Church Forgot the Individual

* Anyone caught in bureaucratic rule-making that dehumanizes the individual can identify with Jennifer Espinoza, who found herself expelled from a Catholic high school because she got married before she turned 18. (“High School Bride Battles Archdiocese,” May 27).

She had to get married in a civil ceremony after the church refused to allow her a Catholic wedding because she was a minor.

The church that defends arbitrary rules without considering individual circumstances does not extend that moral standard to causes its own leaders embrace. The same church defends the presence of illegal aliens and argues for their right to government financial benefits. Apparently, breaking federal laws and committing fraud are acceptable to the church, while getting married is to be condemned. The obsession with strict adherence to rules ends where the individual’s behavior matches church leaders’ own political views.

CAROLINE MIRANDA

North Hollywood