Catholic concern for poor is 'byproduct'

The Sun's view of the Catholic Church, as expressed in its recent editorial ("Baltimore welcomes a new archbishop," May 20), is obviously clueless.

Taking care of the poor and disadvantaged is simply a byproduct of our primary purpose which is to save souls from everlasting damnation. We accomplish our mission by proclaiming Jesus as given to us in holy scripture and more than 2,000 years of unbroken Catholic tradition. In proclaiming Jesus to all mankind, it is necessary to address our fallen nature and our sins. One who legislates immorality and sin, all who support deviant behavior and those who are affected by our transgressions are of necessary concern to all true Catholics.

This is what our new archbishop is talking about when he discusses our current culture of abortion, drugs, sodomy, contraception, divorce, broken families, etc., as the root causes of our social ills. For the Catholic Church just to address the symptoms of our social ills and not their causes would be contrary to Divine Law as well as good common sense. I would have thought a newspaper editorial board would have tried to learn a little bit more about their subject matter before spouting off about what they should or should not be doing.

Leon Keller, Ellicott City