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The Catholic Review has addressed the issue of insensate inner city violence (CR/May 29). Would any concerned not accept that there subsists in the city the fundamental problem of the breakdown of families? And in accepting this tragic reality, is it not reasonable to first address, with enduring rapidity, Planned Parenthood, which has been unrelenting in attacking families of color since the 1940s?

In the May 22 issue, The Catholic Review printed a brief article about the Vatican astronomer saying it’s okay to believe in aliens, a position that was criticized in a letter by Louie Verrecchio on May 29. Mr. Verrecchio says that all forms of life are sinful and in need of redemption.

I noticed that you devoted 18 column-inches to cover the death penalty in Maryland (CR/May 29) but buried Senator Kennedy’s support for abortion in the last three quarters of a column-inch of an article praising the senator. Assuming all life is equal, I compared the total number of executions in the United States since 1977 to the present (1,099) to a reasonable estimate of abortions during the same period based on Gutmacher data. Using the calculated proportion, I then allocated the proper amount of time in an eight-hour work day that belongs to discussing the death penalty versus the discussion of abortion. Only by rounding is the death penalty entitled to even a second of discussion time. Abortion’s fair share of discussion time is 7 hours, 59 minutes and 59 seconds.

WARSAW, Poland – The remains of the parents of St. Therese of Lisieux, France, have been exhumed as French Catholics await the couple’s expected beatification.

CHICAGO – A Chicago Catholic priest criticized for a speech in which he mocked Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York has been temporarily removed from his pastoral duties by Cardinal Francis E. George of Chicago.

WASHINGTON – The Vatican’s doctrinal congregation has backed St. Louis Archbishop Raymond L. Burke’s excommunication of members of a parish board of directors and the priest they hired, but the excommunicated Catholics vowed June 2 to appeal that decision.

Our wedding was a first for both of our families. Everyone was learning as we made the plans, and everyone had different expectations. You may have had a similar experience; the bride has ideas of what will be perfect, but her parents see it as an occasion to celebrate family relationships or impress the neighbors, while the groom wonders what the fuss is about. After many disagreements and bills, a frustrated father blurts out, “Whose wedding do you think this is, anyway?” The couple usually sees the wedding as “their day,” but Christian marriage is about more than the two of them. Marriage, like all the sacraments, is never just a private event. Weddings are such a sign of God’s love that they have a transformative effect on the whole family and on everyone who attends.

The memory of Saturday, June 26, 2004 will be with me forever as a special day. It was the day of my priestly ordination at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen. I remember promising respect and obedience to Cardinal Keeler and his successors as Archbishop of Baltimore. I remember my hands being anointed with sacred oil. I remember being vested in the chasuble and stole by my brother Jon. I remember the priests of Baltimore sharing in the celebration that day. And I remember concelebrating the Eucharist for the first time.