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Last Updated:Friday - 09/24/2010

November 8, 2004

WCR Letters to the Editor

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We are all fallible and sinners

In the Oct. 25 issue of WCR, Bishop Fred Henry of Calgary has written an interesting article titled,"Invest in the poor, Mr. Klein." This is not the first time that Bishop Henry has spoken on behalf of the poor.

I remember reading an article written by him to WCR a few weeks back in which he referred to the million dollar incomes of celebrities while thousands of people are languishing in poverty.

I am not sure whether the bishop of Calgary is aware that Catholic clergy in Canada and America have sexually abused boys and girls resulting in the Catholic dioceses having to pay hundreds of millions of dollars to victims of such abuse. Just imagine the thousands of poor people who could have been helped by the Catholic Church if those funds were not wasted on court cases?

Just imagine how many poor people could have been fed, housed and clothed if those sex-hungry Catholic clergymen behaved as well as they are supposed to do? In fact some Catholic dioceses were compelled to dispose of valuable church assets to pay compensation for the victims of abuse by these clergymen.

Perhaps worse than these abusive priests are the Catholic bishops, including Cardinal Bernard Law, who turned a blind eye to abuse complaints and even went to the extent of transferring such guilty priests from parish to parish, allowing them to claim more victims. Such bishops are more guilty than the abusive priests for perpetuating the crime.

If the bishops had taken corrective action, the Catholic dioceses would have saved millions of dollars that could have been used to help the poor.

Ironically, page 5 of the same issue of WCR carries a news item titled, "Abuse report asks Canada's bishops to be accountable." This news item refers to comments made by Archbishop James Weisgerber who co-chaired a Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) special task force reviewing the CCCB's 1992 guidelines for dealing with sexual abuse in the Church.

Archbishop Weisgerber was quoted as saying bishops should be, "unequivocal about the fact that anybody who has been charged with and found guilty in a court of law for an abuse against a minor can never be returned to ministry where minors are involved."

Ironically again, the same news report also adds "In 2002, Bishop Fred Henry of Calgary apologized for not telling the congregation of a local church about the history of a priest convicted of sexually assaulting a teenage boy 16 years earlier." Of course, it is easy to say "mea culpa," but the fact remains Bishop Henry allowed a criminal to work as a priest in a parish.

Albert Fernando
Edmonton

Stories kindle memories of school days gone by

I'd like to congratulateHoly Spirit Elementary/Junior High School andArchbishop Oscar Romero Senior High School staff and students for their enthusiasm in their Spirit of Catholicity.

In reading these two articles in the Nov. 1 WCR, I was transported to the time when Archbishop O'Leary High School opened its doors. I was one of its first Grade 10 students and one of its teachers began teaching, for the first time.

The enthusiasm and motivation of the staff and students then was as powerful as it seems to be at these two new schools. A visiting priest celebrated Mass each first Friday of the month and we all prayed the rosary during the month of May and October, as well as beginning our day with a prayer.

It is marvellous that, despite the shortage of priests, sisters and brothers, readings, reflections and prayer take place regularly: daily or weekly. I'm certain that, in all our Catholic schools, the devotion to our Christian faith is being practised daily; but it is heart-warming to those of us who are no longer in schools to be reminded that our schools truly do "plant the seeds that one day will grow," spiritually as well as academically.

Maria Saccomanno
Edmonton

Workshop to discuss AISH review

Prompted by the Oct. 25 Editorial"Speak up for AISH recipients" and theShepherd Speaks Column by Bishop Fred Henry, we've organized an evening workshop/seminar for people to hear from an advocate for the disabled, review the government's discussion guide, and then fill out their individual questionnaire.

It was felt that doing it this way would produce more informed responses, and insure that the questionnaires do get completed and sent in.

The details are as follows: Wednesday, Nov. 17 at 7 p.m. at the Catholic Pastoral Centre, 8421-101 Ave. Following a presentation by Bev Mathison, executive director of the Alberta Committee of Citizens with Disabilities, participants will review the discussion guide for the provincial government's review of the Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped (AISH) program and then respond to the questionaire.

Bob Prestash
Society of St. Vincent de Paul
Edmonton

Canada well represented at congress

In the article of Nov.1, 2004 entitledBishops Prepare for Congress, it was reported that only 26 people from all English-speaking dioceses in Canada attended the 48th Eucharistic Congress in Guadalajara, Mexico, Oct. 10-17.

In fact, there were 114 English-speaking Canadians in attendance. There were 26 in a group gathering people from across Canada and the remaining number were members of either a group from Edmonton or of two groups from Vancouver, or some who went individually.

In all, counting both English and French sectors of the Candian Church, there were about 180 delegates, a goodly number all in all.

Bishop Albert LeGatt
Saskatoon

Oops!!! Formatting error

Due to a formatting problem, myletter in last week's WCR contained two significant errors. It has been calculated that the probability of producing a relatively short functional protein at random is one chance in 10 to the power 125 (not 10,125) and that there are 10 to the power 65 atoms in our galaxy (not 1,065).

Loren Zubis
Edmonton

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