I love to read the letters to the editor, especially the sour ones. They help all of us to come out of our hot houses and live with people as they are.

Maybe once a week, I get a personal letter. It’s written for me, but I often consider it the kind of letter I want to share with the readers. One such letter came last week. I called the young lady who wrote it and thanked her. And I asked for (and received) her permission to use it in this column, deleting her name and her parish.

DEAR ARCHBISHOP:

The time has come that it is necessary to speak. Everyone dissents and criticizes…now it is my turn. So I shall dissent with the dissenters and criticize the criticizers. Perhaps I should subtitle this letter ‘Youth Complains and Explains.’ I do hope that you will accept it in all seriousness.

It is wondered and often speculated why my generation protests and demonstrates. Could it be that discontent and a general tendency toward sometimes unreasoned criticism are assimilated from our environment?

A parent is astounded that his son or daughter refuses to assist at Mass on Sunday. On Saturday he heard his father curse the Church’s teachings on race relations. Friday he heard his mother and a Catholic neighbor exchange gossip about “the affair Father X is having with Mrs. Y.” Yet it is not comprehensible to them why this child has no respect for his Church and why he is “losing his Faith” after being so well brought up and being sent to Catholic schools.

A parent is troubled that his child pickets the local draft board. During March the child listened for hours as his father juggled his “exemptions” from federal income tax because “the #*#*’@ government is bleeding the last penny out of us and not giving us a #*’#@ thing in return, and we don’t owe them anything we can get out of paying.” He also hears daily venomous tirades against the president (who is modified with unrepeatable adjectives), the Congress, the Supreme Court, and anyone else who has the gall to work for that sorry government in Washington.

Young people today are like they are because of (or in spite of) those who precede them. How can a truly sensitive Christian youth resolve in his mind the self-formed ideals with that world which demands of him that he accept hatred as a moral code; that he conduct business with ethics based on quasi-legalities which boil down to cheating the next guy as much as you can get by with; that he choose a profession with salary in mind, not service or satisfaction, that he conform to social standards, current attitudes, and a status quo because to differ would not look good?

Details Distorted

Archbishop Hallinan, at the base of all this has a deep concern for the spiritual state of my parish. And I fear for the effect it must be having on the young people. Everyone is willing to condemn the priests. They pick tiny details, magnify them many-fold, and distort them in the retelling. No longer is a distinction made between personal dislike and priestly incompetence. Even I can not deny that I have met other priests with whom I am more comfortable. But this doesn’t change the basic fact that Mass is offered, the sacraments administered, there is someone ready to competently handle spiritual problems, the bills are being paid, and a logical basis for criticism is often lacking. Rumors and criticism abound. It is not always possible to catch and correct these unfounded “gossip-epidemics” which sometimes even pertain to the Church as a whole.

In defense let me say, please do not totally blame our priests. I have lived in this parish for ten years and never have we seemed fully satisfied. The parish had it out for Father from the moment he arrived—even before. It is an unfair preformed attitude for many. I cannot say that he has not given to some at least a small reason to dislike him (he is honest and says what many don’t wish to hear). But likewise I must say many resent the fact that at last the parish is beginning to be a vital acting force in their lives. They don’t like their “Sunday religion” being made a full-time obligation.

Because I Care

You are probably wondering why I am taking up your valuable time with your spouting off. First because I care (strange as it may seem in this day and age); second, someone must be objective in these things and maintain that there is a second side to everything; third, I’d like to tell you emphatically that young people still want to love their church, observe it intelligently, and support its authority; and lastly, I feel that the time has come for youth to emphasize whey they are discontent and to discuss it sensibly, rather than to protest for mere protest’s sake. You are Christ’s representative to us. Therefore communication with you is essential.

Please forgive my jumpy thoughts: I think too fast to organize. But if the letter appears bad—I can manage to talk even more incoherently! If only we, the youth, could always realize that life is very beautiful if we only choose with care the people whom we imitate! And looking toward good leaders, we can not help but be reassured that God and the Christ-life are still with us.

God love you, and please pray that our parish may realize the true spirit of God’s love,

Paul J. Hallinan

Archbishop of Atlanta