Pinkerton Fallible on Church Reform

Re “Priest Scandal Could Set History in Motion,” Commentary, March 21: James Pinkerton’s understanding of the current crisis within the Catholic Church, and indeed of the church itself, is so limited that I will find it hard to take him seriously on other issues in the future. That the church will suddenly change many of the doctrines that it has defended through fire and blood for 2,000 years because a vast minority of its priests have committed the sin and crime of pedophilia is just plain silly.

Those in the Catholic Church in America who wish to enjoy all of the “reforms” that Pinkerton has predicted for it can easily enjoy them today at their local Episcopal church, where some of the ministers have sadly abandoned Christianity altogether.

John Hearn

Carson

*

Pinkerton suggests that there will be major changes in the American Catholic Church because of the scandal of pedophilia. He errs, however, in his concept of how the church is organized. He states that the American churches, schools and other institutions are run from Rome. The bishop of each diocese has charge of the material and financial matters in his diocese. It is the bishop who decides to build or close schools, for example. In general, the pope and the Vatican get involved only in questions of faith and morals.

The real revolution, and it has started, will be when all bishops accept the findings of psychology and other sciences and begin to apply them intelligently to the people they serve.

Henry Wyatt Moore

Costa Mesa

*

The solution to the pedophile-priest problem is simplicity itself: women priests.

Barbara Toohey

Van Nuys