Mary Conroy’s rejoinder to Professor William Slavick’s critique of Bishop Richard Malone’s same-sex marriage views (Another View, “Bishop, Pope Benedict speak for Catholics on human sexuality,” Oct. 8) makes four arguments.

With the first, that traditional marriage and rearing of children are part of God’s plan, Professor Slavick indicated no disagreement.

With the second, that whatever popes and bishops say necessarily reflects truth and love, “that the Catholic Church is anything less than an instrument to defend the dignity of all human life,” history, our experience and Slavick disagree.

The late Bishop Raymond Lucker noted 64 major changes in church teaching, e.g., on church and state, democracy, slavery, religious freedom and women — and 22 areas of possible future change, including birth control, clergy celibacy, homosexuality, just war. A 1903 prohibition of women in choirs was neither truth nor love.

Knowing the truth, John Paul II’s championing of the sexually abusive Legionnaires of Christ founder Marcial Maciel Degollado as a model for children — and Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger’s instruction to report priest sex abuse only to Rome — were neither truthful nor loving.

Slavick argues that declaring millions of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender fellow human beings “intrinsically disordered” — i.e., defective heterosexuals — and denying them expression of human love is disrespectful of their human dignity and thus is neither truthful nor loving. To merely assert that he is “out of touch with the church’s position,” which his argument addresses directly, is no refutation.

Nor does Slavick disagree about ideal father-mother parenting. Conroy is unclear how equally loving same-sex nurture is “irrelevant and ill-informed” when she acknowledges the harm to children of broken heterosexual marriages.

Evidence and reason, Ms. Conroy, are not “rant.” My 45-year hetero-sexual marriage is in no way threatened by the marriage of any gay or lesbian couple. Any people in a committed, loving relationship make the best parents.

Pamela Murphy Ewers is a resident of North Berwick.