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NOT QUITE
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David Alire Garcia's article about the reception of the former bishop of the Diocese of the Rio Grande into the Catholic Church [
Cover story, April 2: "The Good Shepherd"
] was well researched and well written, but your reporter consistently misuses the words "conversion" and "convert."
The Church "converts" the unbaptized. Baptized Christians of other denominations who choose to become Catholics are "received." I was received into the Church as an adult in 1996, but I was baptized, i.e., "converted," as a child of 10.
PJ LIEBSON
DIRECTOR OF RELIGIOUS EDUCATION
THE CATHEDRAL BASILICA OF ST.
FRANCIS OF ASSISI
SANTA FE
GOOD LUCK
After the then-still-Bishop Steenson gave his farewell address to the Diocese of Rio Grande Convocation, I wished him, "Good luck with the Roman Catholic Church. I hope it works better for you than it did for me."
I am an Episcopal priest originally ordained as a Roman Catholic priest, one of, I'm sure, more than 80 who have gone that direction. I studied in seminary during the Second Vatican Council. One of my "mistakes" in ministry was believing the windows opened by Vatican II were for looking out. That delusion, plus working in Campus Ministry during the turbulent '60s and '70s, prompted me to stretch boundaries resulting in my firing by the local bishop.
My own "journey" convinced me I could not minister in a system lacking mutual accountability and requiring I always check whether the authority figure above me (ultimately all the way up to the infallible pope) approved. The Episcopal Church was a system I could affirm.
I do wish Jeffrey Steenson the best in the Roman Church but as a Patristic scholar he should know that the "ancient venerable expression of the faith" was neither clear cut nor always piously arrived at. Heresies and dogmas were often determined for reasons as political as those of Henry V.
THE REV. DR. JAMES LEEHAN
RETIRED VICAR
GOOD SHEPHERD EPISCOPAL MISSION
NAVAJOLAND
WAY TO BLOW IT
Please hire a writer who knows the difference between a trombone and a trumpet! Clinton had THREE keyboardists and the "trombone player" was a TRUMPET player…JESSSSSSUSSSS [
Music, April 2: "We Got the Funk"
]! Note: A trombone has a "slide" that moves, trumpet does not. DUH.
LISA GOLDMAN
SANTA FE
WE MUST UNITE
To all who desire to bring America back to the country we were once proud of-oh, around eight years ago: We CAN win this election people-it should be the easiest in history after the incredible ineptitude shown over the past eight years under the Halliburton regime. In very simple terms: All we have to do is vote for whoever wins the Democratic primary.
Until then, yes, please do knock yourselves out campaigning for your choice, but then when it is all over, we must unite and vote Democrat no matter what. No Nader, no Green Party [
First Person, March 5: "Hope You Can't Vote For"
]; this isn't a perfect world, and this is not the time to try and break away from a two-party system. Maybe after the next term or two, and America starts to make a comeback-on just about every level-THEN let's consider a third party, but that time is NOT now.
And for those of you who are now so obsessed with either Hillary and Obama, and threatening not to vote, or to vote Republican because your No. 1 choice doesn't win-shame on you! You are better than that. If McCain wins it will be four more years of the same disaster.
WE MUST TAKE AMERICA BACK THIS YEAR-DON'T LET THE OPPORTUNITY SLIP AWAY!
The Republicans are becoming positively giddy watching the divide that now grows daily in the Democratic party. Don't let them have the last laugh. Their last laugh may be America's last breath.
BILL MANFREDI JR.
SANTA FE
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