Letters to the Editor

Today we are faced with unbelievable violence in the Holy Land. We who follow the nonviolent Jesus can feel only deep pain, and an urgent call to bring an end to the violence both of Hamas and the Israeli government.

Your description of Israeli actions in your Jan. 21 editorial “On the side of real justice” leaves a lot to be desired. What happened on Oct. 7 — and I certainly do not condone it — did not happen in a vacuum. Yet there is no sense of any understanding of what has been happening in Israel and Palestine for many years.

Anna Farrow rightly points in her Jan. 21 story “Media buy-in drove graves social panic” to the preface of Chris Champion and Tom Flanagan’s book Grave Error. Champion and Flanagan stress that while contributors to the book do not speak with a unanimous voice, “all authors in this collection agree on the main point: that no persuasive evidence has yet been offered by anyone for the existence of unmarked graves, missing children, murder or genocide in residential schools.”

I had the recent privilege of speaking with Linda Nicholls, Primate of The Anglican Church of Canada, at her Toronto office.

Dave Szollosy’s article “Pilgrims seeking peace register their voice” in The Catholic Register showed equal concern for both sides in the Israel-Hamas war.

The Catholic Register editorial of Dec. 24 regarding the new Vatican declaration on blessing  “irregular” and same-sex couples asks: “If nothing changes, why the need for a 5,000-word text to say so?” Perhaps to darken, perplex and bewilder?

In promoting blessing of same-sex couples, Pope Francis argues “...those seeking a blessing should not be required to have prior moral perfection” or “...be subjected to too many moral prerequisites.” In other words, don’t judge their likely sinful activity.

I congratulate Rudy Fernandes for his beautifully expressed sentiments in the Dec. 17th Catholic Register about the effort of he and his wife Maureen to keep Christ in our Christmas wishes.

I nearly fell out of my chair when I opened The Catholic Register in November and saw the Letters to the Editor section in its full glory. It was refreshing to once again experience the beating pulse of the community that doubles as a barometer for all, and a compass to you. Can we do it again, please?

Pope Benedict XVI resigned the papacy in a state of nervous exhaustion. Cardinal Pell died during routine surgery after imprisonment for a crime he did not commit. Cardinal Zen is languishing in a prison in Communist China. Bishop Strickland was stripped of his governance of Tyler, Texas.