Dear Catholic Exchange:
Regarding a poll conducted on your homepage, who—that is, who among serious Roman Catholics who understand their mission—cares about which team may win the Superbowl? Is such a question even appropriate for a “Catholic” website?
Vince Kunkler
Grayslake, IL
P.S. I am sorry for my rudeness. May I please end by assuring you of my prayers and by asking a share in yours? God bless your work.
That's OK, Vince. We get rude letters all the time from members of our faithful Catholic audience. But that's OK. We're all human and we at Catholic Exchange are rude ourselves sometimes. Thank goodness we're all commanded to forgive one another and ourselves!
Regarding your concern, *our* understanding of the mission of “serious Roman Catholics” is to live the authentic gospel message and share it with others—to be *in* the world but not *of* the world. Are not 25% of Americans Roman Catholic? Will most not be watching the Superbowl and rooting for one team or another (I'm rooting for the Jets, myself)? Therefore, should Catholic Exchange not address this cultural spectacle as another means of drawing and engaging a wide audience? It does not sacrifice orthodoxy one iota, does it?
The glaring shortcoming of most good Catholic media is their failure to engage the lukewarm/cultural/cafeteria Catholic (i.e., the 95%). We believers are, in large part, talking to each other and then congratulating ourselves for doing the Lord's work. Our work at Catholic Exchange is an attempt to cast a wider net out into the mainstream culture by presenting a product that the average Catholic can more easily connect with. Running a poll on the Superbowl is just one of many ways we're doing this.
Yours in Christ,
Tom Allen
Editor, CE
P.S. We appreciate your prayers. You and all our users are in our prayers every day!
Why She’s Catholic—Not!
Dear Catholic Exchange:
In response to the article Why She’s Catholic that ran on your site, I’d like to thank Mr. Fitzpatrick for clearly stating what we as Roman Catholics need to fully comprehend. We need to recognize those in our midst whose goal is apostasy. We need to encourage obedience and faithfulness to the Holy Father, Pope John Paul II.
Thank you, Mr. Fitzpatrick, for your fine writing and commentary.
Sincerely,
Daniel J. Pitterle
Brookfield, WI
Editor's Note: To contact Catholic Exchange, please refer to our Contact Us page.
Please note that all email submitted to Catholic Exchange or its authors (regarding articles published at CE) become the property of Catholic Exchange and may be published in this space. Published letters may be edited for length and clarity. Names and cities of letter writers may also be published. Email addresses of viewers will not normally be published.
Who Do You Say that I Am?
Dear Editors of Catholic Exchange:
In the synoptic Gospels we learn that Jesus asked Peter, “[W]ho do you say that I am?” Today, an unborn child might ask a somewhat similar question: “Who—or what—do you say that I am?” That child, if he could speak, may continue: “At the very instant the egg cell and the sperm cell united, I was one human cell, with traits from both of my parents. At that miraculous moment, I became a unique human being living the very first stages of my life and was medically known as a zygote.”
“Within thirty hours, however, my zygote stage of life divided into a two-celled individual. At that point, I entered a new stage of life and was called an embryo. During my embryonic stage of life, many exciting things occurred: At three weeks, my central nervous system began to develop and my heart started beating. I was already about 3/8ths of an inch long and my eyes, arms and legs began to bud. In my eighth week, my major organs began to develop and my hands and feet could be seen. By the end of my twelfth week of life, which was also the end of my embryonic stage, I had fingers and toes and had grown to 3 1/2 inches in length.”
“Now, I’m nearing the end of my fetal stage of life and am almost ready to be born; I can hardly believe how much I have grown! Near the beginning of my fetal development, in my sixteenth week, I was six inches long and weighed approximately six ounces; but now, in my fortieth week, as I approach my birth, I am twenty inches long and weigh about seven pounds. ‘Whew!’ I’ve been through a lot; I think right after I'm born, I will have a nice warm meal and take a long nap. The next stages of my life will be busy and challenging, too.”
Rozann Huiras
Sleepy Eye, MN