Politics of Abortion

Arthur A. Lord (“Catholic Comment on Issues Isn’t Meant to Be Popular,” Op-Ed Page, Dec. 13) is to be applauded for piety but certainly not for logic. He attempts to justify Bishop Leo T. Maher’s actions by cataloguing the accomplishments of the Pope. This is at best a non sequitur, and at worst an exercise of sanctimony.

The bishop’s problem was not one of speaking out, but rather that he attempted to force Assemblywoman Lucy Killea (D-San Diego) to be more attentive to the church than to her constituents (in her recent successful bid for a state Senate seat). After all, the voters expect a cleric to express religious convictions, but not at the expense of democratic representation.

As for his rather cheap-shot comparison of Bishop Maher with Jerry Falwell, who is to say that the Rev. Falwell’s theological positions are any less “carefully thought out” than those of the Vatican. We have seen for years how the theological positions of Rome have fallen by the wayside, from fish on Fridays to the current almost universal disregard of the proscriptions against contraception. So much for infallibility.

ROBERT E. GOYETTE

Rolling Hill Estates