Race or immigration issue?

Good news. The racial disparities cited by Joe Ruff in the Sept. 30 issue are really disparities of a different kind (“New restorative justice initiative explores racial injustice”). Since 1990 people of color have grown in Minnesota by 430%. Since 2000 that population has more than doubled. Few of these people came with money. Few came with a college education. Many came with English as a second language. Do you really expect a flood of English-as-a-second-language speakers to get the same marks in education as those who have spoken English from birth and who have parents who have spoken English from birth? Do you expect a flood of indigents to suddenly acquire the wealth that longtime residents in a stable economy have acquired? In the accompanying article, Father Griffith said, “It includes the fact that our brothers and sisters of color experience harm in our society.” That harm was done in Somalia and Central America, not in Minnesota. If you can’t identify the problem, you won’t find the answer.

Mike Ebnet
Our Lady of Grace, Edina

Unnecessary information

I question the wisdom of The Catholic Spirit staff in publishing the article on John Bussmann’s passing (“John Bussmann, disgraced priest, dies,” Sept. 30), complete with a list of crimes and wrongdoings that occurred during his time as an active priest. I am aware that The Catholic Spirit’s article was but a brief synopsis of Mr. Bussmann’s “official” obituary that appeared in the local secular newspaper. But again, what was the author of his obituary trying to accomplish by including such a detailed list of his failings? If you were a friend of Mr. Bussmann, it is likely that you were already aware of his transgressions. If you didn’t know Mr. Bussmann, in my opinion, it’s no one’s business what issues tormented his life. Publishing a chronological list of his misdeeds only serves to disparage the deceased. May God be merciful to John Bussmann. May he rest in peace. Nothing more needs to be said.

Jerome Wilczyk
Assumption, St. Paul

Shameful coverage

I am left in silent sorrow in the light of your publication of the death of former Father John Bussmann, which your headline referred to him as a “disgraced former priest.” That you would characterize his life by his worst sins is impossible for me to understand. For the record, I never knew him personally, but was well acquainted with his sordid past. What sort of Catholic service did you imagine yourselves to be doing by defining his life by his failures? What a horrible thing. Shameful. I served on the Board of the Catholic Spirit for a few years during the early 2000s, and appreciated Bob Zyskowski’s integrity. I see none of it here. I believe my last contact to the editors of the Spirit was to inquire why they did not publish the death of Father Jim Motl, O.P., a Dominican priest who trained a generation of our preachers at the St. Paul Seminary during his tenure there, including me. I was told that the Spirit’s policy was not to publish the deaths of priests who were not diocesan. That made no sense to me then or now. But here you publish the death of a man who is no longer a diocesan priest, but whom you seem to wish to hold up for his faults. You should be ashamed. I am embarrassed.

Father J. Michael Byron, pastor
Pax Christi, Eden Prairie

‘Disgraced’ too strong

With distress I read the obituary for John Bussmann. “Disgraceful” is an extremely strong unnecessary word. My preference would be either “former priest” or “laicized priest.” By reading the entire itemized article underneath the headline, one is tragically aware of his many transgressions. In the future please carefully read what is written and edit accordingly.

Mary Meyer
Corpus Christi, Roseville

Editor’s note: Father John Bussmann was not laicized, as some letter writers state. At the time of his death, he was a priest of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis who had been barred from ministry since 2003.

Share your perspective by emailing [email protected]. Please limit your letter to the editor to 150 words and include your parish and phone number. The Commentary pages do not necessarily reflect the opinions of The Catholic Spirit.