Courage to Remain

Sir: The Catholic exodus [Feb. 23] is also its genesis, its truth, its maturity. Out of this clerical Zeitgeist will emerge the pilgrim church of love, humanity and creativity, and on the final day of judgment I shall embrace every priest and nun who left for giving me the courage and the hope to remain.

JAMES HESSEL HAYDEN San Francisco

Sir: Catholics the world over have had a bellyful of the question of celibacy. Nobody twists a priest's arm when he takes his vows. If I have to go to confession to a man who indulges in sex, has a wife and children, I may as well go to my next-door neighbor and tell him all my problems.

J. SMITH Tyler, Texas

Sir: When a priest feels that ". . . we weren't helping; we were giving them a piece of bread," then he better get out for everyone's sake.

JOSEPH TORPY Scarsdale, N.Y.

Justice in Chicago

Sir: Kunstler and the Chicago Seven are far from alone in holding Judge Julius Hoffman's court in utter contempt. The fact of the defendants' guilt or innocence concerning the conspiracy charges is less important to me than the facts of the trial itself. It was a mockery of justice and should be condemned.

ROBERT JANISKEE Urbana, Ill.

Sir: There is a saying in Texas: "If you dance, you must pay the fiddler."

It seems a surprise to many that Judge Hoffman should impose sentence for contempt in court after the so-called freedoms of these young men were exercised. You can violate the law. This is everyone's freedom. However, when the time comes, and it eventually must, we must be held accountable.

It seems that they could dish it out, but they can't take it now that they must account for their excesses.

RUDY R. VRANA High School Science Teacher Houston

Sir: Justice exists no more, freedom is crushed, man's rights expunged. Only Hoffman remains, and Daley, and Chicago.

HAROLD SCHEUB Madison, Wis.

Piggy Pride

Sir: You aren't going to like this, but your favorite whipping boys, the Chicago police, now refer to each other as PIG. The term is not used, however, in a derogatory sense since the three letters point up the motto awarded them by a grateful public: Pride, Integrity and Guts.

JOHN H. SHINSKE Chicago

Perfect Timing

Sir: Thank you so much for your story on the Fondas [Feb. 16]. It was beautiful. Your timing was perfect -- I had just seen Easy Rider, and I wanted to know what Peter Fonda is really like. Now I know--he's even greater than I thought he was.

SUSAN LEVINE Bethesda, Md.

Sir: Peter Fonda may not reach anyone in Omaha but he sure reached me--wow! It would be very interesting to find out what Peter's reaction to the article was (I think he went and vomited again). Anyway, Peter, audentes Fortuna juvat.

SARAH PETERS San Francisco

Sir: Who says you can't tell the Flying Fondas without a score card? First, there's the jefe of the family, Henry Founder. Then there's the girl voted most likely to, Roger, Jane Fondle. And the All-America halfbike, that's Peter Honda. Absence makes the heart grow Fonda.

ED LEIMBACHER Seattle

Unquotable

Sir: Agnew is so right [Feb. 23]. I don't want my architect chosen on a quota basis--nor my Supreme Court Justice--nor my Vice President.

(MRS.) MARY KING RODGE Denver

Human Need

Sir: At last! A common problem--the need for humanity to work together for survival [Feb. 2].

HANNY MUGGERIDGE Downsview, Ont.

Sir: So many of us have waited so long for you to call public attention to man's "dedication to infinite growth on a finite planet." The heart of the problem is unchecked population growth.

The tone of your writing is deeply urgent, but the problem itself is appalling. This may be our last chance: either the human population halts its growth voluntarily or we'll experience the horror of a thousand Biafras, all brought on by a heedless population explosion.

THOMAS C. CLOYD Eugene, Ore.

Sir: I'm glad that gasping Americans "in high places" are finally getting around to cleaning up our atmosphere. Los Angeles is getting a little thick (thus my temporary residence in Indiana). But I sometimes wonder whether or not we're mixing up our priorities a little. Whenever I see someone smoking cigarettes and at the same time complaining of air pollution, I can't help chuckling. Why don't we clean our lungs out while we're at it?

CURTIS E. ALDENDIFER Culver, Ind.

Sir: As a homosexual, I would like to point out that a socially stable and unrepressed homosexual segment of the society is a rational counterbalance to the burgeoning population. This is another good reason to support gay liberation.

RALPH S. SCHAFFER Hollywood

Animal Cracker

Sir: The idea of promoting other animal characters is good [Feb. 16], but your description of what Peter Paramecium would sure that they are always right. In the long run, I think history will be more inclined to rate highly men like Russell and Einstein than the Hitlers, Alexander Throttlebottoms and Dorian Grays we choose as leaders.

A fitting epitaph might be that example of dry British wit with which Russell closed his last American TV appearance: "Don't ever be absolutely sure of anything--not even if I tell you."

WILLIAM A. WILKES Riverside, Calif.

Sir: One gets the impression after reading "The Last of the Victorian Rebels" that:

for him who dwelleth

in the mind there does not

exist the tick of Time.

GREGG TROST

Porterville, Calif.

To Be Heard or Handed?

Sir: Now TIME's hair-shirt makers offer another garment--of American Indian woof [Feb. 9]. But, rather than being "more than the conscience can bear . . . the demands of yet one more minority" beget a weariness from wailing. The Federal Government "spends only $500 million a year on aid to Indians."

The Indians are not alone when, after assuming ownership status, they "have had to sell their land to pay taxes." The god of the whites has not granted his worshipers respite from similar demands. Rights and privileges in our society bring responsibilities and liabilities.

The popular cry is to be heard, which translates into "handed." The militants' and the activists' shouts are replete with four-letter words, the unused,but printable one is work.

R. A. HUEBNER

Athens, Ga.

Sir: Why must we always assume that ours is the superior culture that can teach, but has nothing to learn from them? We have proved ourselves less than wise by ravaging our environment almost beyond saving in less than 500 years, while they managed to maintain an ecological balance for perhaps more than 10,000 years. The new militants may be just the ones to build a bridge of understanding across the chasm separating our cultures--if we have the humility to learn and they have the patience to teach us.

JEAN ELLE Pocatello, Idaho

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