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Black Catholic churches in the city play an integral role of providing Christian witness, social outreach and the unlimited hope that comes from knowing Jesus to those in the village. In these parishes you will find evangelizers rolling away the stones that block blessings and sharing the good news of Jesus Christ as light for the journey.

The cover photo of last week’s Catholic Review captured so well both the Pallium Mass itself, as well as the emotions it evoked! After much prayer and anticipation, the moment captured in the photograph provided an emotional spiritual crescendo for me and, I hope, for the many pilgrims who journeyed to Rome. Now, a little more than a week later, I reflect on the day and on our entire Pilgrimage to Rome – with its moments of liturgical and private prayer, opportunities to socialize and rejoice in the wealth of our tradition, and periods of quiet, to rest and reflect. I hope that those who made the pilgrimage found the blessed occasion to be as spiritually enriching as I did – a personally fulfilling experience of our Catholicism.

A glimpse at what faces the next president of the United States can be gleaned from a speech by Dr. Attah Abu Al-Subh, culture minister of Hamas, which controls the legislative council of the Palestinian Authority. Speaking on Al-Aqsa TV on May 18, Dr. Al-Subh had the following to say about the current president, whom he styled “the master of killing, destruction, crime, violence, tyranny and injustice – little Bush”:

I was saddened to see many parishioners exiting the church this July 4th holiday weekend during the last song of the Mass, “O Beautiful for Spacious Skies.” Because the song is a patriotic selection, I thought that everyone would stay and give their respect, especially since we were only going to sing two verses. My hope is that the message will get out as to how important it is to take an extra minute or two to wait, and pay tribute to all of those who have lost their lives building this great nation and keeping it safe.

I was shocked to read that The Catholic Review considers President Bush’s faith based initiatives to be a trademark of his presidency (CR, July 3). The real trademarks of the Bush presidency are: an immoral and unjustifiable war in Iraq costing the lives of countless thousands, ongoing lying and misrepresentation of facts to the American people, torture and the violation of human rights as well as a dangerous disregard for the environment. The Bush administration was asleep at the switch during and following Hurricane Katrina. Faith based initiatives should supplement government-not replace it. Hopefully, in the future The Catholic Review will reject the publication of such propaganda and will choose to report stories that are factually accurate especially during this important election year.