Catholic Laity Rebuilds Church Foundation

Re “Ethnicity Colors Views of Scandal,” June 10: The notion that “I don’t follow the priest but I follow Jesus Christ” may sound corny but is as poignant as ever. As a Catholic, it is sad to hear people using the offering as “one of the few tools I have to get my message across,” because the offering is meant to be for the church as the body of Christ, not for the church as an institution.

Also, even if it were for the institutional church, it is this kind of “I, me, mine” mentality that is the root of the current crisis in the Catholic Church in the first place. Claire Henning, pastoral coordinator for St. Paul the Apostle Church in Los Angeles, says, “No one really understands what the laity is now, because the spectrum is so broad.” Well, it is very simple: Go back to the church of dusty Jalisco, Mexico, of the 1920s; don’t “move ahead” with novelty ideas to find the answer.

Kee Kim

Anaheim