Douglas Zabrowski Viewpoint on March 8 presents some compelling points about the Catholic (or lack thereof) identity of Marquette.

He should extend his critique to more extensive matters. Take the Ten Commandments, for example. Commandments nine and ten implicitly deal with the evils of materialism (coveting) but capitalism could not exist without at least partially negating these two commandments.

Maybe on a more practical level, there is the matter of the third commandment. You know the one dealing with keeping holy the Sabbath? I can remember a time now fairly long ago when the priest would rail against the local bakery being open on Sundays to service the people who couldn't live without the ham, fresh rolls and crullers for the after-Mass Sunday brunch. (In those days, we couldn't eat for at least three hours before receiving communion so the faithful ate their first meal of the day after Mass!)

Besides bakeries, few other businesses were open, except maybe during the Christmas shopping season.

Nowadays, there is hardly anything one can't do on Sunday from playing and/or watching sports to getting full library services at Raynor. Strangely enough, the only places seemingly not open for business are government offices and car dealerships.

So, if Marquette is losing its Catholic character, it isn't just in inviting speakers whom Zabrowski objects to. It's much more widespread than that, for better or worse.

Steven Blackwood is the circulation supervisor at Raynor Memorial Libraries.

This viewpoint appeared in The Marquette Tribune on Mar. 17 2005.