[viiagrag]

Dear Rose,

I would think that being in the unia would obligate one to heed the words of the new bishop of Rome and Pope John Paul II relative to dialog with Orthodox Christians.

By the way, Kosmos I have heard much harsher words directed at the American culture and society from both Orthodox and Latin Christians and even Hierarchs. Some would even go so far as to draw severe comparisons between the American culture and communism.

The American Conference of Catholic Bishops has just met in Chicago where I live Rose, we also assume (hopefully) that the type of behavior that has taken up much of the time in those discussions are not characteristic of a "Catholic" mindset, albeit of a much more significant magnitude and more detrimental to Christianity than a few off the cuff remarks from Kosmos in the outback. Unfortunately the televised media has much interest in the subject matter. I would think that the whole incident has left many more people than just you with a desire not to look to the Latin beliefs any longer. Nevertheless, I'm sure most of us understand that conversations of this sort might be insulting to some and not to others depending on how one looks at things.

Personally as an American I wasn't insulted by Kosmos's comments, you should hear some of the comments coming from the head or voice of the Catholic league about America on occasion, I often agree with him. I forget his name now, an Irishman and official Roman Catholic representative. If you disagree with Kosmo's remarks there is little doubt that you would disagree with the voice of the Catholic league. Would you then embrace a desire not to look to the Catholic beliefs any longer, or would that "reasoning" create some sort of a problem? Well comments can be good or bad and so can responses and actions, create your battles if you like I suppose. I don't think Kosmos had that in mind as he clearly stated at the very beginning of his initial post. You could just forget the whole thread and forgive us Orthodox Christians if we do not meet your perceived standards of decent and acceptable behavior.


In Christ,

Matthew Panchisin