Dear Mark Shea and Jeff Cavins,
The Words of Encouragement I receive each day are excellent. I have been getting them for several years now and look forward to receiving them. I have only one complaint: why did you stop capitalizing the pronouns referring to God? This is a major irritant to me, probably due to my religious education of sixty-some years ago, when it was a hard-and-fast rule, even though I went to public schools. Somewhere along the line, even religious publications have stopped showing this mark of respect. I was so happy that you still did. Now you have reverted to what the others are doing. Could you please indulge an old lady and capitalize the pronouns referring to God? I don't think it would take much effort on your part.
Thank you for listening to my venting.
Sincerely,
Flora Smith
Sophia, NC
Hi Flora:
I have never capitalized the divine pronoun. Biblical writers didn't do it and I've never seen the sense of it myself. It was a convention in English for a while, much as archaisms such as “thou” and “thee” when addressing the deity. But I've never bothered with it. It's a purely stylistic judgment and I don't think it's possible to please everybody on such things, so I basically just go with what feels most natural for me as a writer.
Have a wonderful Easter!
Mark Shea
Senior Content Editor
Catholic Exchange
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