Archbishop's web site Denver Catholic Register Parishes Catholic Pastoral Center
September 11, 2002
Letters
Live the faith in prayer and action
Many letters have been written with comments regarding the bishops' conference in Dallas.
This is my belief: The time has come when all faithful Catholics must live our faith. To quote a faithful priest who spoke at a conference in Colorado Springs recently: "The world is in a mess, and the reason it is in a mess is because we Catholics are in a mess. The days are gone when you can go to church on Sunday and do nothing during the week. God gave you a Church to hold the world in His arms." That means faithful Catholic laity, clergy, bishops and cardinals must follow Jesus through his appointed shepherd on earth, John Paul II, and our local shepherd, Archbishop Chaput. I praise and thank God for them, and for all faithful priests and laity.
We are in a war in the Church. It is not a war against human enemies but against principalities and powers of darkness and evil (Eph 6:12). Our Lady gave us the rosary as a powerful weapon, so let us pray it daily and support our faithful shepherds in love, prayer and action.
Dolores Renick
Denver
Hispanic center is good news
That's great news about the soon-to-be-built Hispanic center, Centro San Juan Diego. I'm especially impressed at the caliber of the business people taking on the project. I hope they consider housing a café where people seeking to learn either English or Spanish could come to converse, perhaps even offer language tapes to check out in preparation for actual conversation. We are so lucky in the Western Hemisphere to be able to talk to (and do business with) just about anybody, with only two languages. And in this country we are lucky to have both, so we can teach and learn from each other.
Ann Malone
Fort Collins
More lay participation needed in Church
Bravo to Father Michael Sheeran, S.J., president of Regis University, for the courage to speak about real problems facing the Catholic Church today and offering solutions in his article, "Whither the Church? Catholics need new direction," in the Denver Post Sept. 1.
His article, with its interesting historical background on lay involvement in the Catholic Church, was right on track. As a lay couple, we agree with many of his comments. We met at a Catholic Newman Club in the `50s, married and started our family before Vatican II, and became active parishioners soon afterward.
We, too, see a need, as Sheeran says, for "a new evangelism of our educated members to educate them even better in the faith. And bishops need to work simultaneously to increase access to all sorts of decision-making bodies." We, too, regret the demise of our Catholic schools and the resulting decline of knowledge of our Catholic faith. Many lay people today have as many years of education as the clergy, except in matters of faith. Lay people's expertise in administering in other ways beside theology, however, can be utilized effectively today without further formal instruction. If the laity were more involved in decision-making, problems that emerge, such as sexual abuse of children, would not be covered up but faced squarely. Increased lay participation will not entirely eliminate problems, but it will keep them from becoming an epidemic.
Sheeran explains that Church leaders need to adapt to an educated laity and not treat them as semi-literate congregations of past centuries. Then, together, it is our hope that laity, priests and nuns can work as a team to give our next generation of Catholics a knowledge of God and the desire to know, love and serve him.
George and Margaret Malsam
Denver
9/11: Reflect and learn
At this anniversary of Sept. 11, we need to take time to remember all those lost in this historic tragedy. We can also use this time to reflect on our own actions as a whole. We need to make sure that we see this as a learning experience and that we must not take life for granted. Love one another, as Jesus wanted. Tolerate those who do not believe in what you believe. Give of what you can to those who don't have. Make the world a better place for your children and their children. Live each day to its fullest and do not be afraid to say, "I love you," to those most important to you. Most of all, keep your faith in God and he will always guide you in the right direction. This is a sad time for all, but let us learn from this.
My prayers are for all those who lost loved ones on that terrible day. May God bless us all and may God bless America.
Joyce Madrid-Andrews
Denver
Window trivia
Here's a little "trivia" for you that I found interesting. I noticed in the article about the Cathedral's 90th anniversary, the mention of its windows being executed by the Royal Bavarian Art Institute, which apparently is the same as F.X. Zettler, now Franz Mayer of Munich, Germany. They also did the windows here at St. Francis de Sales in 1911 — and our new Rose Window, which was recently done.
Now, aren't you glad to know all this? Keep up the good work!
Msgr. Frank Morfeld
Pastor, St. Francis de Sales Church
Denver
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