Bishop Bars Rite for Killea

It is laughable to see The Times preach to the Roman Catholic Church about how it should conduct its affairs in “America’s pluralistic system” (editorial, “The Heavy-Handed Bishop,” Nov. 19). There is no more pluralistic and racially inclusive institution in the world than the church.

It is the function of the church to take and adhere to moral positions. If those positions are out of step with society, then the church will lose members. It is the right of the church to define what its moral positions will be. That the Roman Catholic Church is willing to stand for its position on abortion against the current popular sentiment speaks of its strength and courage. Assemblywoman Lucy Killea (D-San Diego) can (indeed should) leave the church since she is clearly not a Catholic.

The church has always preached that extramarital and premarital sex are sins. If everyone believed that then there would not be AIDS and there would not be unwanted babies. Abortion is your attempt to solve these problems without acknowledging that their root cause is sin.

TOM BLAIR

San Pedro