Pope Francis said his fellow Jesuits can help heal the rift between the Gospel and today’s cultures.

Chris Miller’s article on the final talk in the series on the Nicene Creed did try to capture the essence of what I said and I commend him for getting most of it right (“I believe in the resurrection of the body,” WCR, June 17).

The article, “Is it time to rethink the parish?” (WCR, June 3) reopened, for me, feelings of profound sadness. It is not nostalgia for the more secure and comfortable times in the past but for the smothering of life that has delayed such a question for so long.

Yes, it is time to rethink the parish. (Is it time to rethink the parish? WCR, June 3.) Change in the Catholic Church comes slowly.

As the second session of the Second Vatican Council drew to a close on Dec. 4, 1963, the mood among the council fathers was sombre. Only two conciliar decrees had been approved, disorganization had slowed the progress of the council and a deep chasm existed among the fathers on religious liberty, ecumenism and collegiality.

FR. ROBERT BARRON

Some years ago, The New Yorker ran a cartoon that perfectly lampooned the loopy ideology of "inclusion" that has come to characterize so much of the Christian world.

GORDON SELF

At a conference last year I tried to take to heart plenary speaker Sister Helen Prejean's words of challenge. I say, "try" as I wondered if I would have the same spirit of compassion and forgiveness under the same circumstances she witnessed.

JOHN CONNELLY

13th Sunday in Ordinary Time
June 30, 2013

Jesus calls each of us to a profound interior freedom that is not of this world. It is a freedom that sees through the empty promises of fame, wealth, power and worldly wisdom. It is a freedom that no political system and no human force can take away. It is the freedom of divine love and mercy.

FR. RON ROLHEISER, omi

Several years ago, at a conference that I attended, the keynote speaker challenged his audience in this way: All of us are members of various communities: we live in families, are part of Church congregations, have colleagues with whom we work, have a circle of friends and are part of a larger civic community.

When Pope John Paul II first called for a New Evangelization 30 years ago, it did not rank high on the Richter scale. Over the ensuing years, he spoke increasingly of the need for new methods of bringing the Gospel to formerly Christian countries. He also called for greater zeal and new ways to express eternal truths.