Wrongly shepherding Md.'s gay-marriage issue

Skip Perry [letters, Feb. 28] took exception to the headline on the Feb. 25 front-page article "Md.'s top leaders cross Catholic hierarchy on gay marriage." Mr. Perry suggested that it's the "waning of influence of a Catholic hierarchy that has lost touch with its flock" rather than "a waning of Catholic influence in this heavily Catholic state," as stated in the article.

Mr. Perry seems to have confused the role of the shepherd and the flock. He implied that when members of the flock wander off on their own, the shepherd should follow rather than guide them. He lauds politicians, such as Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) and House Speaker Michael E. Busch (D), as lay Catholic leaders, when, in fact, they are merely following the secular, not the Catholic, trend of the day.

Unfortunately, many politicians who claim to be of the "flock" seem willing to wander off and mislead others rather than follow the shepherd.

Michael Audet, Silver Spring