Cardinal Mahony
As a Catholic, I enjoyed the two-part series (June 14-15) on Cardinal Roger M. Mahony, paying tribute as it did to his administrative skills, personal prayer life, fondness for his cat and mountain cabin, etc. But I wonder why it didn’t occur to the cardinal to mention what plans he has, at the parish level, of reintroducing Christianity into the archdiocese. For the Sacraments apart, a visit to the average parish church can all too often be a form of penance, revealing a wholesale surrender to third-rate pop psychology, superstitious enthusiasm for guided tours to non-authenticated places of Marian apparition and “charismatic” services that are both aesthetic and intellectual disasters.
Mahony’s favored secular reading material is allegedly a Tom Clancy novel. I submit that the church of Flannery O’Connor and Walker Percy begs for some serious shepherding.
STANLEY NEMETH
Gardena
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
