Following are NCR reader responses to recent news articles, opinion columns and theological essays with letters that have been edited for length and clarity.
Hamas' 'responsibility'
I am responding to Michael Sean Winters writing that Hamas shares responsibility for the plight of Gazans (NCR, Sept. 26-Oct. 9). Certainly this is true. Hamas won an election in Gaza in 2006, but since then it has ruled without the will of the people and shows little regard for their safety. Hamas deserves no say in Gaza’s future.
But that Hamas could end the war by surrendering and giving up its hostages parrots the propaganda of Israel’s ultra-right political leaders. And to claim Jews are the indigenous of Palestine shockingly misconstrues 2000-plus years of history.
The current leaders of Israel have no intention of ending their war on Gaza. Their brutal actions and rhetoric show they want to rid Gaza of its inhabitants, so that they can annex it. According to the UN Human Rights Council, Amnesty, and the Norwegian Refugee Council, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli President Isaac Herzog, and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant have made statements of genocidal intent.
A fact never mentioned in American media is Palestinian hostages. International aid organizations have documented systematic torture and degrading of Palestinians, many of them innocent, in Israeli prisons, including beatings, sleep and food deprivation, sexual abuse,and restraints leading to amputations. Hamas should not release its relatively few Israeli hostages without the release of many more Palestinian hostages.
Israel’s destruction of Gaza's infrastructure, its starving and deliberate killing of Gazan civilians indirectly recruits members for Hamas. Imagine the effect of the horrors delivered by Israel on Palestinian youth!
JEANNETTE BLONIGEN CLANCY
Avon, Minnesota
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Dolan and Kirk
Thank you, Mr. Grosso, for covering the 'shadow' side of the American Catholic Church (NCR, Sept. 19, 2025) Cardinal Dolan is an example of how "human" the church is. How can anyone who believes in the message and teachings of Jesus listen to Charlie Kirk and not see him as a mean-spirited media figure who bullied and shamed others, espoused judgmental condemnation on individuals and institutions who are easy targets as a means to enrich himself? It is sad and tragic what happened to Charlie Kirk. Prayers, mourning and healing are needed for those who are impacted by this violent death, including Kirk's family, and to the person who murdered him and his family, and to all who witnessed that violence (including my adolescent son, who saw it from someone who sent him the tape). Dolan thinks he's a saint? It is disheartening and disgusting to see male church leaders side with cruel and bullying figures; it is so off-base with Jesus' teachings. I guess some in the church wish for the good old days of ecclesiastical power and authoritarianism. Thank you to the NCR for keeping up the great work of independent journalism.
KAREN CHENIER
Lake Oswego, Oregon
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Church and fascism
The Catholic Church has produced many fascist heads of state around the world. For years the "largest regular neo-Nazi rally" in Europe was a Catholic mass in Carinthia, Austria. One of the largest fascist rallies in Europe since the defeat of the Third Reich occurred in Catholic Poland on November 11, 2017. I mention those facts only to say that Dolan is nothing special (NCR, Sept. 19, 2025).
Last year Gianfranco Maria Chiti, who fought and killed for Mussolini's fascist republic and never repented of having done so, was proclaimed a Venerable Servant of God. How's that for a modern day St. Paul?
A fascist monument stood proudly in St. Mary's Ukrainian Catholic Cemetery in Elkins Park, Pennsylvania for over two decades and was only removed a couple of years ago. Metropolitan Gudziak did not remove the monument because of the incompatibility of fascism with our faith, but because of complaints from Philadelphia's rightly offended Jewish community.
JEFFREY JONES
Hamburg, New York
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Bishop Campbell's DEI statement
My heart is aching for the lack of Jesus's voice coming from the Catholic Church. To hear that the USCCB caved under conservative backlash and removed the article "DEI Means God" by Auxiliary Bishop Roy Campbell Jr. is one more example of kowtowing to an administration that is persecuting the most vulnerable among us (NCR, Sept. 17, 2025). The message within the article—that diversity, equity and inclusion are integral to Christ's message of love for God and neighbor, is spot on.
The Church has issued apologies to women, Jews, indigenous peoples, victims of clergy abuse and many others who have suffered while the Church was complicit or silent. There are people in America being victimized today, not only in opposition to Jesus's teachings, but worse, in Jesus's name. All we hear from the Church is crickets. Will the Church remain silent or complicit again?
ANNEMARIE ROSEWATER
Rockville, Maryland
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