Commencement Message Was Given by the Wrong Messengers

Re “Abortion Issue Sets Off College Dispute,� May 7:

You actually cover only one topic of concern about the Sanchez sisters. Rep. Loretta Sanchez was in the March issue of Playboy standing next to Hugh Hefner at a Halloween Party; what kind of role model is this to young women? I guess Mount St. Mary’s definition of a role model is someone who hangs out with pornographers.

Marie DaRe’

Garden Grove

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Re “Free Speech Is Valued at Mount St. Mary’s,� May 9:

As a graduate of Loyola Marymount University, I find it appalling that Mount St. Mary’s would allow the Sanchez sisters to speak at their commencement ceremonies. These speakers are precisely the people that should have a strong positive influence upon graduates by virtue of their high moral values, not their disregard for human life.

I am also the father of a recent graduate of the college, at whose commencement Sister Helen Prejean, the anti-death penalty activist of “Dead Man Walking� fame, spoke. For this college to allow the pro-abortion Sanchez sisters to speak is not only inconsistent but against the moral principles the school is supposed to instill.

Once again there is silence from the Catholic archdiocese. To allow this under the guise of “freedom of speech� is akin to allowing one to yell “abortion� in the middle of a Catholic hospital.

John P. Chard

San Clemente

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For those with an ephemeral memory, here’s one more reason the Sanchez sisters should not speak at Mount St. Mary’s: Loretta Sanchez was the one that wanted to have a fund-raiser for Al Gore’s campaign at the Playboy Mansion and was rebuffed even by her own supporters.

A role model for demagogues perhaps, but hardly for new graduates of a Christian school or for any young generation, for that matter.

Kee Kim

Anaheim