The American Spectator

Reader Mail

Eagle Eyed

4.21.08 @ 12:01AM

(Page 2 of 4)

Rudy Martzke of USA Today didn't like Chirkinian and his crew, but we golf fans did, and we miss them with a passion today.
-- Al Pote
Lovington, Illinois

I have to respectfully disagree with Mr. Henry's assessment of this year's Masters Tournament. This year's Masters held plenty of great shots and excitement with Brandt Snedeker playing great golf through about 60 holes.

For boredom, no Masters in my lifetime can top the '72 Masters. Jack Nicklaus led every round, won by a blistering 286 (-2) and the nearest opposition, Bruce Crampton, was four shots back.

The greens that year were studded with poa annua, a substance that is OK to putt on if it is consistent on the green. However, with the Bermuda grass greens of the time, the players' putts bounced around more than a
basketball on a court.

Had I known that year's tournament would be that boring, I would have brought a book, pillow, or both!

Great article, though!
-- Bob Jones IV
Conyers, Georgia

BENEDICT'S BUSINESS
Re: Amy Welborn's Handling the Situation:

I am not a Roman Catholic, so anything affecting that church is really none of my business, but that has rarely stopped me from commenting in the past. I just happen to think that Pope John Paul was a truly Christ centered, good man, and the best Pope in my lifetime. He did marvelous things for, not just his church, but for the entire Christian community. There is not a Catholic worldwide that grieved more for his loss than did I. He and Mother Teresa were in the top four or five most God-centered, most faithful, most loving servants of God in my lifetime.

That said, John Paul seemed to just not quite be up to the mark in dealing with the homosexual pedophilia scandal that took hold of the church worldwide. When Pope Benedict was elected to succeed John Paul, I was sure that the vote was specifically directed by God for a specific reason. I have been sure that God has had a specific issue that Cardinal Ratzinger has been picked to take care of. That was the only reason that I could believe would cause the College of Cardinals to vote to elect a new Pope of such advanced age. I just don't believe that God wants a "place holder" to fill the time until the next Pope emerges.

Now I will gladly concede that God MAY have charged Pope Benedict with the solving of more than one serious problem within Christianity. Benedict may, indeed, have been also charged to solve the problem of certain church orders and entities, and "cafeteria Catholics" that seem determined to consign the traditional church tenets to the dust bin of history, or to teach the Christian world how they should be dealing with Islam, and the Islamic Jihadist movement in particular.

As a non-Catholic Christian, I am standing on the sideline cheering as hard as I can for Benedict, who I perceive as a truly devote, holy, Christ centered servant of the one true God.
-- Ken Shreve
New Hampshire

What has to be faced, is the whole picture of the involvement of the Democrat party with many leaders (not all) of the Catholic Church in America.

For many in the Catholic and so-called "Mainline Protestant" churches, their zeal to embrace socialism and its redistribution of wealth to the "poor," the now common promise of the Democrat party, meant that you would have to turn a blind eye to some other serious moral flaws in groups courted by the Democrats. Thus in the church parking lot, you have the cars of professing Christian Catholics and Protestants sporting Democrat bumper stickers, while that party's platform includes the perpetuation and protection of "abortion rights" etc. And this is acceptable because "the Democrat Party works for Social Justice." Oddly enough it's always everybody else's money that's supposed to fulfill this burning social consciousness. Strange how "covetousness" never gets much concern with "liberal" Christians. But this was not the worst.

As it developed, abusive priests plied their trade with the assistance of...government. It appears that the trade-off was, Democrat administrations helped keep the lid on the abuse in exchange for a Church hierarchy that allowed moral ambiguity for the congregation at election time. After all, "the Democrat party helps the poor." Thus much of the "Catholic vote" was delivered and maintained for the Democrat party, while the abuse victims and the unborn were the unwilling pawns in this evil chess game.

Isn't it odd how no one ever seriously investigates the strange incongruity of Gov. Mario Cuomo (D-NY) giving so many speeches with a dutiful Bishop of the Albany Catholic Diocese standing in the background. Perhaps they could question retired NY State Police officials, to see if any were threatened with "consequences," if they divulged activities of church officials uncovered by state investigators, and thus remained silent. Investigative reporting? When H... freezes over.

Letter to the Editor

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