The Catholic Register - Readers Speak Out

Written by Catholic Register Readers,

Let’s change our ways

Here I want to give my thoughts to Marie-Louise Ternier-Gommers who sadly feels that her gift of wisdom and talents are being ignored, wasted and undervalued by the church authorities because they do not allow her to be a “preacher” of the Gospel (“Partners missing from debate ,” June 17).

We have no choice on the gender we are born with. God has full authority, but He gave us guidance on how to live this gift of life. Mary had more knowledge of the Gospel and far greater virtues than all the apostles but she never lorded over them. She had the true “heart” of the Gospel and worked with them slowly and gently, teaching them, correcting their faults, until they were fit to receive the greater gift, the one from God Himself, the Holy Spirit.

I would like to suggest to Ternier-Gommers that she will find her contentment at a deeper level if she spent her efforts and knowledge in helping the priests become better leaders in their parish, not taking their place. Some years ago, I went to a retreat and heard the most beautiful comment from the priest who said: “I am not in this parish as a dictator but as a counsellor and it works wonderfully.” This is the answer to our priestly decline, to teach them the right attitude so that the parishioners would respect them and want to raise children that would want to become priests.

All the work done at the Second Vatican Council was around the urgent need to change our attitude towards what we were asked to do in the church and what we could do, not so much concentrate on evil and sins but on how to overcome them with the right teaching and attitude. God’s ways have not changed. It is how to approach them that has changed.

Pierrette Gagnon
Etobicoke, Ont.

We know who we are

I am responding to your June 10 article, “I think there is a great future for religion ” by Ron Stang. In the article Gregory Baum is concerned that “People are beginning to think of themselves as Christian rather than Catholics,” as being problematic for the Roman Catholic Church.

I disagree with Dr. Baum on this. It is not that people are seeing themselves as Christian rather than Catholic, it is that people are seeing themselves as Christian as being synomous with being Catholic. With more and more people from other faiths and religions coming to North America in recent years, the more people within the Catholic faith, as well as Protestant and Orthodox faiths, identify themselves wth Christian religion as a whole, rather than the specific denomination or church. However, in and amongst themselves, they know which Christian Church they belong to, just as those from other religions know which particular denomination with their religion that they belong to.

Moreover, as someone who has been an active participant on public message boards concerning religion for a number of years now, I can tell you that many anti-Catholic Protestants deny Catholics as Christians. It is, therefore, our duty to remind our separated brethren in the faith that we too worship the same Lord Jesus Christ and thereby are Christians.

The ecumenical movement among Christian churches here in North America is not problematic for the holy Catholic Church.

Carolyn A. Barratt
Thornhill, Ont.

Portray the innocent

Once again we are faced with a tragedy which as human beings, we will never truly understand. Thirty-two innocent people killed and another 17 wounded by a 23-year-old senior at Virginia Tech. Of all the photos that The Catholic Register could’ve published with this article, you chose that of Cho-Seung-hui. Is it any wonder why weeks, months, years after such horrific acts, the general public can always recall the name of the gunman and not one name of the innocent victims?

I ask your readers to recall the massacre at the Ecole Polytechnique back in 1986 where 14 innocent women were murdered. Can you name any of the victims? Can you name the gunman?

Understandably as a society, a certain analysis begins in an attempt to somehow “understand” how a person born into this world could end up committing such an horrific act. In the article by Bishop Fred Henry, mental illness is discussed. I would suggest that Cho Seung-hui would’ve been someone that the general populace would’ve never heard of had he not committed this heinous crime. Publications and the Internet will ensure that his photograph and name will live on for years and decades to come. If The Catholic Register wanted to publish a photograph with the article, it should’ve been one of the 32 innocent victims.

May we continue to pray for all the victims, families and loved ones of this terrible tragedy.

Joe D’Alessandro
Midland, Ont.

Recommend this article...