Last Updated:Friday - 09/24/2010

WCR Letters to the Editor

Be relevant to youth

I've also heard from a lot of people saying that they agree with me, that our youth are being missed and lost, but now, they want to know what they can do about it.

Well this is what I think. I believe we have to make "relevance" the key word in our evangelization and catechesis; "relevance" has to be our goal, "relevance" has to be our judge. We have to show how Scripture is relevant, our sacraments are relevant, liturgical choices are relevant, personnel decisions are relevant, our Sunday gatherings are relevant, our faith is relevant to our everyday lives.

How does a priest pull this off? From my limited experience, I think - it's by knowing their parishioners, being part of their lives, and not being afraid to be vulnerable enough to show people how God is part of the priest's life, so people can hear their stories and relate to them.

How about a congregation? I think - it means that after receiving the Eucharist, we have to become the Eucharist. That means each parishioner has to get to know the stranger sitting in the pew next to them; it means we have to practise all that love we keep talking about.

How about the parish as a whole? I think - our churches have to become the centres of our communities, places where people feel welcome, where they feel at home. We can't expect young people to attend youth group when their parents don't have any connection to their parishes beyond Sunday Mass.

How about Catholic school teachers? I think - it means teachers have to teach a faith that they live, and seek out the answers to the questions that they themselves have struggled with. There are a lot of positive steps already being made on this one right now, by the way.

How about youth ministers? I think - they have to know enough theology that they can introduce our youth to God, so that as they get their youth to sing out, "Our God is an awesome God!" the young people will know who that God is, and know why he's awesome. It's also about teaching youth that God is with them, whether they "feel" God with them or not.

How about the youth themselves? Well, they recognize that there are problems in the Church, and they're right. But they have two choices. One is to bail out. The other is to get involved, pull up their sleeves, and become part of the solution. After all, they're the Church too. And this one I don't just think, I know, because I'm one of them.

Everything in our Church is relevant. Our job - our mission - is to discover how, and make sure that everyone knows how. That's what God says, when he tells us that God is love.

Rev. Michael Mireau
Associate Pastor
St. Theresa's Parish
Edmonton

Aid homeless with proceeds from sale of cardinal's house'

On the other hand, there was an article in the Jan. 19 WCR that made my blood boil. I wish that I hadn't read it or better yet that it had not been put in the paper to begin with: "Toronto cardinal's $6M house for sale."

We are constantly being asked for donations and a good portion are Church-related: Third World missions, pope's pastoral works, needs of the Canadian Church, priest' retirement fund, evangelization of the nations, etc.

Our new weekly donation boxes had 21 extra envelopes for donations. Now we're told that the late cardinal's 10,000 square foot, $6 million house is for sale.

What a slap in the Catholic face! True, it didn't cost $6 million to build, but it had to be modernized, furnished and maintained to be worth that much now. Where do the funds for this come from?

Just, recently, we had the news from Toronto that showed homeless people sleeping in the streets and covered with whatever they could find, during one of Toronto's coldest storms. Six million dollars could buy a lot of new shelters for women, the homeless and our street kids who feel they can't go home.

There are those who think the Catholic Church is one of the richest organizations in the world - this article may just have convinced them. How wonderful it would be to see the profits from this sale go to all the Church associated charities and make sure the less fortunate have food and a warm place to sleep at night. Love thy neighbour as thyself.

Delores Torresan
Spruce Grove

Opposition to HIV testing is grossly hypocritical

Such a charge is grossly hypocritical, because it was precisely due to the failure of the Red Cross to screen blood donors for HIV - so as not to offend homosexuals - which led to the catastrophic failure in the safety of the Canadian blood supply, just two decades ago.

While the hierarchy in the Catholic Church have been accused of failing to identify and remove sex abusers within the priesthood, it is a fact that the vast majority of these offenders were homosexuals. Consequently, it was the failure of seminaries to screen for this behaviour which led to the sex abuse crisis (see Pedophiles and Priests, by Phillip Jenkins).

Given that AIDS is still very much a homosexual disease - the largest percentage of new AIDS victims are still found to be practising homosexuals - the requirement to have seminary candidates undergo an HIV test is absolutely justifiable.

The fact that such testing is being opposed by some AIDS groups, adds credence to the allegation that many of these groups are simply a cover for proponents of the homosexual lifestyle (for a full examination of this subject, see the video documentary by Jeremiah Films: AIDS, What You Haven't Been Told, and the book, The Pink Swastika, by Scott Lively and Kevin Abrams).

Ronald Rosmer
Hinton

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