Twelve were chosen
According to Mary-Joan Hale’s lament on the “empty pews” and “boarded up” churches that apparently litter her Catholic landscape (“We ignore half,” Reader Opinions, May 6), all the problems of the Western Church can be boiled down to the “powers that be” that will not ordain women and married Catholics. In addition, she suggests that priests don’t have the “training” to handle the family and marriage counselling that the parish requires.
Hale’s comments are not only lacking in accuracy, but are also rather insulting to the priests and laity who make their tremendous impact felt in all the parishes across this country. Nowhere in the doctrine of the Second Vatican Council was the issue of female ordination endorsed. Neither Pope John XXIII nor Paul VI opened the door to married clergy. Both of these visionaries probably had an idea of the chaos that can overwhelm a faith when too many followers try to bend the rules to suit personal tastes. Look no further than the challenges facing the Protestant denominations if any reminder is needed.
The priests in my parish are leaders. Like all good managers they ask qualified parishioners to help them in ministries like marriage prep. The men and women who drive the parish forward are a quiet force and do the work of the parish tirelessly. They don’t spend time lamenting the lack of female and married clergy. Most importantly, they don’t believe for a moment that part-time Catholics will start piling back into churches because the Mass will now be said by a married or female priest. I have no idea why our Saviour picked 12 men to be His bishops, but I imagine that we will all find out in good time. Until then, I will follow the divine example of the Son of God, passed on through His Catholic Church.
Mario Loreto
Toronto, Ont.
Frozen souls
Regarding the April 29 article, “Embryo parents fight stem-cell legislation,” as a Christian who believes in the existence of the soul from the moment of conception, I cannot help but agonize over how the precious little souls of frozen embryos must feel to be imprisoned indefinitely, with little or no hope of being freed to advance on to birth — or Heaven.
Many of them are, in fact, on “Death Row,” where their long, cruel prison term will eventually culminate in brutal execution of their minuscule bodies at the hands of medical scientists. Those who are unwanted or unfit for birth will be unceremoniously discarded as “medical waste,” or used, ironically, as the means to try to prolong the lives of already born humans (as in the case of embryonic stem-cell research and application).
Those of us who are so fortunate to be conceived and born the natural way should thank God we were spared such a horrendous physical and spiritual state as these innocent victims of modern science.
It is immoral and inhumane to propagate and destroy sacred human lives, born or unborn. While our society rightfully condemns the Holocaust of the Jews by the Nazi regime, it, too, is guilty of a holocaust of great proportions by killing the most guiltless of all life — the unborn — and using them as sacrifice for the selfish gain of others.
There are no easy solutions in rescuing so many trapped little souls. I admire Dawn and Tim Smith for adopting one such of these precious souls, their beautiful daughter Erin, who I’m sure is proving to be as much of a blessing to them as they are to her. Adoption of such frozen embryos is a compassionate and loving answer to their helpless plight, and also affords an infertile couple the chance to become parents while participating in an act of altruism.
We can only pray for our merciful God’s intervention to rescue these cherished innocents who have become the hapless victims of an evil and faithless generation. If we truly believe in the sanctity of human life, we have to pray and stand up for these imprisoned souls as much as we do for all victims of society
Jean Johnston
Brampton, Ont.
Ask harder questions
First, there was the Hamilton Spectator’s coverage, then the Burlington Post’s and Oakville Beaver’s and now The Catholic Register’s story re: non-confidence vote by five trustees of the Halton Catholic District School Board in their chair and vice chair (“Halton board split along old/new divide,” May 6). In all four independent reports, the reader is left guessing as to the agenda these dissident trustees wish to pursue. Why aren’t the reporters asking the hard questions?
Ricardo Di Cecca
Burlington, Ont.
Corruption seeps in
It would be a shame to lose our Catholic schools, but if we do it’s our own fault. Not because we didn’t confront those bent on losing them, but because we allowed them to corrupt from within. I haven’t really heard anything encouraging about what goes on in our schools but have heard plenty that is disheartening. If our institutions can’t demonstrate a genuine Catholic charism they don’t deserve to exist. For me, then, the only concern is to allow them to wind down to something genuinely Catholic or to exist so that their current status is preserved for a future when they can.
Stan Strickland
Ajax, Ont.
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