for salvation,
as today there is only one boat--the bark of St. Peter. Outside
of it is the flood. When it begins to rain, the real winning team
will be identified.
Noah did not know when it would rain, but he labored, seemingly in
vain, for a long time. This is real faith: doing what is according
to the word of God even when the world rejects it, and even when there
seems to be no result. This is why one would leave "winners"
to join "losers." The game is not over yet.
Joseph Calley
East Brunswick, New Jersey
Malaysian apologetics
MY first acquaintance with This Rock
was when I chanced upon a friend at St. Anne's portico, Bukit Mertajam,
Malaysia. He passed me the May 1993 issue.
Having relatives in the States who regularly send over American Catholic
magazines and literature, I have come to discern variances between
the attitudes of American Catholics and the way they practice their
faith and the situation prevailing here.
Ours is fundamentally a mission faith, first brought over by the Portuguese
(the first colonists, followed by the Dutch and finally the British)
when they colonized Malacca, a small west-coast Malaysian state, in
1511. Only two percent of the population here is Christian. The differences
between Catholics and other Christian denominations are real, but
pragmatically side-stepped in the continual dialogue with Islam, the
official religion. Of late, anti-Catholic ministry by sub-denominal
Christian sects has been conspicuously more aggressive.
Since Malaysia's independence in 1957, Catholic institutions have
been hard-pressed to provide avenues to proselytize (the law forbids
the conversion of Muslims) and to nurture the faith in the baptized.
The media are government-controlled and invariably put forth religious
programs that contain Islamic concepts. No TV/radio time is allocated
to other creeds. Islamic religious instructions for Muslims are compulsory
in all schools, while in Catholic institutions catechism is relegated
to after normal hours. Permission for the acquisition of land for
new Christian cemeteries and the building of new churches is difficult,
to put it mildly.
An apologist here would have to formulate a different set of arguments,
as the general consensus of the population is that Christianity is
a "western" religion, although it has been part of the Malaysian
social fabric for over 400 years. Only since Vatican II has the Church
inculcated local traditions in its liturgy, reflecting current aspirations
of the laity.
Terence Reutens
Bukit Mertajam, Malaysia
Not as gay as he thinks
I NEVER realized how conservative you'll
[sic] are. As a fully-practicing gay Catholic man who receives communion
every day at Mass and who has a lover, I simply have no patience left.
The Church continues to bury its head in the sand--refusing to
dialogue about issues like sex, women priests; esp. with sex.
80-90% of "good Catholics," including my parents, commit
that "intrinsic moral evil" of using birth control. Our
dysfunction[al], mentally-diseased view of sex results in our priests
exhibiting unhealthy sex--pedophilia, molesting of children--thus
all the recent lawsuits against the Church.
I love the R. C. Church, but I keep praying to Our Lady of Medugorje
to send us a new pope and save the Church for herself. Peace.
Name Withheld
San Francisco, California
|
C A T H O L I C A N S W E R S :
[TOP]
of
