Regarding the sad ignorance of a Catholic Bishop
 
From: partisanranger@swissmail.com
 
Chuck and Folks,
 
I am sure the Catholic Bishop of Little Rock is just an ignorant who needs enlightenment.  He begins his column by saying that he was "astonished upon learning" that Arkansas celebrates the birthday of Robert E. Lee. That means he had not much idea of Arkansas traditions. But then he goes further with the horrible statement that Lee was fighting for the culture of death and ends with: "whether we are aligned with the culture of life like Dr. King or aligned with the culture of death, like General Lee."
 
No matter how angry you may feel (I do!), pray for him and if possible, help him with information.
 
This is my message sent to his Executive Secretary, for short I mention only the critical quote of the Bishop:
 
Dear Mrs. Peña,
 
I am writing to you from Spain about the Bishop´s column from January 23 this year. A superb defense of unborn life. But I was disturbed especially about this quote:
 
"General Lee may have had many good qualities and can only be judged in the context of the world he lived in, but the bottom line is that his efforts served to promote the culture of death…"
 
Especially the last term, linking General Lee to the culture of death, that means abortion, euthanasia, homosexual marriage, free sex, promotion of atheism, etc. is strange to me. It´s about the way to Hell, the reign of Satan. Does the Bishop truly believe Robert E. Lee fought for Satan? I would very much appreciate any statement on this. If his Excellency the Bishop does not know it better and used Lee as rhetoric element, he may apologize, if he did it in full conscience, he may explain himself. I am not one of his sheep because I live in Madrid, but as a devoted Catholic myself it hurts me a lot to see an Episcopal authority promoting such falsehood by ignorance.
 
I would be glad to send you on pdf. the "Dissertation on the Civil War" sent to Rome by the Bishop of Louisville, KY, in 1863 (later to become Cardinal Martin John Spalding, Archbishop of Baltimore) about who was fighting for freedom and who defended the "culture of death" by making total war.
 
May the Holy Ghost inspire you all.
Thank you
Raphael Waldburg-Zeil
 
P.S. To the SHNV readers: The Dissertation of Bishop Spalding is copyrighted and I cannot give away copies to everyone interested. You may contact the University of Notre-Dame Archives to obtain a copy.