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L e t t e r s
Verse Dropping
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This Rock
Volume 17, Number 10
 December 2006 
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Regarding Mary Beth Kremski’s article "Making Peace with the Mediatrix" (September 2006): The sentence started in 1 Timothy 2:5 ("There is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus") is completed and clarified in 1 Timothy 2:6 ("who gave himself as a ransom for all").
When attacking the Catholic belief in subordinate (angelic and human) mediators, Protestants habitually quote verse 5 in isolation and drop the rest of the sentence. Verse 6 may cause discomfort for Protestants because Jesus’ unique, exalted mediation in redeeming all of mankind does not in any way exclude mediators of a lower order who make no claim to having given themselves "as a ransom for all." We ought to ask our Protestant neighbors why they exclude verse 6 instead of quoting the entire sentence in 1 Timothy 2:5–6.
Deloris Gross
Brooklyn Park, Minnesota
Evangelization and the Mediatrix
I began reading "Making Peace with the Mediatrix" from a critical mind set, but I finished the article with deep appreciation for both its message and the wonderful writing (Jane Cavolina’s contribution was a real gem, too). In the past, I have written some cautions on this general theme, but my past observations were tied to the "Co-Redemptrix" title, which I don’t believe conveys quite the right meaning to an English-speaking audience. I think it is important, though, that we continue to keep things in the correct perspective.
As we are reminded in Romans 14:21, we don’t want to create roadblocks to Protestants who desire to come home to the Catholic Church—such as the author, who arrived from the Episcopal tradition. Some accuse the Catholic Church as being lukewarm to evangelization and prone to following politically correct issues while ignoring some of the more weighty social problems. Are we doing all that we can to obey the Great Commission, or are we making it harder to convert new believers? Pope John Paul II reminded all of us that a "constant awareness of Christ’s will to offer salvation to all cannot fail to inspire us with fresh missionary fervor" (Holy Thursday letter to priests, March 13, 2005).
Also, do our efforts to preserve the sanctity of life at all stages represent as much as we can do, or are we diverting our focus with esoteric terms? I am confident that Mary, the ever humble virgin, would prefer that we invest our energies more on fighting abortion and euthanasia hand-in-hand with our Protestant brothers and sisters and less on campaigning for her titles.
So the bottom line is that Mary can certainly be described as the "Mediatrix of all graces," but are most Catholics spiritually mature enough to understand what this does and does not entail? I hope that we are, but I am concerned that the Church has not always done a good job in educating new and young Catholics as to their faith. Knowledge without understanding creates more problems than it solves—from witnessing to addressing the moral tragedies of the day. If we have a sure foundation of knowledge and understanding, though, I wholeheartedly agree that understanding Mary as both the Mediatrix and as the New Eve will be the spiritual meat that will nourish and sustain our walk with Christ.
Karl Erickson
Salem, Oregon
Indulge Me for a Moment
I want to thank you for Jimmy Akin’s article "What’s Wrong with a Little Indulgence?" in the September 2006 issue. I have been a prison inmate for seven months and may be confined for three more years. In these last months I have been preparing myself for reception into the Catholic Church through prayer, meditation, and study.
Although I was raised Episcopalian, I attended a Catholic high school and became familiar with Catholicism. Then I lost my faith and for nearly forty years I considered myself an agnostic. I clearly see now that my failures and wrong choices point directly back to my abandonment of faith in God.
We used to have a priest come to the prison weekly. Soon after I received my Catechism of the Catholic Church, I asked him about paragraphs 1471–79, about the sacrament of penance. He gave me a historical explanation of what indulgences are, Martin Luther, etc., and basically said it wasn’t something the Church did any longer. That completely confused me because of what I had read in the Catechism.
I also asked a gentleman here in his sixties who was educated from kindergarten through college in Catholic schools and is devout in his beliefs. He also gave me the history along with anecdotes from his grade school and high school education on the subject When I asked about the current teachings, he did not know what I meant.
I have spent six months studying hundreds of hours through correspondence courses from the Knights of Columbus and Liguori, many books, booklets, tracts and magazines, and of course the Catechism and the Bible.
Imagine my surprise upon opening my first copy of This Rock and seeing an article on a subject I had been attempting to gain insight on for several months. The Holy Spirit was guiding me once again in the right direction. Of all the reading I have done, none was as clear and understandable as your article in This Rock.
David A. Evans
Sacramento, California
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