World Peace
Thank you for publishing the pope’s Message for World Peace Day (1/7). Appropriately, we hear often from the Vatican about significant but essentially internal church matters. But this message is a stunning reminder of how timely, human, warm, clear, compassionate, courageous and hopeful the Catholic Church can be when we address all our human sisters and brothers about our common life here and now. As one who is grateful to stand unmerited within the Catholic community, I appreciate that the pope’s message is a reflection of how God’s merciful love animates all life, surpassing our understanding and anchoring our hope. May those among us who do not share that confession nevertheless find in the pope’s message the light and promise for which we all yearn.
Robert B. Murray
Braintree, Mass.
Balm for Wounds
My gratitude to John Hayes for his penetrating story (1/21) of Ireland’s long struggle with deprivation and with the horrors of terrorism, especially over the last 30 years. And nowmarvel of marvelsthis land of his is on the threshold of the prosperity and peace that justice and forgiveness have so dearly earned.
It is balm for the recent wounds of our own nation that Mr. Hayes acknowledges so graciously how much American principles and generosity have helped make such a difference in Ireland.
It is also balm for our wounds that other peoples who struggle with deprivation and terrorism can look to the Irish experience and find their hope in these same American principles and generosity.
Francis D. Champion
Pittsford, N.Y.
America Web
Thank you for America’s Web site. I look forward to using the archives, since I pass on my magazines to a friend (as encouraged in Of Many Things, 2/24/01). Often I find I would like to reread an article. This Web site will allow me to do just that when it is available. Thank you again for America and for making the past great issues available in this way.
M. Catherine Smith, S.Sp.S.deA.P.
Philadelphia, Pa.
