To the editor:
The "polarization" theme for your November 2010 issue seems contrived.
The third paragraph sets the fabricated tone. It says some people wonder "to what degree … welfare recipients" and others should "be accepted into the fold."
There have been no welfare recipients since 1996, unless the writer means anyone who receives governmental preference, including public college students, the disabled, the elderly and retired and more. The writer might as well ask to what degree bishops who have abetted child abuse be accepted into the fold. Presumably, Jesus includes all who sincerely acknowledge their limitations and sins.
I spend my time with the 98 percent of Catholics who are concerned about meaning in their relationships and their careers, about safety and education for their children, about adequate care for their aging parents and the like. They are not attracted to a church on the basis of its preoccupation with trivial in-house "polarization" matters.
To be fair the same Catholic Courier issue had informative articles on farm workers, ethnic ministry, Catholic Charities, dealing with depression and on family life. At a time of decreasing resources for print media, it is a blessing to have diocesan newspapers.
William Droel
Worth, IL
