I am writing in reaction to Mr. Lynch's editorial cartoon on Oct. 22, 2009. To Mr. Lynch's credit, he is a very good artist. I'm glad he so accurately portrayed His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI with a black beard. Oh, wait...
In all seriousness, this cartoon is both factually incorrect and gratuitously offensive. In the first place, this drawing implies that the Roman Catholic Church abounds in "Traditions," yet lacks reason. I guess a cartoon need not express any justification for this type of generalization. Of course, this tradition can't be "appealing" as it is; the Pope needs to polish up and clean it off so as to seduce the members of the Anglican Church to defy their reason. What about the tradition of the Catholic Church is so unreasonable? Would this statement apply to the traditions of the Jewish faith, which are much older than those of the Catholic Church? Actually investigating the teachings of the Church , tracing their roots to the commands of the Bible, and seeing the logic behind them would make too much sense. On another note, Mr. Lynch seems to have missed a large fact in the events surrounding the Vatican's announcement pertaining to the acceptance of Anglicans. CNN reported on October 21, "The Catholic Church is responding to the many requests that have been submitted to the Holy See from groups of Anglican clergy and faithful in different parts of the world who wish to enter into full visible communion," Cardinal William Levada said. So, the fact of the matter is not that the Catholic Church was plotting to lure Anglicans away from their church, but that it was merely responding to requests of many high-ranking Anglicans who were disillusioned with the direction their church was taking. This changes the nature of the Vatican's announcement significantly. And yet there are continuing examples of mass conversions caused by bribery and coercion occurring throughout the world. How about thousands of Chinese workers converting to Islam so as to keep their jobs in Saudi Arabia? I didn't see any cartoon about that, but I guess the editorial staff needed more time to formulate their ideas. Lastly, I think Mr. Lynch sells the Anglicans as stupid, able to be lured and tricked by appearances. I hope The Cavalier Daily will allow Mr. Lynch to address these concerns.
Stephen Vaccaro\nCLAS II
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