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Contributions to Reader's Forum should be limited to 250 words.
Letters must be signed and must include the writer's address and
phone number for verification purposes. All letters are subject
to editing.
Mail your letter to:
The Catholic Voice
2121 Harrison St., Suite 100
Oakland, CA 94612
FAX: (510) 893-4734
Our email address is:
cathvoice@gmail.com
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Support our new president
There have been some cardinals, bishops, and priests who are advocating
denial of the Eucharist to those of us who felt that Barack Obama is the
best chance for our nation to right itself in these troubled times. They
seem to believe that his stance on abortion alone was reason enough to what
vote for four more years of the same Republican agenda.
Did these clergymen forget how the government of this nation works? Do
they seriously believe that “legislation granting unlimited access
to abortion in all 50 states” will actually pass in the House and
the Senate to get to the President’s desk, survive the veto process
if it did reach his desk and not be challenged and reach the U.S. Supreme
Court?
The election is over. The people have spoken. A president has been chosen.
Now is not the time to be sitting around deciding who has sinned and who
hasn’t. It is the time to be supportive of our new president and
the monumental challenges that await him as he assumes control of our
nation’s highest office.
I pray that God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) will guide him in his presidency
and will protect him and his family.
Morris Soublet
Hayward
Morality, not pragmatism
The newly elected national administration expresses a pragmatic approach
to problems facing the nation. This will eventually impinge upon moral
issues and Christian values. Sometime in the near future Congress will
be moving forward with pragmatic zeal to set the positive future for pro-choice
and funding for unlimited embryonic research.
Within the Catholic Church there is a need to re-educate the populace
on the Christian moral values related to these previously mentioned issues.
The promulgation of moral values is the exclusive responsibility of the
Catholic bishops, not the elected members of government.
Therefore, the conference of bishops needs to disseminate a unified, on-going,
focused educational program on moral values. Christian moral values supercede
any contradictory moral values, erroneously expressed by elected politicians,
many of whom are professed Christians.
The bishops’ unified message on Christian morality should reach
the Catholic laity throughout the nation’s parishes. Many of the
non-churched society are actively engaged in working towards the Church’s
demise in America. Let’s wake up and speak up.
Patrick Halligan
El Cerrito
Priorities reversed
For many of us who did vote for John McCain, race was not an issue. Yet
The Voice devoted half the front page of its Nov. 17 issue to a story
about the “historic victory over racism”.
On the other hand, the lonely, small article on the effort to preserve
the Sacrament of Matrimony in the State of California was buried on page
10.
In my opinion, this official newspaper of the Oakland Diocese has
its priorities reversed.
Jack Prosek
Pleasant Hill
Deep disappointment
I am very disappointed in the Catholic Church, especially the article
(Voice, Nov. 17) on President-elect Obama and how the country has made
huge leaps by electing a black president. This man is a pro-abortionist,
who believes in late term abortion and in denying medical care to babies
born alive after a botched abortion.
What has happened to this Church? Is it okay to embrace someone who goes
against the very teachings of the Church? Where is the dismay, where is
the outcry, where is the Church for the rights of the unborn?
Just like the Democratic Party that I left because it went against my
beliefs in the sanctity of life, I have come to the realization that the
Catholic Church can no longer support my spiritual beliefs.
Bad enough Catholic priests are expounding words of hate, bad enough that
Catholic universities were hosts of Democratic campaigns. I look at all
this and shake my head and find that other Christian religions hold more
dear to them the teachings of Christ than we do as Catholics.
I am 52 years old. I have been a Catholic all my life, but I have come
to the realization that the Catholic Church has become a sham. May God
forgive you. From a former Catholic.
Margaret O’Brien
Via email
Consider all life issues
I would hope that most Christians take into consideration that the pro-life
movement embraces all aspects of life such as those who have been taken
in time of war; those who have died needlessly due to homelessness, hunger
and no healthcare; those who have suffered illnesses such as AIDS due
to lack of funding, resources and attention; those whose lives were taken
due to the death penalty, and so many other major issues that plague our
society today.
I am personally against abortion. As a Christian I voted for President-elect
Obama as did 53 percent of Catholic voters. I wholeheartedly campaigned
for him and truly believe he was the “candidate for life,”
all issues considered.
If our bishop or any priest or parishioner in our diocese takes the position
that I as a Catholic, but more importantly a Christian, should not receive
Communion because I did so, let me spare the Church the time. I will ex-communicate
myself and find a church that unreservedly takes all life issues into
consideration and writes and preaches from pulpit as such.
Joseph A. Maraccini
Concord
Pro-life spectrum
I am mystified by two news articles appearing in local newspapers: A priest
in Fairfield escorts a mother and son from Sunday Mass because their car
is decorated in Obama signs and in Greenville, South Carolina, another
priest advises voters for Obama not to receive Communion before doing
penance for their vote.
I don’t recall in any baptismal service I have attended a statement
that I had to always vote for the candidate who is pro-life. I also didn’t
give up making my own informed moral decisions on the day I was baptized.
Where is the pro-life stance on the unjust war in Iraq? What about rendition,
torture and illegal imprisonment in Guantanamo?
The Church hierarchy should not be preaching politics from the pulpit.
Mary Ghidella
El Cerrito
Seeking sources
Does anyone know why the Knights of Columbus are opposed to freedom of
religion? Before the last election, three members approached me to ask
for help in passing Proposition 8, on the grounds, they said, that if
we didn’t stop the Protestant churches from blessing gay marriages,
the Catholic Church might find itself under greater pressure to marry
gay couples, divorced people, and other undesirables.
When I asked what they meant, they didn’t really know — it
was just what they had been told. I’d like to know who told them
that and why.
