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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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Biblical insight on soul
In Frank Nieman’s letter (Forum, Feb. 23) concerning abortion and
when the soul becomes present, he quotes St. Thomas Aquinas to justify
his position.
I looked in the New American Bible where in Genesis 2:7 it states: “The
Lord God formed man out of the clay of the ground and blew into his nostrils
the breath of life, and so man became a living being.”
In the footnotes it says: “God is portrayed as a potter modeling
man’s body out of clay. There is a play on words in Hebrew between
adam (man) and adama (ground.). Being: literally, soul.” I take
this to mean that you do not have life without a soul.
I also looked up Psalm 139: 13-15 where it says, “You formed my
inmost being, you knit me in my mother’s womb. I praise you, so
wonderfully you made me, wonderful are your works! My very self you knew;
my bones were not hidden from you. When I was being made in secret, fashioned
as in the depths of the earth.” The footnote says: “The depths
of the earth is figurative language for the womb, stressing the hidden
and mysterious operations that occur there.”
It might be helpful also to read Jeremiah 1: 4-5 which states: “The
word of the Lord came to me thus; before I formed you in the womb I knew
you, before you were born I dedicated you.”
There are like verses throughout the Bible of similar declarations. When
it comes to making a moral judgment concerning when the soul enters the
body, I would rather err on the side which would not offend God. It is
apparent to me that some mysteries of our being are best entrusted to
God and not man.
Yvonne Estrada
Richmond
When life begins
It’s not unusual when Respect Life homilies are preached, to hear
that the Church doesn’t approve of abortion — but also of
war and capital punishment in the same breath. The late Cardinal Bernardin
called this the “Seamless Garment,” and it is what got Barack
Obama elected president. Obama said he would sign the Freedom of Choice
Act (FOCA), outlawing all legal protection against abortion, but nobody
listened because of unconvincing homilies.
Then we have writers like Frank Nieman (Forum, Feb. 23) who outrightly
misinterprets what the Church teaches, saying that the fetus “might
be human,” misquoting St. Thomas Aquinas that humans do not get
souls at conception, and saying that abortion “probably isn’t”
baby-killing.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church says clearly: “Every spiritual
soul is created immediately by God” (366). It also states that “human
life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception.
From the first moment of his existence, a human being must be recognized
as having the rights of a person—among which is the inviolable right
of every innocent being to life” (2270); and “Since the first
century the Church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion.
This teaching has not changed and remains unchangeable. Direct abortion,
that is to say, abortion willed either as an end or a means, is gravely
contrary to the moral law.” (2271)
A body has no life without the soul and today we know scientifically that
there is human life from the moment of conception. St. Thomas didn’t
know that, but he condemned abortion as a grievous sin, as did the Church
Fathers and early popes. In 1588 Pope Sixtus V even tried discouraging
abortion by reserving confession and absolution to the Holy See alone.
As far as the other Respect Life issues of war and capital punishment,
the Catechism differentiates capital punishment (2267), “just war”
(2309), and self-defense (2263); these are all separate and subsidiary
issues from abortion, the killing of innocent life (2261).
Jack Hockel
Walnut Creek
State terrorism at its worst
Defending the barbaric actions of Israel in Gaza, Barbara and Harry Lieberman
write (Forum, Feb. 23) that “any nation in the world would respond
as Israel has done to protect its citizens.”
This is not so. The classic parallel is the bombing of English cities
by the I.R.A. during the 1970’s, causing vastly more death and destruction
than Hamas has caused in Israel. Had Britain responded as Israel did in
Gaza, Britain would have dropped massive bombs on cities such as Belfast
and Derry, where most I.R.A. volunteers lived and their organization had
its headquarters. There would inevitably have been huge civilian casualties,
with schools and churches destroyed.
Thankfully, Britain realized that you don’t defeat terrorism by
behaving like terrorists. In time, they sat down with representatives
of the I.R.A. and other parties, all made real concessions, and there
is peace in Ireland today.
The world community has rightly been affronted at the atrocities perpetrated
on the people of Gaza. Israel’s behavior should be labeled for what
it is: state terrorism at its worst.
