Unethical priests tarnish image of Catholic Church

Editor,

For what my own personal opin-

ion may be worth to your readers,

I too am opposed to having a chair

in Roman Catholic studies at the

University. Being a Mexico native, I

was a loyal Catholic for many years.

During those years, I was always

depressed, heard strange voices

in my head and had autism. Sadly

enough, my grandmother, an ardent

Catholic, recently passed away from

being in a coma. These were all con-

sequences of worshipping worthless

idols that have ears but cannot hear,

eyes but cannot see and legs but can-

not walk. In retrospect, the Catholic

religion made my life a living hell.

It is only a series of vain repetitions

that pave a direct path toward the

Lake of Fire. Now that I know the

truth, I have more friends, joy and

self-confidence and am far more so-

ciable than I used to be.

Contrary to Stacy Keogh's com-

ments, I cannot be proud of the

Catholic ideals that I inherited and

have now renounced. Furthermore,

there is so much hypocrisy in the

Roman Catholic clergy because

there have been various reports of

child rape. According to the John

Jay report commissioned by the

U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops,

there were accusations against 4,392

priests in the U.S. - about 4 percent

of all U.S. priests. How can people in

their right minds confess their sins

to a priest who is worse than they

are? How can these priests pretend

to be so holy and righteous in front

of large congregations when they've

committed such atrocious crimes?

It seems that the UNM community

would be much better off without

having a chairperson of Roman

Catholic studies.

Andres Saenz

UNM student