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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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Being alive involves soul
Yvonne Estrada (Forum, March 9) addresses questions about the arrival
of the soul into the body. Neither life nor soul can arrive in the body
because states or conditions of existence previous to life are logically
impossible.
There is, therefore, no place for the soul to exist before the human becomes
alive. To be alive, therefore, is to exist and to exist is to be alive.
The scientific proof for this is in vitro fertilization. If the human
organism in the laboratory were not wholly, completely and essentially
alive, from the earliest moment of its existence, there would be nothing
to put in the human reproductive tract to become alive and there would
be no pre-born baby in the womb.
Frederick A. Arend
Oakland
Embryology lends clarity
In his letter to the editor, Frank Nieman (“Avoid Rash Judgment,”
Voice, March 30) reiterates his position that Catholics should refrain
from calling abortionists what they are: “baby killers.” In
support, he suggests that St. Thomas Aquinas “. . . was
well aware that life began at conception; he just did not think truly
human life did.”
It amazes me that, from the Speaker of the House to a lay reader of The
Catholic Voice, Catholics continue to cite St. Thomas Aquinas for a scientific
proposition while misrepresenting his philosophy and theology. There is
no such thing as “partially human life” and “truly human”
life in Thomistic thought. Essences do not change. If a being is human,
it is human; it cannot “become” anything other than its nature.
Following Aristotle, Aquinas believed that semen had an “animal
soul” that provided the principal active cause of generation, while
the female “menstrual blood” provided the matter to be organized
by the semen. Aquinas concluded that the rational soul was directly infused
by God into the body after the sperm had organized the matter sufficiently
to enable it to receive the rational soul. At that moment, the generative
principal of the semen ceased to exist and human life began.
Modern embryology affords us an understanding of cellular creation and
division in conception that was beyond Aquinas’ wildest imagination.
Today, there is no dispute that, at a scientifically well-defined “moment
of conception” (i.e., the sperm-egg fusion, which occurs in less
than a second), a new human organism comes into existence. The genetically
distinct zygote immediately begins organizing and acting in a way that
is entirely different from the sperm or the egg. Aquinas’ biological
assumptions were incorrect, but his philosophical conclusions remain instructive:
human life begins directly and immediately. Aquinas just didn’t
have the benefit of knowing when and how matter is biologically organized
at conception.
We must assume that today’s doctors who perform abortions know their
embryology. They know what they are doing. They know that every abortion
terminates a human life. So let’s stop misconstruing Aquinas and
by all means continue calling abortion exactly what it is.
Thomas K. Hockel, Esq.
San Francisco
Abortion is murder
In response to Frank Nieman (Forum, March 30), I would like to correct
him. He seems to think that calling abortion “baby killing”
is rash judgment. He states that we do not all agree on what a soul is,
or when this soul is given to a baby. Does that mean we do not kill a
baby when we abort because of this nebulous question about a soul?
Mr. Nieman needs to be informed that permission for abortion is now being
extended to the legal murder of fully developed babies who are almost
out of the birth canal. This has happened. It will happen again if the
FOCA bill is passed by Congress and signed by President Obama.
I would like to ask Mr. Nieman, with his scientific approach to ethics,
if this discarded human being has a soul? Maybe the real question is,
do you have a heart or are you too busy trying to define when life actually
begins?
Sorry if I am using rash judgment, but I know what murder is, and what
a real baby is. I can hear it crying.
Marylee Nurrenbern
San Ramon
Respect, remember police
The week of March 22 brought together not only the City of Oakland and
our state, but also the entire country here and people abroad to mourn
the loss of four Oakland policeman who died so cruelly and viciously.
Thousands of hearts were broken and grieving over the loss of these police
officers they didn’t even know.
These officers could have chosen to become accountants, salesmen, truck
drivers or any other job that didn’t entail putting their life on
the line the minute they went to work that day, but instead they chose
to be police officers to dedicate their lives to protect the citizens
of the city they worked for. Day and night, they were always there at
the public’s beck and call for help.
Unfortunately, their job description for the most part is protecting the
innocent and dealing with the criminals who create the problems that put
innocent people in harm’s way. They were sons, husbands, fathers,
and brothers, dedicating their lives to protect people they don’t
even know.
If there was ever a time to stop and rethink how much you should appreciate
and respect the very people who you can rely on to come to your aid when
you are in need of help, now is the time.
Police officers are not looking for trouble; they are there to respond
to your call for help because you are in trouble. They deserve the highest
respect and appreciation from us all.
Diane Rinetti
Livermore
Another ‘fish’ church
Samantha Maguire (Forum, March 30) has rightly pointed out that the Oakland
cathedral is not the usual shape. It is one of the few churches in America
to be built in the shape of a fish. Another church in America in the shape
of a fish is the First Presbyterian Church of Stamford, Conn., built in
1958.
This “fish church” was designed by Wallace K. Harrison, the
chief architect of the United Nations buildings in New York City, opened
in 1958. The fish shape is not just the exterior, but the floor plan too
is fish-shaped. The stained glass windows in the sanctuary contain more
than 20,000 pieces of faceted glass. See www.fishchurch.org.
Mani Francis
Clayton
Prudent silence requested
The pope’s recent incredible statement that condoms worsen the African
AIDS crisis has, unfortunately, made him a laughingstock among health-care
professionals. They know that the unavailability of condoms and contraceptive
information has cost many lives. Although the papacy from Paul VI has
insisted that artificial contraception is illicit, neither Catholics,
by their continued use of birth control measures, nor non-Catholics have
agreed.
I suggest that Pope Benedict should recognize this and help solve the
AIDS crisis by keeping a prudent silence about condoms.
Robert Zanger
Concord
Make a cyber pilgrimage
We read a good deal in the news about various pilgrimages and shrines
and sacred places. But in these difficult financial times, travel is out
of the question for most of us.
Why not try a cyber pilgrimage? We can enjoy the blessings and pleasure
of a pilgrimage by sitting at a computer and visiting a different kind
of shrine. Simply call up The Mary Page, a website of the Marian Library
and its International Marian Research Institute at the University of Dayton.
Then embark on a cyber pilgrimage in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
I was flabbergasted by what I found. Acknowledged as the premier Marian
website, The Mary Page is a fascinating and valuable resource about everything
concerning the Mother of the Redeemer. Encyclopedic in scope, it treats
an extensive range of topics that will both inform and inspire. This website
in a veritable treasure trove of matters Marian.
Your ticket is www.themarypage.org.
Or enter The Mary Page on Google or another search engine.
Sadie Kafoury
Walnut Creek
Refute readers comments
I enjoy the content of The Catholic Voice in general, but the Reader’s
Forum seems to be a haven for the negative and misguided. Many readers
don’t have the answers or the time to attempt to refute many of
these derogatory comments about our Church and diocese, but I do wish
that someone from The Voice or the Diocese of Oakland would take the time
to comment on those posts that demean the view of the Church.
Every page of The Catholic Voice should be a channel of evangelization.
An inside cover filled with unrefuted posts against the Church is not
something that should be found in our diocesan newspaper.
Richard Green
Concord
Stop supporting Obama
If the University of Notre Dame wants to have President Obama at the university,
then it is time for the Notre Dame alumni to remove their support of the
university.
Catholics around this country are getting a raw deal from this president.
Catholics are also getting poor support from many members of Congress
who call themselves Catholic but don’t act the part.
It’s time to put the president in his place by not supporting him
any longer.
William Beiriger
Livermore
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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