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Parade magazine (June 27) included an article about closing churches in Cleveland. It prompted me to inquire whether indulgences or points will be awarded to those Catholics who follow Christ’s teaching to “Love thy neighbor as thyself” and remain in their neighborhood parish churches? Obviously, the exodus is due in large measure by the influx of a neighbor, followed by more new neighbors.

George Weigel (CR, July 1) wants us to believe that he has all the answers and is qualified to make statements that mistakes of Vatican II have contributed to a “crisis of fidelity that was at the root of clerical sexual abuse and episcopal misgovernance.” I think that Vatican II was awesome in what it has accomplished. It has made us better Catholics, as well as kept many Catholics in the church. What Weigel proposes will reduce our ranks even more so. His separation into “real” Catholics is also very divisive.

The recent columns by Kenneth L. Woodward (CR, May 27 and June 10) complaining about the coverage of the sex abuse scandals by the New York Times is illustrative of the continuing attitude to blame others for this scandal. Who cares about the New York Times? I don’t read it. Who cares what Kenneth Woodward thinks? When will we get beyond blaming others for this self-inflicted wound?

VATICAN CITY – The Vatican confirmed Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to the United Kingdom, where he will meet Queen Elizabeth II and beatify Cardinal John Henry Newman.

When Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. picked Mary D. Kane as his running mate June 30, the former governor added a Catholic to the Republican ticket.

VATICAN CITY – Pope Benedict XVI will leave the heat of Rome July 7 for the papal villa in the hills just south of the Italian capital, a Vatican statement said.

I am writing in response to the plea (CR, May 6) for a “less hard-hearted approach” to dealing with immigration. Where is your compassion for the farmers, ranchers and other citizens in border states who are victims of crime and live in fear due to federal inaction to secure the border? A sovereign state has the obligation to protect its citizens and yet we stand and applaud a foreign head of state who comes here to show his contempt for our laws.