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Contents © 1997
by Jim Holman.
All rights reserved.

April 1997 LETTERS

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James Hitchcock's article about Cardinal Bernardin ("The Canonization of St. Joseph," March) made a profound point that was probably lost amid all the other information: At today's Catholic funerals, the officiating priest almost always proclaims that the soul of the deceased has gone straight to heaven. Priests do a tremendous disservice to both the deceased and the attending faithful by spreading this lie.

The doctrine of Purgatory is not an option. It is a dogma of faith that Catholics are required to accept. It seems priests assume that they can only tell the faithful what they want to hear; thus we are spoonfed the heresy that we are to assume the deceased is now a saint, bypassing the canonization process.

When All Souls Day was dropped as a holy day of obligation, Padre Pio lamented that the holy souls would be more neglected than ever. Why do our priests add to this neglect? Are they afraid that if they ask us to pray for the soul of a particular person that it will somehow suggest that the deceased was bad? Must our priests worry about hurting our feelings so much that we never hear anything unpleasant? The dead need our prayers and sacrifices more than ever before.

I hope that when a family member of anyone who reads this letter dies, you will have Masses offered for the repose of their soul and beg the priest to ask the funeral congregation to continue praying for the deceased. And if I die before this letter is published, please pray for me -- I'm sure I'll need all the prayers I can get!

-- Robert Kumpel
Mission Hills


IF YOU CAN RECOMMEND A CATHOLIC...

Ed. This letter recently came into our hands. It was written to the pastor of a local Catholic parish by the chaplain at the Naval Amphibious Base in Coronado.

A few months ago I spoke with you about Congressman Brian Bilbray as a possible speaker at our annual Prayer Breakfast at Naval Amphibious Base, Coronado.

After learning recently of Congressman Bilbray's vote in favor of a proposal to increase government funding available to population control groups which perform or promote abortion, I am glad that he was not the speaker at our prayer breakfast.

The director of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities, Helen Alvare, reported that "Planned Parenthood [which will benefit from legislation backed by Congressman Bilbray] agitates for generous funding for its contraceptive practice, while simultaneously working to promote abortion."

When I was the associate pastor of Our Lady of Victory Church in State College, Pennsylvania, I could count on Joe Paterno, a parishioner, to witness to his Catholic faith. While I served as the Diocesan Pro-Life Director, Joe did a spot for me in which he said: "Every human life needs love and deserves respect: the unborn, the elderly, the mentally and physically handicapped, the sick and the dying. I believe human life is sacred, and I invite you to respect life." It was great to have such honorable parishioners.

This year's guest speaker at our prayer breakfast was Southern Baptist. If you can recommend a Catholic who could speak at next year's breakfast, please let me know. The breakfast is usually held the first or second Thursday in February.

Asking God to bless you and all of your parishioners with a spiritually rewarding Lent, I remain

Fraternally in Christ,

(Rev.) E.T. Gomulka


GOD MUST BE SMILING

I witnessed something at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot that I would like to relate to you.

Father Lamb, a Navy chaplain, had visited the church I attend and when I heard he celebrated Mass at the MCRD, my ears perked up. Being an ex-Marine and having served at the MCRD, I wondered what these services were like.

I called and found that the Sunday Masses were held at 8:15 a.m. I told a lady friend, "Let's go to Mass there" (she has been a staunch Catholic for years), so off we go on the following Sunday. When we arrived, I expected to go into a little chapel to attend Mass. Nope, it was held in the base theater. Why? Because there were close to a thousand young Marines attending.

As we walked through the entrance, we heard all these voices singing, "Here I Am, Lord." When they began the Hosanna and the Lamb of God the enthusiastic response was amazing and truly spiritually uplifting. The Our Father, with all the Marines holding hands and raising their arms together, was very impressive to say the least. After receiving Communion, many of the Marines knelt right where they were, covered their faces and prayed for a minute or two. This gave a feeling of sincere humility.

On occasion the chaplain will ask the congregation about who was who in the Gospel he had just read and these Marines shout the answer. How do they know this? Because they came from good families?

You don't see Marine officers or noncommissioned officers there, maybe one or two. The recruits are policed by their peers. What a wonderful job the chaplains, the song leader and the organist are doing. The lectors and the ministers are also young Marines and do an outstanding job. With all the things we hear about the younger generation falling on their faces, not so at these Masses. Both my friend and I were so impressed when we walked away, we felt we had been to a service where God was truly present. God himself must be smiling at the ardor, vigor and apparent fervor displayed here.

Maybe you know of these services. If you don't, go there once. There is plenty of seating in the lodges. Usually only families with sons on base attend; they are few.

My friend and I have been going there for the past few months and look forward to Mass each Sunday morning.

-- ER Maisen, Sr.
Clairemont


THERE IS ONLY THE CATHOLIC WAY AND THE FALSE WAY

We have long enjoyed your orthodox Catholic stance and unswerving defense of the Holy Faith, but your article ("Like Beethoven a Few Bars at a Time," January) shocked us, for it amounted to a promotional piece on a "Catholic" Bible class which is literally as "Catholic" as Martin Luther's Here I Stand.

