Bishop Hermann should Know

Editor August 3, 2008
The St. Louis Review
20 Archbishop May Drive
St. Louis MO 63119


Dear Editor:

Bishop Hermann’s recent column in the Review ('I thought you should know' Obedience is still a virtue) gave me much food for thought. As a Catholic who holds dissenting views to certain teachings of the Church, I find his assumptions about my feelings and my state of mind to be rather far off base.

Bishop Hermann assumes that I am angry at myself for being angry with my Church. Nothing could be further from the truth. I am proud of my actions which are aimed at bringing forth real justice for all of God’s children. When I take action to affirm the dignity of women, gays, lesbians, the divorced, and others alienated by current Church doctrine, I sleep very well at night knowing that I am furthering the call of the Gospel to comfort those imprisoned by hatred or misunderstanding.

Bishop Hermann cites scripture which tells us that obedience is better than sacrifice. Yet I find myself called to be obedient to Jesus in the Gospels, the Jesus who railed against the rules and laws which bound the Scribes and the Pharisees to lives of “obedience”; the Jesus who compels us to love everyone and to wash the feet of our brothers and sisters; the Jesus who never spoke a word about women’s ordination, or gays and lesbians, or exclusion from sacraments; the Jesus who welcomed all to His table.


Bishop Hermann assumes that I have lost my peace over the sins of another. Again, he is wrong. I live in the serenity of knowing that I bring peace and hope of inclusion to those who have had the door of our Church slammed angrily in their faces.

Bishop Hermann finally asserts that there is no unity among those who work for peace and justice in dissent of Church teaching, and that dissent begets dissent. What I have experienced, on the other hand, are the real love, inclusion, and acceptance which Jesus promised to all who follow Him. Dissent does not beget dissent. Dissent begets hope, critical thought, deep reflection, and profound compassion.

The next time Bishop Hermann presumes to speak for me, perhaps he should spend some time with those of us who are united in our similar views and whose deepest hope is to heal a Church which at times seems so uninviting and cold. After that, he might do well to remember those holy men and women who in times past risked their standing in the Church to point out a better way, holy men and women who are now recognized as Saints. Perhaps then he will not be so quick to presume that just because we dissent we lack “satisfaction, peace, joy and fulfillment”.


In Jesus’ love,


Joe Moramarco