Catholic eyeglasses

Tommi Avicolli Mecca puts the conventional case against the Catholic Church succinctly and well [Opinion, 12/14/05]. He is out of sympathy for the Church, or for that puzzling splinter group we call the Vatican, and I sympathize.

But because of a false analogy, he's also out of sympathy with those of us who are gay, lesbian, transgender – or just progressive – and remain Catholic. Analogies can be illuminating, but arguing from them is specious. Sure, in some ways, being Catholic is like being American. But anyone who sees the Church as solely a political institution is bound to be dumbfounded that anyone would willingly belong to it.

Avicolli Mecca is right: The Church is not a democracy. It's not a state or government at all. Washington puts you in jail for not paying your taxes; skip Mass and there are no black boots to kick down the door. The pope is not the head of the Church in the way George W. Bush is the US president. As every Catholic school kid knows, Christ is the head of the Church – which is vast, which was given to us all. What newspapers refer to as our Church "leadership" is not elected, but is called by God, or self-appointed, depending on your point of view and the unknowable motives of those who trouble to climb the ecclesiastic ladder. I suppose we're all free to evaluate that sort of authority. Hence the resounding yawn with which married Catholics receive the official teaching on contraception.

Christ himself thought of clerics as a necessary evil. And then they killed him. (The Crucifixion is probably the best argument for a separation of church and state, but nobody ever makes it.) That they would kill the Church too, if they're allowed to, should probably come as no great surprise.

So a better analogy, I think:

The Church is like a pair of eyeglasses. I see better with them. I don't walk into walls so much. The world looks different.

Your glasses break at the bridge of your nose, you're going to tape them together. You lose one of the temple bows, you're going to wear the lenses like a pince-nez. If both temples fall off, you're still going to do whatever you can to hang on to those lenses. You're going to want somebody please to rebuild the frames for you, but the lenses you're not letting go of, because without them you could be going round in circles for all you know.

When it comes to the Church, granted, the frames are busted real bad. But I still want to see where the hell I am and what the hell I'm doing, however I have to manage it.

Patrick Mulcahey

San Francisco

The other Don Fisher

It may seem strange for a left-of-center musician-artist to be defending "the Republican founder of the Gap" [Editorial, 12/7/05]. However, in my eyes he is maybe that plus a local hero to anyone who cares about world-class contemporary art. In a country devoid of, and increasingly hostile to, culture of any kind, I find his work in this area extremely important.

Politicians and others in charge of San Francisco public art brought us the embarrassing "Hearts in SF" and that mediocre Claes Oldenburg bow and arrow. Don Fisher brought us not one but two world-class examples of work by possibly the greatest living contemporary sculptor (who was also born in San Francisco), Richard Serra.

He also recently loaned that huge, gorgeous painting by the amazing German painter Sigmar Polke to SFMOMA that was on the fifth floor earlier this year. These are but a few examples of his long-term commitment to the arts in the Bay Area.

Fisher personally collects work from living artists, and the Gap Foundation funds many arts programs both large and small. It would be a huge mistake to overlook his artistic, architectural, and cultural contributions to the Bay Area.

Damon Smith

Oakland

Love bugs

Re: "Bed Bugs Are Back," 12/7/05:

Real-deal evil, Bed Bug,

eats So-phisti-City.

Like Boll Weevil, tough thug,

ain' lookin' fo' pity.

Tortuga Bi LIBERTY

San Francisco

Stress management

Lots of people like to make fun of police officers ["The Real Police Scandal," 12/7/05]. What's so terrible about letting these guys poke fun at themselves? Many police brutality incidents occur not because cops are evil people but because the officers cannot handle the tremendous amount of stress they encounter daily. I would think that the police chief would prefer officers use humorous videography as a stress management tool instead of alcohol, drugs, or beating up innocent civilians.

Rhiannon Pelton

Chattanooga, Tenn.

For the record

In last week's Bars and Clubs supplement, we listed incorrect information regarding where DJ Vanka's club night Misturada was moving to. Starting Jan. 5, Misturada will be at Club Six.

For more information go to www.clubsix1.com.