We have attended Bill Creasy's Monday night Bible class at St. Paul the Apostle Church in Westwood for four years, and have found Dr. Creasy an exciting, devoted and deeply religious teacher who would probably gladly die for his faith. Unfortunately, though he firmly believes himself to be Catholic, he is, in reality, what the former St. Paul pastor, Fr. Rivers, called "a Calvinist in disguise."

Certainly, it is the only "Catholic" class, meeting or seminar we have ever attended where the presider never in praying used the sign of the Cross or called on the intercession of the Blessed Mother or any of the the angels or saints.

But put that aside.

In your article, Dr. Creasy says he gives both Catholic and Protestant views where opinions differ. This is misleading, at best, and often false.

Firstly, if the Roman Catholic Church is indeed the One True Faith founded by Jesus Christ, there are no other "opinions." There is only the Catholic Way and the false way, and they can not both be given equal weight, any more than the truth that someone's car can't run without tires can be given weight with the opinion it can. Dr. Creasy's argument is better known as Cardinal Bernardin's "Common Ground." To present Error and Truth on the same footing can only serve to promote Error at the expense of Truth.

Of course, to be fair, Dr. Creasy doesn't believe he is dealing with lies and falsehoods. In response to a question in class just what constituted "the Church of Christ," he unhesitatingly responded, "All Christian churches" -- though this, as you know is in direct contradiction of Lumen Gentium XIV, Constitution of the Church n. VIII, etc.

But put that aside.

The fact remains that Bill Creasy (who openly bases his course on that of Dr. Vernon McGee -- a Protestant) often does not give the Catholic "opinion" on issues.

A prime example is Salvation, which he returns to at least once a month with his diagrammed point that once you accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you are saved, no matter what you do. By the same standard, he publicly holds that he accepts that Purgatory may exist -- if it is just a place to get cleaned up for heaven. But it can't exist as a place of punishment or suffering.

As to the balance he shows when giving both Catholic and Protestant views on controversial issues, we enclose two of his handouts. In both cases, you can clearly see for yourself the implications are, "Here's the Protestant position, and here's what those stupid Catholics believe and why they're wrong!" In your article, Dr. Creasy himself talks about looking at Greek verb tenses, etc. Please note in his handout how he uses this to utterly demolish (in his view) the Catholic position of a priest's ability to forgive sins. Not to mention how he asserts it's a mistranslation that Our Blessed Mother is "full of grace." She's just highly favored and blessed among women, rather than above them.

The Bible from which Dr. Creasy teaches (and which he recommends in his class) is the NIV Bible, which in its footnotes makes references to such things as the brothers and sisters of Jesus. At a recent meeting with officials of the Archdiocese [of Los Angeles] (which Dr. Creasy characterized as "an Inquisition"), he was ordered to begin teaching from a Catholic Bible, but to our knowledge has not yet done so.

Professor Creasy says no one has left the Catholic Church because of his course, but if so, that is an indictment of the "Catholics" he teaches. If someone truly believes what Dr. Creasy professes on issues such as Salvation, Purgatory, Confession and the Blessed Mother are true, how can they possible view remaining in the Catholic faith as anything but an affront to God? Certainly, one of the undersigned did become a Catholic partly as a result of his class. But that same convert, when he found out what the true Faith entailed, promptly stopped attending these classes on the strong advice of two priests.

Dr. Creasy does indeed adhere to the Catholic position that the Bible is entirely true and inspired. But not the Catholic Bible. The books which appear in the Catholic Bible but not in the Protestant "Bible" he is saving "until the end of the course" to study -- if he ever gets to (or intends to get to) them then. Certainly, that shows both Protestants and Catholics just how little the Catholic opinion about what constitutes scripture is worth!

Both Jesus and St. Paul used incidents from the "Catholic" books of the Old Testament to illustrate points, but Bill Creasy won't. Though during any given evening he will reinforce points by leaping from book to book all over the Bible, not once in four years has he ever quoted from one of the non-Protestant books. In fact he once said of the inclusion of these books, "St. Jerome, the greatest Bible scholar in history, said they didn't belong in the Bible. The Pope said they did. St. Jerome said, 'Over my dead body!' He died, the Pope put them in, and I'm with St. Jerome."

We have no doubt that Dr. Creasy is an honorable man who firmly believes what he is teaching, but we also have no doubt that exposing gullible and unknowledgeable Catholics to such teaching can at best create doubt as to the truth of their Holy Faith, and at worst endanger their immortal souls. Your article, written in the best of faith and with the finest intentions, can only help draw others into these classes. We fervently ask that you re-evaluate what you have written and perhaps do a follow-up article based, perhaps, on monitoring some of his classes or interviews with orthodox Catholics who attend (if any do.)

-- Richard L.B. Thomas
Mel Goins
Los Angeles

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