Readers React:  Archbishop Cordileone’s old-school views sexual morality

To the editor: I had to chuckle when I read the response of Gino Gresh, an 18-year-old senior at San Francisco’s Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory, to Roman Catholic Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone’s morality clause on sexuality and sexual behavior: “Saying that someone’s nature is inherently evil, that shocked me.” (“S.F. archbishop’s imposition of morality clause at schools outrages many,” Feb. 12)

It seems that Sacred Heart is not doing a great job at teaching its students about the fundamental Christian doctrine of original sin.

If this student is still shocked once he finds out that Jesus’ death was the solution to the problem of original sin and inherent evil, he should call his local rabbi. Judaism offers no excuse for a stained soul — if you have one, it is because you earned it yourself.

Shai Cherry, Del Mar

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To the editor: It seems fundamentally obvious that someone in a teaching capacity at a Catholic institution should faithfully teach the Catholic religion. To be in that position and publicly oppose Catholic doctrine is fraudulent.

If someone wants to oppose Catholic doctrine, do so honestly but outside a Catholic teaching capacity.

Thomas F. Brands, Los Angeles

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To the editor: For more than 50 years, I have been teaching teachers and psychotherapists that our sexuality is a wonderful part of our lives. I have counseled people of all ages that masturbation — which Salvatore regards as evil — is as natural as breathing.

Instead of demonizing sex, the Catholic Church and other institutions need to devote their energies to helping people appreciate all aspects of their lives rather than feeling ashamed of being human. One in four women reports being sexually abused or raped in their youth, but never by a male who is comfortable with his life and his sexuality. The archbishop of San Francisco and other clerics are contributors to this “gravely evil” practice.

I am a Catholic and I am also part of the Church — and thus part of what the “Church teaches.”

Don Hanley, Vista, Calif.

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