Benjamin Hawkes
The Times’ article reporting the death of Msgr. Benjamin Hawkes contained many details of his years of loving service to the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. Unfortunately, with the inclusion of unfounded aspersions, it became in reality a niggling, insensitive insult to the memory of a dedicated priest. Most odious, because it was unsubstantiated innuendo, was the dogmatic pronouncement that “Hawkes lived high.”
Anonymous churchmen, whose derogatory, mean-spirited remarks were so liberally quoted in a previous article upon monsignor’s retirement, should not be the criterion for assessing Msgr. Hawkes’ commitment to the poor. Why not seek the answers from those he helped--the members of inner-city parishes, the schools, the elderly, and the countless others touched by his generosity?
His death marks the passing of an era. May he rest in peace!
PAULINE THERESE DARIES
Los Angeles
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