December 2015

The September 2015 issue of Liguorian really had me scratching my head. Fr. Bruce Lewandowski’s article “One World, Two Views” seems to provide a simplistic narrative of a Church pitted against itself—a “pre-Vatican II” evil Church vs. a “post-Vatican II” enlightened Church. What exactly was the point of this article and how is it encouraging to Catholics to promote a narrative of a Church that is divided against itself? That is certainly NOT the same Church I read about in history. He ends the article saying, “Two distinct world views continue to exist in the Church and in religious life today. Are they simply two paths leading to the same destination?”  The author never really answers this question. Instead, he just leaves the waters inexplicably muddied.

—Dan C., WA

Every now and then, the word non-Catholic appears in your magazine. This is a very old-fashioned word that disparages Christians of other traditions. No one likes to be referred to as a “non” anything. When referring to Christians who are not part of the Catholic Church, I suggest referring to them as people of other Christian traditions or perhaps even evangelicals (please, not “Protestants”). Non-Catholic is a term that should be retired, in my opinion—in this post-Vatican II era of the twenty-first century. And no one is “protesting” anything anymore.

—John E., FL