WCR Letters to the Editor

Pro-life ads reached 1M

Our organization received many enquiries as a result of your story. We wanted to provide you and your readers the encouraging results of our efforts:

ALIES' TV ads reached approximately 1.5 million adult viewers. The ads were run 167 times during three weeks, from Jan. 15 to Feb. 4 in Edmonton on Global and CTV stations. They were also run on KREM from Spokane to reach the rest of Alberta at a reasonable cost.

They aired during popular shows, among others, Ally McBeal, Who Wants to be a Millionaire, Drew Carey, Friends, General Hospital, the Young and Restless.

In this first year of the ad campaign, we concentrated on Edmonton to better gauge the response of a focused effort. The number of viewers in the Edmonton area who saw the ads was approximately one million.

This represents 91 per cent of adult viewers who saw the ads an average of over six times by adults in general during that time period. Young women who saw the ads numbered 165,000 representing 91 per cent of those viewers who saw the ads an average of 9.5 times.

The ads were also seen in other parts of Alberta as well and we estimate the number of Albertans outside of Edmonton who saw the ads at a quarter million!

Past experience shows these ads are successful in reducing abortions when aired frequently and consistently. For example, in Michigan, over 10 years of running ads, the abortion rate has dropped by approximately 47 per cent. In Colorado, where ads have run three years, the abortion rate has dropped by 48 per cent.

Our hope is that Albertans wanting a proven pro-life message will come forward to help, so that these ads are shown frequently and consistently.

We especially need leaders who can help us achieve this goal. Everyone can help, of course, with prayers and financial contributions, for which we can issue tax receipts.

To participate in this important campaign (and literally change the world), please contact us. We may be reached by phone at 780-432-9101, by fax at 780-459-9312 or e-mail: membership@albertalifeissues.org.

The ads may be viewed on our website at www.albertalifeissues.org. For those interested in becoming a member please contact us, the cost is only $25 per year.

The Knights of Columbus of Alberta and the N.W.T. are having their annual prolife calendar sale, which will be available from each and every council this September for the modest sum of $5.

ALIES is proud to have been chosen by the Knights as one of the charities supported by this very worthwhile project that features art that confronts the culture of death. Your readers support of this project supports ALIES and its endeavors.

Many thanks to everyone who supported us and made airing these ads possible. We look forward to another outpouring of generosity and help.

God bless.

Robert Mollot
President
Alberta Life Issues Educational Society (ALIES)

No high moral ground in Middle East struggle

Moore is correct when he says that the Israelis have "the whip hand." Think of all those who have held the "whip hand" in different regions of the world and in different eras. I doubt if we would call any of them today "civilized."

Moore is wrong when he claims that Israel did not start this Intifada. Sharon -- indicted for war crimes by his own government - deliberately provoked this round of violence last September in order to win election on a "get tough" platform.

I attended the alternative Assembly of Sabeel the Palestinian peace movement held at the Vatican's convention centre in Jerusalem this year (imagine the Vatican lending its resources to terrorists!)

At that conference the Palestinians recognized that peace will come to this region as it has come to others only when an Israeli de Klerk" and a Palestinian "Mandela" are finally able to walk a new path.

Moore only deepens the gulf between the two sides by suggesting that the Israelis occupy the high ground when in truth neither does at the moment.

Fr. Tim Boyle
St. Patrick's Church
Lethbridge

Moore roots for weapons

His is the law of talion ("Israelis represent order, civilization," WCR, Aug. 20) revised to "for one life, 10, or a 100 (cf. the SS.) "I'm not suggesting. . . ."

No, Moore professes to know who is right, arrogates to himself judgment.

With wide-eyed innocence he writes, "Since 1948, the Palestinian Arabs have been a militarily conquered people." Indeed: and he goes on - if they are unhappy, they can leave, or be driven out.

Where does he get this double-speak? The hand is the hand of Moore, but the voice is the voice of the Pentagon: land "annexed"(=grabbed;) "Israel is in Palestine to stay. They have the whip hand militarily. . . whatever degree of force necessary (!?!) and "collateral damage" - like half a million Iraqi children a year killed by bombing and sanctions.

Moore brays he's "rooting for" "helicopters, rockets and automatic infantry weapons . . . more than a match for rocks and Molotov cocktails."

Bully for them!

This is not fare for my children: please cancel my subscription.

C.K. Johnstone
Edmonton

Zyp presents real story

Fortunately, Hank Zyp's column in the same issue did a good job of presenting the real, very tragic, story of the current state of affairs in Israel. Thank-you, Hank, for sparing me the tedium of dealing with Mr. Moore's latest invective.

Gary Frank
Edmonton

Is there no sin anymore?

Rolheiser writes, "suicide, it's a disease. . . Suicide is an illness. . . . Most victims of suicide will awake . . . to find Jesus gently saying: 'Peace be with you.' . . . Our loved ones who have fallen victim of suicide are now joyous inside of God's embrace."

Does this also apply to similar other cases:

The robber who steals at the convenience store; not his fault, he had a condition.

The woman who drowned all of her children; not her fault, she had a disorder.

The alcoholic who killed other people in an accident; not his fault, he had a disease.

Not guilty; not my fault; I have a condition, a disorder, a disease.

There are no sins anymore. There is no need for Confession. Very convenient.

I love this new modern Catholic theology.

Camille Goutier
Joussard

My heart says kneel for Consecration

"After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no man could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, 'Salvation belongs to our God who sits upon the throne, and to the Lamb!'And all the angels stood round the throne and round the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God" (Revelation 7:9-11)

Don't we pray at every Mass, "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven," and not "My will be done in heaven, as it is on earth"? If so, then let's drop the politics.

A person who is comfortable with showing reverence towards Archbishop Collins shouldn't have a problem with kneeling in front of God.

Rome says to kneel; my heart says to kneel; so I will continue to kneel.

Lonny D'Agostini
Edmonton

Copyright © 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 -- Western Catholic Reporter