The American Spectator

Reader Mail

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J.R. Wheatley br> Harper Woods, Michigan /p>

Reader Joseph Baum hit the nail right on the head in his response to George Neumayr's "From Slob to Snob." I have realized for many years that the shallow liberalism that the Hollywood crowd and the liberal media elite displays for public consumption is no more complicated than the motive of high schoolers across the country -- the desire to be in the popular "in crowd." I have taught my children that doing things that they know are wrong, or saying things that they know to be untrue, just to be popular is the wrong path to happiness. Just look at all of the scandals and broken marriages that Hollywood has to offer! The majority of the Hollywood crowd may be beautiful and rich, but most are also quite miserable.

Trying to be popular might make you appear happier to others, and may even help to take you up the career path in Hollywood or the liberal journalism business, but it will not lead to a happy and fulfilling life. Instead, it eventually leads to a shallow life of moral relativism. Most of the popular kids in high school are already making bad life decisions that are causing hurt, doubt and anger in their lives. I attribute this as the cause of the hate and anger that are boiling out of many liberals today. Deep inside, they know they made the wrong decisions, but they will try to take everyone else down their path to misery, because, as we all know, misery loves company. I used to be upset at the media liberals and Hollywood stars who use their positions to badmouth people who do not live as they do, such as Christians and pro-lifers, but now I only feel pity for them. It is obvious that they are very unhappy people.

p>I have tried to teach my children that standing up for what is right, such as protecting a bully's victim, or speaking up for someone being verbally trashed by the "in crowd" may not lead to having lots of fake and popular friends, but it will eventually lead to a life that is fulfilling and happy. It takes courage to go against the grain, even for the right reasons. But don't we really want to revolve past high school? The liberal elite media never have, and I use their childish behavior as a teaching tool when I ask my children, "Do you want to grow up to be bitter and hateful like that?" My oldest child is currently a freshman in high school, and he displays more maturity than most of the much older "in crowd" in the media. I am quite proud of him, even if he isn't perfect and struggles every day to avoid the impulsive behavior that could make him popular, but miserable. br> -- Mike Spencer br> Midland, Michigan /p>

As the daughter, granddaughter, niece, and cousin of three generations of Episcopal priests, I am a very traditional Anglo- Catholic, who has watched with dismay as my church has been taken over by carpetbaggers anxious to climb into the hierarchy that they claim to oppose. But our priests have always been allowed to marry, as have those in the Orthodox Churches, and I think that those that I know (and there are many) are better priests for having families. There's a tendency to think that the requirement of celibacy is in the same realm of theological debate as the ordination women and that one will lead to the other. But there's really no connection between the two and the one does not lead to the other.

What is obvious is that demanding celibacy selects for men, who even as boys, have no interest in, attraction to, or desire for intimacy and marriage to a woman. Clearly, the abuse of children by Roman Catholic priests was an abuse of boys not girls. I am not saying that priests who are allowed to marry don't fall into sin. But in the Episcopal Church it's usually with adults, not young boys.

Further, as a woman, I appreciate and have more confidence in a priest whom I know has had the experience of loving, accepting responsibility, and sharing the joys and burdens of family life. I don't see how someone who's lived alone forever can have any sure understanding of the complexities faced by a married couple. I happen to think that there are real differences between men and women, which you can't really love and appreciate if you've never known the other. The Apostles were married and St. Paul said that it's better to be married, if celibacy will be a burden.

p>All of that said, I think that the choice of Cardinal Ratzinger to be Pope Benedict XVI was brilliant. It will be great for the whole Catholic Church. br> --

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