Following are NCR reader responses to recent news articles, opinion columns and theological essays with letters that have been edited for length and clarity.
'Mother Mary'
It is genuinely ridiculous, to the point of being offensive, that ex-Mormons think that a man raised as a devout Catholic was dependent on their work in conceptualizing his film and ought to have consulted them first (NCR, April 29, 2026). While this article won't interfere with my appreciation for MOTHERMARY's music (I enjoy a number of their songs), it does leave me with the impression that the sisters Winn have an excessively inflated view of their cultural importance and influence.
David Lowery is an indie director. He's directed a couple of films for Disney, one of which was big budget, but those are the exceptions. He made a $20 million film for A24, a New York-based indie studio and distributor. Referring to Lowery as "Hollywood" is clearly intended to falsely characterize him as Goliath to MOTHERMARY's David.
JEFFREY JONES
Hamburg, New York
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Just war
With his astute analysis, Michael Sean Winters has gutted Bishop Robert Barron's articulation of the just war theory as a legitimate justification for President Donald Trump's war on Iran (NCR, April 23, 2026). Citing the Catechism, Barron argues that the church and civic authority have different responsibilities, with the former providing the criteria for a just war and the latter evaluating whether the war is just or unjust.
The difficulty that I see is what constitutes requisite knowledge and can we trust our civil authorities to tell the truth. Barron would argue that we can trust our civil authorities since they have the facts. If civil authorities have an obligation to state the reasons for engaging in a particular conflict, the church has an obligation to evaluate whether those reasons meet the criteria for a just war. The prospect of success for this war is uncertain. Let us join our Holy Father in pursuing peace and ending this war of choice.
PATRICK DARCY
Columbia, Missouri
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Merton and resistance
Thanks for publishing "What Trappist Monk Thomas Merton teaches us about resisting Trump" by Peter Daly (NCR, April 1, 2026). Daly gives us a powerful reminder of how prophetic Merton was almost 60 years ago. What Merton wrote in "Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander" easily captures so much of our lives today. Yet, Merton taught us a lesson we need to relearn today.
In the midst of so much madness and so many discordant voices, we need to stop,to sit, to breathe, to trust in silence. We want to act,react and do. Merton counsels us to this day that it is in focusing on an interior silence beyond human busyness that we come to what is authentic, real and genuine.
(Fr.) JOSEPH MULCRONE
Chicago, Illinois
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