Following are NCR reader responses to recent news articles, opinion columns and theological essays with letters that have been edited for length and clarity.
Scorsese's ministry
Thank you for republishing the AP interview with Martin Scorsese (ncronline.org, Nov. 15, 2024).
Were it not for the work of great directors like Terrence Malick, Abel Ferrara, and above all Scorsese, I likely would have given up this deeply dysfunctional Catholic thing long ago, so let me just say, God bless Scorsese and the other maestros for saving our faith through beauty.
I Saw the TV Glow is a stunning film and among the year's very best. It gladdens my heart that Jane Schoenbrun is receiving well deserved praise from one of cinema's greatest living artists.
JEFFREY JONES
Hamburg, New York
PS. The Conclave interview is also great (ncronline.org, Nov. 15, 2024).
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Post-election lectionary
Now that we have elected Donald J. Trump as our 47th president, what are we going to do for our country?
Are we going to welcome the poor, the oppressed, the widows, the children of other countries?
The scripture readings for Sunday Nov. 10 are very appropriate for us at this time.
In the first Book of Kings we are told that the widow who had no extra remaining flour and oil was told by the prophet Elijah to prepare it for him and she did as she was told. But she did not die of starvation because of it. Will we die of starvation if we feed the resident aliens, the orphans, the widows, of our meager inflated purchases?
And in the gospel of Mark, Jesus tells his disciples (us) that a poor widow gave coins of a few cents which was all she owned.
Are we going to be as generous as the above mentioned servants of God toward the immigrants or shout with the Barabbas crowd against Jesus, "Deport them! Deport them!"?
MARGARET BITZ
Fargo, North Dakota
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Catholic vote not very Catholic
Heidi Schlumpf writes, "Although many voters take their religion seriously, it doesn't seem to determine how they vote" (ncronline.org, Nov. 18, 2024). But surely the point here is that Catholics weren't taking their religion seriously when they voted for Donald Trump. Like no other, this election called for an acute moral sensitivity. The Pope recognized this clearly when he said that the choice was between the lesser of two evils.
Using that criterion, the choice had to be Kamala Harris and her agenda, grounded in the dignity of all human beings. Notwithstanding her position on abortion because in our pluralistic society no one is forced to have an abortion — by voting for Harris, Catholics were not putting themselves at moral risk.
In voting for Trump, who, they know, has lied about immigrants, calling them vermin and accusing them of "poisoning the blood of our country," Catholics will be complicit in having enabled Trump to desecrate human dignity by executing his declared policy of mass deportation. In failing to meet the moral challenge posed by this election, Catholics failed their religion.
T. PATRICK HILL
Winchester, Virginia
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