I enjoyed reading this article. For me, Latin was always as pronounced in church, which is the Italian way, and I never descended to ‘wayney, weedy, weeky’. There are still some clergy around who had the advantage of studying in Rome where they had to converse amongst themselves in Latin and their lectures at The Greg. were all in Latin. When I was at Seminary…(long ago and I did not complete it) most of my text books were in Latin and I got into the habit of skimming through each page and merely getting the drift of what was being said. Not the best foundation I must admit. I still have some of those books and, of course, I do have a Latin Vulgate, which I read more easily than my former text-books.

John Rayner

Speculation on the death of the Pope, when he is actually in very good health considering his age and the burdens imposed upon him by his ministry, strikes me as being unseemly if not tasteless. I am surprised that ‘Oriens’ has given further publicity to this article from ‘The Tablet’, especially in view of what this Pope has done for the cause that the Oriens Foundation promotes. Of course, everybody has to die sooner or later this side of the parousia, but my fervent hope is that Benedict XVI will do a ‘Leo XIII’ on us and be around for another ten years – at least.

Christopher Dowd OP
St Laurence’s Priory
134 Buxton Street
NORTH ADELAIDE
South Australia 5006
Australia

Mr Greystain,

Traditionalists are, by their very definition, anti-modern. Modern Catholics who accept the tripe served up by contemporary culture have done a sterling job at destroying traditional Catholic culture, belief and liturgy since Vatican II.

As traditionalists constitute a small group within the Church, I would request that you respect our right to promote the very thing that ‘modernistas’ have tried to destroy over the past 40 years – the ancient Latin liturgy. We have the right to be as anti-modern as we like, and we have nothing to be ashamed of. There are an adequate number of forums for modern Catholics to voice their opinions – for eg. their local Novus Ordo parishes.

Why are modern Catholics so threatened by us..?

Sincerely,
Lydia McDonnell

Rob, thanks for that moving story.

This year on the feast of Christ the King (old calendar) my family were divided between two walks – the Ballarat-Bendigo pilgrimage, and a walk to raise funds for CF research. Two of my children have the disease, but in a much milder form than Katie’s, Deo gratias. My eldest daughter is about the same age as Katie, so the story struck a chord – though we are blessed in that she has seldom been hospitalised. Her 13-year-old brother has had a few bouts in hospital but is now benefiting from new treatments. They both lead active, independent lives, including a range of sports.

I think it’s important for people to be aware that a diagnosis of CF is not necessarily a sentence to a life of constant pain and hospitalisation. This is not to denigrate the suffering of people like Katie, still less their heroic response – saints are still among us.

But in a world which offers the obvious “medical solutions” to the risk of children born with disabilities – well, perhaps the best response might be to point out that suffering can be redemptive (and not just for the sufferer), but for the less heroic among us it might help to point out that, even in human terms, life can be rewarding despite this disease.

Lyle Dunne
Evatt, ACT