Father Declan Deane
All Saints Parish
Hayward
Speak up for Palestinians
I hope American Catholics have been paying close attention to Israeli
violence against Palestinians. All Americans should take note that our
tax money is being used to fuel this never ending war. Catholics in particular
should be alarmed of the mass exodus of Arab Christians from the Holy
Lands. And as Professor Hisham Ahmed (Voice, Jan. 19) points out, some
remaining Christians are now considering joining the Muslim party of Hamas
as the only hope against a Jewish theocracy.
Catholic Relief Services is asking for donations to help more than one
million innocents in Gaza. Like everyone else, I am forced to spend thousands
of dollars a year for U.S. foreign policy, which is causing violence throughout
the world.
Catholic New Services reports that a Catholic clinic was destroyed in
Gaza by an Israeli missile. I have to think of the aggression of the Jewish
authorities against Jesus 2000 years ago. Is the U.S. like Pontius Pilate
that washes its hands and allows the violence to continue?
I think we as Christians have an obligation to speak up in defense of
the Palestinian people. If one billion Catholics join the voice of one
billion Muslims, the Israeli government will have no choice but to work
for peace.
Carmen Hartono
Oakland
Inappropriate reference
In the letter entitled “We are responsible” (Forum, Feb. 23),
Regina Wilkerson writes, “The critics of President Obama and his
cabinet should be grateful that God has anointed such a young prince to
be our leader”.
I don’t care what one’s political leanings might be but referring
to a public servant, even the president, as a “young prince”
whom God has anointed, is not appropriate. Next, his cabinet will be described
in terms suggesting that they are the president’s apostles.
Get serious. President Obama is a very accomplished public speaker capable
of inspiring people to vote for him for president, which he proved by
winning the election. But the “anointed young prince”? Get
serious.
Dick Olsen
Alamo
Troubling image
Granted that the Cathedral of Christ the Light is a beautiful, awesome
edifice, I find one fault — the imposing image of Christ that dominates
the cathedral from the moment one steps in the door. To my mind, this
is a very cold, stern Christ — not at all the loving, compassionate
God we worship and turn to for comfort. Indeed, when attending services
I avert my gaze from this troubling image.
Dorothy Snodgrass
Berkeley
Jesus weeps
I visited the new Cathedral of Christ the Light in Oakland, and I was
appalled. I was ambivalent to its modernistic, hat-box shape with a front
that resembles a bishop’s miter or a fish, if you have a really
wild imagination.
As a Catholic, I was shocked by the starkness of its interior concrete
walls and could only imagine that it compares to a World War II German
artillery bunker.
Remove the crucifix at the left of the altar and the floor-to-ceiling,
laser-created image of the Risen Christ and there would be absolutely
no way of telling that this was a Christian church. This huge image of
Christ is not the soaring image of my triumphant Jesus conquering death
as He promised, but the image of a tired, older man with bags under his
eyes trying his out-of-place best to look godly and regal. I looked down
at the gray concrete steps rising to the altar and had a vision of Jesus
sitting there weeping.
Cathedrals used to be built to educate the masses. A Catholic of limited
education could walk into his/her cathedral and simply gaze upon the walls
to learn the history of his faith from the pictorial representations in
the windows or on the walls. From our cathedral one learns nothing.
I think of the bloated price tag for this building, and I again see a
weeping Jesus, weeping for all that could have been done with that money
to carry His Gospel to the ends of the earth, just as he commanded, or
maybe even spending most of that money to feed the hungry, clothe the
naked, or care for the sick and homeless. I’m pretty sure He said
He wanted us to do that.
Instead, He got the first politically correct cathedral in all of Christianity—
absolutely guaranteed not to offend anyone who isn’t a Catholic.
I hope I have peaked your curiosity to go see our cathedral. Maybe you
will find that my views are simply the ravings of a madman disenchanted
with this post-modern world and seeking the safety of a pew in the far-off
corners of a traditional St. Patrick’s Cathedral (Manhattan), or
a Santa Maria Maggiore (Rome) or even a St. Felicitas or Our Lady of Good
Counsel in San Leandro, or a St. Raymond’s in Dublin or St. Elizabeth’s
in Oakland.
Larry Smith
San Leandro
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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