Letters to the editor

Letters to the editor
UNION-TRIBUNE

March 19, 2005

The Catholic Church, homosexuality and funeral rites

The San Diego Catholic Diocese cites "inconsistent with Catholic moral teaching" as its reason for denying John McCusker his due right as a practicing Catholic to be allowed services at the Immaculata Catholic Church.

Yet the Catholic church, specifically The Holy Name Church in West Roxbury, Mass., allowed a vicious predator of innocent children, John Geoghan, a full and dignified Catholic service.

Write us

The San Diego Union-Tribune welcomes letters to the editor. Because of the number of letters received, and to allow as many readers as possible to be published, it is the policy of the newspaper to publish no more than one letter from the same author within 120 days. Letters may be edited. It is also our policy to publish letters supporting or opposing a particular issue in a ratio reflecting the number received on each side.

To be considered for publication, a letter must include an address, daytime phone number and, if faxed or mailed, be signed. It may be sent to Letters Editor, The San Diego Union-Tribune, Post Office Box 120191, San Diego, CA 92112-0191, faxed to (619) 260-5081 or e-mailed to letters@uniontrib.com. Letters submitted may be used in print or in digital form in any publication or service authorized by the Union-Tribune Publishing Co.

McCusker was a businessman who operated an establishment for mature, consenting adults. The children raped by Geoghan were defenseless and went along with his warped motives because of his collar.

I pose this question to Bishop Brom: Exactly which of these two men is more deserving of a Catholic service and burial?

MICHAEL BOLGER
Coronado

I actually gasped when I read about the Catholic Church denying burial to a young man because of his business – which by the way, is a perfectly respectable nightclub. Is the church going to examine everyone's businesses with the same scrutiny? If only heterosexuals went to the club, the deceased could be buried in the church?

You can bet that every one of the priests who molested children will still get a Catholic burial.

The church has no shame.

ERNESTINE SMITH
San Diego

Bishop Brom will receive the wrath of the gay community as they demand an apology for his denial of a Catholic funeral for one of their more prominent members. Bishop Brom need not apologize for upholding the teachings of the Catholic faith. The real dilemma is: Why would someone who lived his life in direct opposition to Catholic morality, expect to call himself a Catholic and receive benefits from that same religion?

SUSAN LOPEZ
San Diego

How heartening and reassuring it was to awake to the morning newspaper and television reports. I am so relieved that the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego, and specifically Bishop Brom, is protecting our morals by refusing to hold the funeral services of one of its own because "the church has deemed his business "inconsistent with the Catholic moral teaching."

Such compassion and forgiveness are so overwhelming. It is a shame that so many convicted murders, rapists, wife and child abusers, mafia hit men, pedophile priests, drug kingpins, burglars, gang thugs, and other predators apparently have either slipped through the cracks of this moral code or their business is deemed consistent with the moral teachings of the Catholic church.

Bishop Brom, John McCusker may not have been the model Catholic you believe he should have been, but in his life he gave of himself to those less fortunate than he and showed considerable compassion to others. Bishop Brom, your sense of compassion and forgiveness offer me and others insight that is most enlightening.

WILLIAM E. KELLY
San Diego

I didn't know John McCusker, nor am I Catholic.

Being a Jew and not a Catholic, I can't presume to fully understand Catholic doctrine.

The church cited "public scandal" for canceling McCusker's funeral rites. Ironically, the church itself has now created its own "public scandal," as it did a number of years ago when it denied Communion to a wonderful public servant, Lucy Killea.

The church owes an apology to the family and partner of John McCusker, a young man who graduated from the Catholic University of San Diego, who donated tremendously of his time and money to charitable causes, and who loved his friends, nieces, nephews and extended family very much.

Again, I am not a Catholic, but isn't this service part of what being Catholic is all about?

The church must apologize to the McCusker family and the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender community for the tremendous hurt it has caused McCusker's friends and family in this time of great sadness and pain.

ALEX W. SACHS
San Diego

Bishop Brom's first duty is not to be "inclusive" or "compassionate." His first duty is to protect the integrity of Catholic teaching and prevent sacrilege and in the case of refusing to allow a funeral Mass for John McCusker, he has done the right thing.

McCusker's lifestyle was a repudiation of Catholic values and to insist that he get a funeral Mass would be like Jesus inviting pagans to the Last Supper.

ROBERT KUMPEL
San Diego

Close Window