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Contents © 1999
by Jim Holman.
All rights reserved.

July/August 1999 LETTERS

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LECTORS ARE PEOPLE

Father Paul Scalia ("Songs of "Ourselves," June, 1999) says God speaks to us at Mass through the readings.

Then he asks of the hymns ("Hosea" and "I Have Loved You"), why are we speaking God's lines? He goes on to ridicule the composers and congregations.

The last time I looked, lectors were people, speaking God's lines. So, do we need to ask, "Why are the loctors speaking God's lines?"

Whe the church sings "This is My Body given up for you" (scripture and "Take and Eat"), he says God's role is being usurped.

St. Augustine says "Together we are the Body of Christ, and individually we are members of his Body. Thus it is, the love songs being sung are to the Body of Christ. Fr. Scalia seems to have a problem with this. God doesn't.

Doris Lane
Campo

BE CHARITABLE, FATHER

I read with much interest and appreciation Father Paul Scalia's article on modern church music. Fr. Scalia is not alone in his disapprobation of music that accompanies usually puerile text with usually predictable music.

As a musician, a long-time singer of church music, I have a great appreciation of well-constructed anthems. They are, of course, not all old. In fact, some of the old music was dreadful; the St. Gregory Hymnal, my choir primer, was full of wonderful chant, but a lot of sentimental claptrap. However, while there are exceptions, a great deal, if not the majority, of music featured in current-day hymnals is less than stellar.

BUT, the most heavily attended Mass in our parish is on Sunday evening, when a group of people under 40 (if not under 30), stands on the altar and plays and sings "on pitch" music from the Gather hymnal. It's not my cup of tea, but it draws people who would probably otherwise not be in church.

I don't think anything should be on the altar but the priest; I find musicians in front a distraction, BUT hundreds disagree.

Our second and third most-attended Masses feature another contemporary group. We have two Masses with organ and congregation, and one (my personal favorite) with a traditional choir. And for those who want quiet prayer, there's an early Mass with no music at all.

I suppose the end justifies the means. Be charitable, Father, to those who like the new stuff-and grateful that there are other Masses to attend.

Catherine A. Strohlein
Pacific Beach

WHAT DID JESUS DO?

The following letter was written to the El Cajon Daily Californian.

In his May 27 editorial letter ("What would Jesus do? He wouldn't spew hate"), Bob Reck spews plenty of the same hate he accuses the "Christian Right" of exhibiting during the May 20 Grossmont Union High School District meeting, when, by a 3 to 2 vote, GUHSD board members voted to ramrod the homosexualist agenda into the district's employment and curriculum policies.

The inflammatory terms he uses to describe the over 1200 concerned citizens who attended that meeting include "East County burglars," "thieves," "disgruntled fired employees," and "sociopaths." Notably, however, he does not name these.

I wonder if it has occurred to Mr. Reck that the behavior he terms "hateful" is precisely the result of a GUHSD board majority that advances the homosexualist agenda while seemingly oblivious to existing policies which already protect GUHSD students and personnel from harassment based on sexual orientation and overwhelming opposition from parents, educators, and other concerned East County residents.

Apparently that which Mr. Reck calls a "religious hatefest" is only behavior that opposes, rather than supports, the homosexual deathstyle. Apparently he believes it is more loving and enlightened to support a practice which for centuries has been considered an abomination, results in a fatal disease, contradicts the laws of God and nature, and closes the door to the creation of new human life.

What would Jesus do? Perhaps Mr. Reck should ask, "What DID Jesus do?" Jesus overturned the moneychangers' tables in the Temple. Jesus told the woman taken in adultery, "Go and sin no more." Jesus called the Pharisees a "brood of vipers" and "whitewashed sepulchres". Jesus was not a God-of-love-only wimp who advocated "tolerance" and "diversity" in the face of sinful behaviors which if continued would lead to the loss of souls.

Rather than accusing those opposed to GUHSD's homosexual agenda of "the most venomous, mean-spirited, and hateful display of behavior I have seen in public" Mr. Reck ought to work on casting out the hateful mote in his own eye.

Allyson Smith
El Cajon

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