A spokesman for the Roman Catholic diocese of Bridgeport, Conn., and a Catholic priest in Alton, Iowa, have sounded off against chocolate crosses for Easter (“Some find new Easter chocolates cross line,” News, March 27). Their condemnations simply show how out of touch with their people and Catholic folk traditions these leaders are. Have they completely forgotten the hot-cross buns of Lent, the coconut-icing cakes in the forms of the lamb and the Cross for Easter Night and Easter Day, the many Easter breads braided in the form of a cross, and (in Iowa certainly) the plates of butter made into the form of a cross?
“The cross should be venerated, not eaten, nor tossed casually in an Easter basket beside the jelly beans and marshmallow Peeps. It’s insulting,” said Joseph McAleer, a spokesman for the Diocese of Bridgeport .
What nonsense. Certainly there must be more important issues for the Bridgeport Diocese to be concerned about.
