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Tuesday, 19 February 2008
Written by Catholic Register Readers,
Views : 549
Mixed message sent
Regarding the commentary on Jan. 27, “Wrong message sent,” by Janet Somerville, it seems to me that the vetting process is the problem at hand in Winnipeg. Consider the precedent that would have been set.
If James Loney, notwithstanding his dissident views on homosexuality, is deemed to be an appropriate speaker at a Catholic conference on peace due to his activism, would Dr. Henry Morgentaler, notwithstanding his dissident views on abortion, be considered an appropriate speaker at a Catholic conference on holocaust survival due to his personal experience?
With all due respect to Janet Somerville, I don’t think sending mixed messages is a good way to teach Catholic moral theology in difficult times either.
Thanks to Michael Swan for coverage of the 10th anniversary commemoration of the massacre of 45 people, mostly women and children, in Acteal, Chiapas, Mexico (“In memory of the massacred,” Jan. 13). As mentioned by Amnesty International in its public statement, “this massacre remains one of the darkest moments in Mexico’s modern history: the facts have never been fully established nor have all those responsible been brought to justice, nor have the victims received adequate reparations.”
I believe your readers would want to know that although it is true that many of the gunmen and some junior officials have been imprisoned for their involvement, none of those responsible at the highest levels for ordering the massacre has been brought to justice, despite innumerable proven testimonies which indicate a planned attack.
So, 10 years later, there is still no justice, the truth is not being heard, impunity continues and the families of the dead have received little reparation. This remains the case in the context of today’s state of violence and growing repression against those who speak out for human rights in Mexico.
As we stated in our letter of solidarity to the community of Acteal: “Yours is a story that strengthens our resolve to work for justice, denounce ongoing human rights abuses and struggle against impunity in Acteal and throughout Mexico.”
The other important point to mention is that the commemoration held Dec. 20 at St. Ann’s Church in Toronto was an ecumenical service organized by groups from different denominations.
Anne-Marie Jackson
Program Director
Jesuit Forum for Social Faith and Justice
Toronto, Ont.
In the process of dying from cancer my late wife and the wife of a good friend went through periods of great pain. The oncologists were unwilling to give adequate pain relief on the grounds that the patient might become addicted from the doctor’s actions. In other words the oncologists chose to make these women suffer rather than face government or institutional penalties.
It seems to me that in my 16 years of Catholic education I heard more than once that it was morally right for a suitably qualified doctor to administer adequate pain relief even if the unintended result was death. And that euthanasia is wrong precisely because it intends premature death and not just pain relief.
Have any bishops approved adequate pain relief or are bishops opposed to adequate pain relief fearing that it could be the slippery slope of abuse leading to euthanasia by another name?
Pat Warren
Amherstburg, Ont.
Editor’s note: Ontario’s bishops, in two separate recent statements, have recognized that providing adequate pain relief, even if the unintended result is to shorten life, is appropriate. See the most recent (“Going to the House of the Father,” Ontario Conference of Catholic Bishops, April 2007, ww.occb.on.ca).
In his Nov. 25 column “On longing for God’s justice,” Fr. Ron Rolheiser criticizes people who desire that evildoers be punished in eternal life. He asserts that those who yearn for divine justice should accept that life is unfair, get over their anger and “join in the dance.” Although I have commented recently on one of Fr. Rolheiser’s columns, his superficial view concerning injustice cries out for correction. It victimizes genuine victims by portraying them as sulking complainers.
Pope Benedict demolishes Fr. Rolheiser’s opinion in his impressive encyclical Spe Salvi. The Pope declares that faith in the Last Judgment is hope in “a reparation that sets things aright.” Although a person’s need for God’s everlasting love is an important motive for believing in eternal life, the strongest argument for Christ’s return and for new life is “the impossibility that the injustice of history should be the final word…” Although God’s justice includes grace, that grace does not make wrong into right. “Evildoers, in the end, do not sit at table at the eternal banquet beside their victims without distinction, as though nothing had happened.”
In death, life choices become definitive. The masks concealing jealousy, selfishness and greed fall away, and the true soul is revealed. It is then that the evildoers will be punished, and those who hunger and thirst for justice will be fully satisfied.
Graeme A. Barry
Saint John, N.B.
I have been meaning to write this letter every time I finish reading one of Peter Kavanagh's columns. I find him a very insightful and articulate sign of hope.
I stopped listening to CBC Radio back in the days when a certain radio host likened the Catholic Church to the mafia. Yet, whenever, I read one of Kavanagh's articles, there is a hope that one day soon I will take a chance on returning as a listener to CBC Radio and if and when I do, it will be because of a certain senior producer at CBC Radio.
