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The article “Strength from gentle pope” (CR, July 30) came to a correct conclusion when it called us to study the encyclical. However, terms must be understood. If Tony Magliano understood the implications of “profit” and “improper means,” he would have realized that the present economic crisis is the antithesis of “the accumulation of money and other assets.” Profit (or loss) comes from an equation: revenue minus cost for a given period equals profit. If there is deliberate improper measurement, the profits are lies, illusory riches, which hide a theft. No assets were accumulated in this instance. If extortionate prices are charged and/or unjust compensation is paid for labor and materials, the profits are overstated because the full cost has not yet come due from the damage done to the larger society. I believe the pope’s message is that real wealth generates additional wealth benefitting all who help create it. I wish the pope had directly addressed “Thou shall not covet thy neighbor’s goods,” because the evils he deplores are from both deliberate and inadvertent violations of that commandment.

I read with some trepidation “Nuclear Weapons and Moral Questions: The Path to Zero,” a challenging article by Archbishop Edwin F. O’Brien; His connection being his ministry with the U.S. Military, mine having a grandson at Camp Lejeune, N.C.

The history of Towson Catholic has members of my family written in it. After grade school, my aunts went to Franciscan schools run by the Philadelphia Franciscans. Three of our family were sisters in that community. The girls in our family went to The Catholic High School. In grade school many of us were schooled by the Daughters of Charity. Both of these orders of sisters were our teachers of merit. Today it is possible to obtain quality Franciscan education at two of the best high schools in the city, Catholic High and Archbishop Curley. I’d like to offer that as a goal for those students looking for a school.

I am appalled at the omission of a true patriotic article (CR, July 2), one that real patriotism shown by our brave men and women who continue to afford all Americans the opportunity to live in a free country.

CHICAGO – The Archdiocese of Chicago announced July 21 that it had reached settlements totaling $3.9 million in cases of six survivors of clergy sex abuse.