Nancy LeBlanc
Livermore
Not a second-class citizen
I wish to voice my disappointment with the way we have been portrayed
by the Catholic Church. I have been a gay man in a relationship for the
last 26 years. We finally got married on October 28, 2008 in Oakland,
just before the election. Our ceremony was simple and casual. We had never
hoped to be blessed by our “church”, nor felt there would
be any merit or pleasure to be blessed by an organization that considers
me a second-class citizen.
My God does not condemn me for who I am. I was born gay and I will die
gay. Bishops John Wester and William Weigand (Voice, Nov. 17) had nothing
to gain or lose if the State of California continued performing civil
marriage to gay couples who need protection from their own families, in
case of the death of one of the partners.
Under the State Civil Union laws, same-sex couples do not have same
rights as married straight people do.
What we need is protection from people who judge us from the altars in
the name of God and become advocates for discrimination. I shall
no longer attend the Catholic Church.
Joe Santini
Berkeley
A law of nature
Support for Proposition 8 was not discriminatory, nor is it a violation
of equality. The issue concerned marriage, not homosexuality. Support
was an acknowledgement that there are laws that exist in the nature of
things that do not depend upon human acceptance for their validity, their
binding force.
This is true in the realm of the physical world (i.e. the law of gravity)
and in the realm of the human soul (i.e. intentional killing of an innocent
human being is immoral). One may ignore or be ignorant of such laws, but
their validity and binding force prevails. That marriage is between a
man and a woman is a law of nature and is not dependent upon one’s
religious or non-religious convictions.
More specifically, Proposition 8 was about children. Every child is born
of a mother and a father (a physical law of nature). And every child has
a right to the love, security, and nurturance that only a caring mother
and father can provide (a law of the human soul). In all cultures, marriage
is the institution that best protects these rights.
To deprive children of their rights inflicts upon them a permanent wound.
Since children cannot defend themselves in court, Proposition 8 satisfies
society’s duty to protect children.
Children should not be an after-thought of marriage, and the march for
equality should not exclude children. A culture need to debate these issues
is in chaos.
Ronald Connolly, M.D.
Walnut Creek
Misleading phrases
Several letter writers in recent months, Jim Erickson among them (Forum,
Nov. 17), have used the phrases “American Catholics” and “American
Catholic Church” to describe Roman Catholics in America and the
Roman Catholic Church in America. The use of the phrases is inaccurate
and misleading.
Mr. Erickson and other writers have not paid particular attention to details.
There is a church known as the American Catholic Church of the United
States which is not affiliated with or under the jurisdiction of the Roman
Church and whose members are not subject to the same rules and regulations
of the Roman Catholic Church.
The ACCUS was established in the state of Maryland on May 23, 1999. Readers
can obtain more information about the ACCUS at: www.accus.us.
The Roman Catholic Church goes back some 2,000 years and readers can obtain
more information about it at www.vatican.va.
If we are going to write about Roman Catholics in America, please be accurate.
Albert F. Limberg
Concord
Teach the truth
The recent elections were certainly eye-opening in many ways. How could
54 percent of Catholics vote for the most pro-abortion candidate in history?
Do economic concerns trump the sacredness of human life?
Parental notification for our minor daughters failed again. The integrity
of marriage and the family hung on by a thread. Yet, can anyone who’s
paid attention to what’s happening in the Church really be surprised?
Many polls show that less than half of Catholics believe in the Real
Presence of Our Lord in the Holy Eucharist. Many Catholics believe they
can “pick and choose” which doctrines they believe, thus
subjecting God’s decrees to their own opinion.
Some bishops have finally begun to speak out. Let’s thank them.
But all too many are still silent or ambiguous. The same can be said for
our priests. Let’s urge and encourage them
How about our Religious? How about us? What is taught in our Catholic
schools and CCD programs? So many of our young people go through 12 years
or more of Catholic education, and don’t even know the basics of
the faith. In many of our Catholic high schools and colleges, the faith
is actually undermined.
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, we cannot pass on what we do not
know. Let’s continue to educate ourselves on the truth that comes
from Christ Himself, that will allow us to live a truly free and abundant
life and give us an opportunity for eternal life. Let’s study and
share wonderful resources such as EWTN, Catholic radio and www.priestsforlife.org
and www.catholic.com.
And let’s thank Bishop Allen Vigneron that we now have “Courage”
and “Encourage” in our diocese — www.couragerc.org—
a great resource for those struggling with same-sex attraction.
David Zarri
Concord
Conflicting points of view
In response to Barbara Meistrell’s suggestion (Forum, Nov. 3) that
The Voice only publish “Church doctrine,” I suspect that she
is still existing in a pre-Vatican II mindset where Church authority
is never questioned.
The hierarchy loves that quality of blind faith, as they don’t have
to answer hard questions nor acknowledge the hypocrisies of the institution.
I am grateful The Voice is willing to publish conflicting points of view
because we, the Body of Christ, are a living, breathing organism that
the Holy Spirit continues to inspire over time.
If the right wing of the Church were really faithful, they would embrace
the tenants of Vatican II which empower the laity and demand full
and conscious participation in both the Mass (in the vernacular) as well
as in Church affairs. In the hierarchy of truth, a Vatican Council has
the highest authority of Church teaching.
Full and conscious participation requires thinking, informed men and
women who are able to ask intelligent questions, recommend viable
strategies and expect an open exchange of ideas to move the Church forward and
improve our imperfect institution.
Thank you, Catholic Voice, because we need to hear a variety of viewpoints,
so we can form our own conscience and opinions. God gave us brains, so
we can think and discern, which allows us to form opinions.
Kate Dougherty
Concord
The opinions expressed in letters to Reader's Forum
are the writers and do not necessarily reflect the views of The
Catholic Voice or the Oakland Diocese.
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