Letters to the Editor

Readers Speak Out: January 31, 2021

January 28, 2021

Bad fruit Re: Biden poses issues for U.S. bishops (Jan. 17): I am sick and tired of Catholics in general and the leadership in the Church supporting cultural Catholics/Christians.

Readers Speak Out: January 24, 2021

January 21, 2021

Papal prophecies Re: Biden poses issues for U.S. bishops (Jan. 17): Following Michael Swan’s interesting article related to the challenge for U.S. bishops, I’m suggesting to look closer to prophetic statements from two great popes:

Readers Speak Out: January 17, 2021

January 14, 2021

Move ahead Re: Editorial (Dec. 13): Strange how our current political leaders can keep trying to ram through dubious legislation such as Bills C-7 and C-6 to hasten more suicides and threaten parents, yet this long-awaited bill to bring Canadian law in line with the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People continues to face more long delays, and another three years to simply “create a plan” to align the law with the rights passed by the UN 13 years ago.

Readers Speak Out: January 10, 2021

January 7, 2021

Follow science While most churches, synagogues and temples have followed the COVID-19 guidelines of Dr. Bonnie Henry there have been several faith communities in B.C. (and the U.S, including Trump with his rallies) who have repudiated these directives, maintaining their God-given and constitutional right to meet face to face.

Readers Speak Out: December 27, 2020

December 23, 2020

No evidence Re: Mass is essential to our Catholic life (Dec. 9): Charles Lewis rightly says that the “Mass is essential” to Catholics but that the Ontario government doesn’t understand this. The government recently demonstrated this when it tried to stop COVID spread by forcing Toronto churches to close. No evidence was offered to justify the action. Ironically, just a few weeks prior Premier Doug Ford said that churches had done a “great job” of preventing infection.

Readers Speak Out: December 20, 2020

December 17, 2020

Legal opening Re: Liberals to implement UN’s Indigenous rights declaration (Dec. 3): The Trudeau government’s vow to implement Bill C-15, legislation based on the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), is certainly a welcome move in that it will inject the full colour and spirit of that document into the Canadian legal system. At its core, the declaration expresses the uniqueness of Indigenous cultures, their ties to the land itself, their spirituality and the necessity of preserving their right to self-determination; this is necessary for their survival and undoing the harm of colonization and racism.

Readers Speak Out: December 13, 2020

December 10, 2020

Ordinary acts We commend Glen Argan for his courageous column (Nov. 22) on the sexual abuse by clergy. He says “ordinary people” have done great things for the world by “telling the truth … or witnessing to an injustice.”

Readers Speak Out: December 6, 2020

December 3, 2020

Thin disguise It is so hard to understand how so many educated, God- loving people actually accept the lies poured out by Donald Trump (DT). DT looks for the hot topics that push people’s buttons i.e. abortion, then promotes his supposed stance on that topic for one solitary reason, to garner and stay in power. He does not care about abortion personally one way or another, but if saying he is against it garners him some votes he is against it. The devil comes under many disguises but when it comes to DT his disguise is very thinly veiled.

Readers Speak Out: November 29, 2020

November 26, 2020

Risky business Pope Francis should be commended for his persistent attempts to reach a mutual agreement with the Chinese government on exercising the rights of the papacy in the governance of the Catholic Church in China. The probability of his success, in my opinion, is minimal, based on China’s recent unilateral abrogation of its “one country two systems” treaty with the UK.

Readers Speak Out: November 22, 2020

November 19, 2020

Tough sell Mary Marrocco’s well-written and timely Oct. 11 essay “Superstition has no place in life of faith” disputes the charge made by non-believers that faith is only superstition.