History lessons

“City Lights” (Spring 2006) brought back many fond memories of hours I fortunately spent in Thomas H. O’Connor’s class. Professor O’Connor obtained permission for me to use one of BC’s “shares” at the Boston Athenaeum. Thanks to him, I spent many a cold and bleak winter’s afternoon lost in the Athenaeum’s stacks, discovering the wealth of ideas of Boston’s social and intellectual elite in the early 1800s.

Peter K. Murphy ’59
Monte Carlo, Principality of Monaco

Lawyer’s duty

Re “Staying Here” (Spring 2006), by Cara Feinberg: Too many immigration clinics shun cases involving criminal aliens to focus only on more sympathetic asylum cases. The BC clinic is teaching students that among a lawyer’s highest duties is to represent the unpopular and to represent them well. Congratulations to Dan Kanstroom and Mary Holper on running a top-notch clinic.

Andres C. Benach ’94
Washington, D.C.

Public and Catholic

Re Michael Molyneux’s “Faith, Hope, and Politics” (Spring 2006): To me, any discussion of faith, politics, and the Church is incomplete without a critique of free-market capitalism and how its inherent injustices are destroying democracy and suppressing spirituality. Global corporate capitalism directly counters the teachings of Christ.

Stephen V. Riley ’56
Sarasota, Florida

James Carville’s comment that “Jesus was so concerned about homosexuality that he uttered not one word on it” makes perfect sense coming from someone who delights in calling himself “the ultimate cafeteria Catholic.” One comes away with the impression that the “balancing act” between being a good Catholic and a good Republican/Democrat/conservative/liberal boils down to being faithful only to the extent that the Church agrees with one’s own point of view. We live with an extremist notion of separation of Church and state, as if faith were a threat to democracy, or rather to our materialistic, consumerist society.

Paula Gavin ’81
Danbury, Connecticut

Scorekeeping

Hats off to Al Skinner, head coach of the men’s basketball team, for a terrific season (”Advanced Hoops,” by Kevin Armstrong, Spring 2006). But, Coach, you deserve much better from the officials. A goaltending call to give the game to Villanova with less than five seconds to go in OT? And need I mention that in the two losses to Duke (by a total of four points), Duke went to the line twice as many times as BC?

Arnie Sookram ’91
Seattle, Washington

Glasses slip up

I enjoyed very much the article about biochemistry major Liz O’Day (”Liftoff,” by Jane Whitehead, Spring 2006). However, I was disappointed to see that in the photo taken in the laboratory, she was not wearing safety glasses—rather, she had placed them on top of her head. I know that safety glasses are not glamorous, but neither are injuries to the eyes.

Joan E. Shields Ph.D.’66
Department of Chemistry
Long Island University

Editor’s Note: The fault is ours. O’Day removed her glasses only very briefly, at the behest of BCM’s photographer.

Power point

I found William Bole’s summary of the views of Stanley Hauerwas on interfaith dialogue (”Can We Talk?” Spring 2006) intriguing until I read that “a decline in their worldly power has freed Christians to be Christian and so to talk . . . without seeming threatening to other believers.” I would remind Bole and Dr. Hauerwas that, in the past five years, the world’s most powerful born-again Christian has invaded two non-Christian countries and threatened two more. This is, in fact, a very bad time for Christians trying to portray themselves as a nonthreatening force in the world.

Francis J. Lynch ’67
Edmonds, Washington

Wikipedia obliged

Granted, Wikipedia is not the most accurate source in the world. However, Paul Voosen’s article (”Disambiguation,” Winter 2006) is in itself an explanation of why this is so. The theory behind Wikipedia is that those who know the most about a topic have the responsibility to make sure that articles relating to it are accurate. From what I can tell, no attempt was made to correct any of the errors regarding Boston College. The price of withholding information is disinformation. This isn’t a “play or go home” situation. The game is in all of our homes, and we have to be willing to cooperate to make the best of the situation.

Bill Przylucki ’07
Boston College

Veterans’ list

Please add my name to the list of those who served in Vietnam (”From BC to Vietnam,” Spring 2006). I was on active duty from November 25, 1968, to September 1, 1971, and served with the First Marine Division in Vietnam. Please also add the name of my classmate, Christopher Markey. I went through training with Chris at Quantico. Chris tripped a booby-trapped hand grenade on December 31, 1969, south of Danang and died several days later. He was beloved by his troops and rightly so.

Ken Phalan ’68, JD’74
West Roxbury, Massachusetts

Joseph X. Grant, born March 28, 1940, was killed in action in Vietnam on January 13, 1966. He attended BC for two years, and was a member of the Class of 1961. Joe left for financial reasons and enlisted in the U.S. Army, eventually attending officer candidate school and rising to the rank of captain. He was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his actions in Vietnam. You can read the citation on the Medal of Honor website.

Tom Tierney ’59
Arlington, Massachusetts

I graduated from the school of nursing and served as an Army nurse in Vietnam from February 1967 to March 1968.

Donna-Marie Boulay ’66
Roseville, Minnesota

Editor’s Note: Our thanks to the many readers who contributed names to the roster of Vietnam veterans. The full list may be viewed at www.bc.edu/vietnamvets. Names may be added by e-mailing bcm@bc.edu.

Cardinal views

Thank you for publishing Cardinal Avery Dulles’s “Catholicism 101” (Winter 2006). His call for a renewal of our faith resonated in my heart.

Raychel (Brown) Namiotka ’92
Poulsbo, Washington

Every Catholic college and university should take the steps necessary to implement Cardinal Dulles’s blueprint for teaching undergraduate theology, so that our faith will be handed on and to prepare our students to stand up to the relativism of the day. By doing so these institutions will once again distinguish themselves from the agnostic mainstream colleges and become beacons of light in a world bereft of vision and longing for direction.

John B. Corbally MA’94
Atlanta, Georgia

Correction: In “Staying Here” (Spring 2006), it was stated that Tetee K was initially housed on immigration charges in the Bristol County Jail in Rhode Island. She in fact was held in the Bristol County House of Correction in North Dartmouth, Massachusetts.

Editor’s Note: Common Life, a collection of poetry by Robert Cording, Ph.D.’77, has been published by CavanKerry Press. Two poems, “Ears of the Heart” and “Married Love,” first appeared in BCM. The book may be ordered at a discount from the BC Bookstore.

Also, Maile Flanagan ’87, who was the subject of “In Toon,” by Suzanne Mantell (Fall 2004), recently received an Emmy Award for “outstanding performer in an animated program.” Flanagan supplies the lead voice in Jakers! The Adventures of Piggley Winks.

BCM welcomes letters from readers. Letters may be edited for length and clarity, and must be signed to be published. Our fax number is (617) 552–2441; our e-mail address is bcm@bc.edu.