Email sent to Fr. Joseph LaMorte, Chairman of the Presbyteral Council for the Archdiocese of New York on August 4, 2015I asked Fr. Joseph LaMorte for an opportunity to explain the harm the Magis Center is doing. I enclosed the handout I would distribute at such a meeting. In a telephone conversation, Fr. LaMorte said that Cardinal Dolan did not consult with the Presbyteral Council about my slideshow/lecture on the Shroud of Turin.
Letter mailed to Cardinal Dolan on August 6, 2015
Letter mailed to Rev. Msgr. Greg Mustaciuolo of the Archdiocese of New York on March 24, 2016Dear Monsignor,
On March 16, 2016, I sent an email to two members of the undergraduate board of the Columbia Catholic Ministry offering to give a developmental lesson on the arguments for God’s existence. The mail contained these links:
http://www.newevangelist.me ("Rational Arguments for God's Existence: Why Evangelizing is Good and Proselytizing is Bad")
https://www.academia.edu/23340072/WHY_PEOPLE_BELIEVE_GOD_CAUSED_THE_BIG_BANG
Fr. Daniel O’Reilly told me in an email that I was wrong to do this. His concerns are perfectly reasonable. Indeed, the two students did not respond to my invitation. This may mean my communication is causing them distress.
Other Catholics who may be distressed by my efforts to promote an understanding of fundamental theology are the 200 or so people who viewed the topic I started on “Defenders of the Faith”(http://forums.avemariaradio.net). After explaining why the “god-of-the gaps” arguments were no good, I was banned from making any further comments. I sent letters of complaint to the three episcopal advisors to Ave Maria Radio with a certificate of mailing on March 1, 2016.
I’d appreciate some guidance from you as to how to help Catholic college students in the Archdiocese of New York come to an understanding of their faith. I graduated from Fordham College in 1964 and I was deeply impressed by all of my theology and philosophy teachers.
Very truly yours, David Roemer
http://www.newevangelization.info
Mailed with a certificate of mailing
Letter to Timothy Cardinal Dolan, March 31, 2016
Your Eminence,
On July 22, 2015, I mailed a registered letter (RE 997606815 US) to Gerhard Cardinal Müller criticizing certain Catholics in the United States for promoting irrational arguments for God’s existence. One of the reasons I have for believing in Jesus is that practically all people who think life ends in the grave don’t understand, or pretend they don’t, the arguments for God’s existence. Promoting irrational arguments for God’s existence undermines the Church’s teaching that we know God exists from reason and makes Catholics look bad.
I contacted your Presbyteral Council, the theology departments of St. John’s, Fordham, and Seton Hall, and The Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception at the Dominican House of Studies with an offer to give a seminar/lesson. Only one theologian expressed an interest in my offer.
On March 10 and March 15, I sent emails to Fr. Dan O’Reilly, who is the Director of the Columbia Catholic Ministry and Director of the Campus Ministry of the Archdiocese of New York, offering to give a developmental lesson on the arguments for God’s existence. Fr. O’Reilly’s response on March 15 was, “Thank you for your interest, but I already have our schedule set for the 2016-17 calendar year.”
On March 16, I sent this email to the two co-Presidents of the Undergraduate Board of the Columbia Catholic Ministry:
I am a retired New York City high school science teacher, and want to give the students at Columbia a developmental lesson about the arguments for God's existence. I graduated from Fordham in 1964 and my metaphysics teacher was W. Norris Clarke, S.J.. I was taught that the arguments from "first cause" and "design" made no sense, but that the crowning achievement of metaphysics is the cosmological argument for God's existence. A developmental lesson is not a lecture because the teacher develops the aim of the lesson with the students.I was shocked to learn recently that a Jesuit professor of metaphysics is promoting the "first cause" argument for God's existence. In October, 2015, I submitted a paper titled, "Why People Think God Caused the Big Bang" to the Review of Metaphysics, which is edited by Elizabeth Shaw. This is a link to the article:https://www.academia.edu/23340072/WHY_PEOPLE_BELIEVE_GOD_CAUSED_THE_BIG_BANGMy correspondence with the Catholic Church about this matter is at http://www.newevangelist.me ("Rational Arguments for God's Existence: Evangelizing Good and Proselytizing is Bad").
I have not yet gotten a response to this offer from the students, and am concerned about what is going on in their minds. On March 24, I sent a letter to the Msgr. Mustaciuolo with a certificate of mailing expressing my concerns and asking for guidance.
Respectfully yours in Christ, David Roemer
http://www.newevangelization.info
mailed with a certificate of mailing