Last Updated:Friday - 09/24/2010
February 28, 2005
WCR Letters to the Editor
Marriage belongs to the Church
So, like Pierre Pettigrew, M.A. Kellogg(WCR Letters, Feb. 14) thinks that the Church should back out of the same-sex "marriage" issue as it is a civil matter. How the truth always becomes the first casualty in a poor and misguided argument.
If marriage was merely a civil matter, it would have been established solely by the state and would be recognized solely by the state and would be recognized solely by the state. In reality marriage existed as an institution of the Church many centuries before the government of Canada existed.
The government merely recognized an institution that far predated itself. It is hard to take someone's argument seriously when the basis of their argument is false.
And is this really a question of equality? Are all things really equal? Are all people equally generous or rich or attractive or intelligent? Is a potato equal to a carrot? Whether you want to call things equal or not, sometimes things are simply more different than they are equal.
That is the issue here. Let's try and get a grip on reality starting with statements that are true and not false.
Furthermore, Kellogg admonishes the rest of us to "most of all be non-judgmental" and then calls those who disagree with same-sex "marriage" "ignorant, prejudiced, narrow-minded persons." What's wrong with this picture?
There is a major difference between judging things and judging people. Marriage is a noun not a person and the Church is 100 per cent within its right to speak out on this issue. As a matter of fact, even a modest observation of the history of marriage would determine that it is not the Church but the government that is out of its jurisdiction in wanting to redefine marriage.
Michel Gingras
Edmonton
Homosexual activity called ' sexual outlaw'
I must take issue with two letter to the editor published in the (WCR Letters, Feb. 14). First,Leanne Forest argues homosexuals should be treated equally in regards to heterosexuals, except their relationships should not be given the title "marriage." She refers to homosexuals being proud of their distinctness in gay parades and claims "this is their right."
From the point of view of Scripture and Church teaching she is wrong. Homosexual acts are called "a grave depravity" in the catechism. Homosexuals are human beings and deserve basic human rights given to human beings based on their humanity.
Homosexual behaviour makes you a sexual outlaw, in the same category as pedophiles, bestiaphiles and those who practise incest.
I had the misfortune of finding myself in downtown Toronto during a gay parade in the 1990s.
What I saw in terms of promiscuity, pornography and a brutal debasement of human sexuality was nothing to be proud of. In fact, such displays should be illegal.
As forM.A. Kellogg's letter, first Kellogg completely lacks logic and consistency in his/her admonition, "God expects us to be loving and tolerant," respectful of our differences," and "most of all non-judgmental."
Using this logic, Kellogg shouldn't judge the Catholic Church hierarchy for taking a stand against homosexual pseudo-marriage.
Kellogg should, in the interest of tolerance and diversity, welcome a view other than the one sanctioned by homosexual activists and our federal government.
Kellogg is right in saying all human beings are made in God's image, but this statement is meaningless in judging the morality of homosexual acts. Bank robbers, serial killers and dads insisting it is their right to sexually abuse their daughters could use the same spurious argument; with an "I'm born that way" clich‚ to boot.
The fact we are made in God's image calls us to a higher level of self control than if we lived by the Darwinian theory by which we are simply an accident whose sole purpose is to gratify various instincts.
Kellogg is wrong in saying, "allowing gay people to be legally married will not damage the sacrament of Matrimony." Catholic church teaching is clear the sacrament of marriage is consummated by a life-giving act of male to female genital contact.
How can the sacrament of marriage be compared to two men sodomizing each other, deceiving themselves in believing this destructive act is legitimate, by a government marriage licence?
Homosexual marriage is a lie, which robs people enslaved to homosexual acts of the opportunity to repent and come to Christ that their sin may be forgiven.
Bill Whatcott
Leduc
Liberals supplanting society's spirituality
Re: "When will Mack the turtle burp?"(WCR Feb 7).
It is heartening to see that WCR recognizes the essentially religious nature of modern liberalism and its push for same-sex marriage under the hypnotic mantra of "human rights" (as Ted Byfield has been saying for the past two decades).
Liberalism is not actually doing away with religion per se: it is simply replacing our historical Christian authority structure and doctrinal content with its own religious institutions and teachings.
For Canadian liberals, the charter is their bible, Supreme Court judges are the high priests who interpret the sacred script, and as a central tenet of their faith "human rights" are dogmatically asserted in justification of their rulings.
Like all fundamentalists, liberals hold their sacred text to be infallible such that anyone who challenges the charter's truths or the judges' rulings is dismissed as a heretic-as "un-Canadian."
Like medieval inquisitors, human rights tribunals enforce rigid conformity with liberal dogma on pain of punishment.
As Augustine noted, we are made with a God-shaped hole in us; and if it is not filled with God it will be filled by something else for people to believe in.
Liberal Ottawa does indeed head a "totalitarian regime" - a fundamentalist religious regime that is replacing God with its own deities - and it is important for Christians to recognize the nature of this beast that is arrayed against them.
Derryl Hermanutz
Spruce Grove
Catholic School failing?
Responding to the question "Is John Paul II Bible School hurting the Church?" in the(Feb 7 WCR)., we counter that its supposed harm to the Church, of making its students less than able to carry on nuanced apologetics or holistic formation of those they encounter and lead in the Church, is secondary to a more pressing and dangerous problem - the effect the Catholic school system has, or fails to have, on our youth.
One knows a tree by its fruits and the general output of deists or agnostics from Catholic schools (there are, of course, some students who leave the system practising, faithful Catholics) would suggest that something requires immediate fixing.
One problem in the transmission of the faith is that many students, and some teachers, may not care enough about the faith and adherence to and understanding of its doctrines.
Another problem is that, until recently in Edmonton but more pervasive especially in more remote areas, is that teachers of religion have not necessarily undergone sufficient training in the principles of the faith.
This is being rectified, especially by the requirement to have two theology courses to teach in the Catholic system.
Is JP II Bible School hurting the Church? Perhaps. But the Catholic school system is failing our students and the Church. However, there is reason to hope a new, charming, intelligent evangelization is beginning to take shape in our Catholic schools.
Christopher Rehman
Edmonton
Eamon Moffet
Sherwood Park
Protect traditional values
Recently the community of MacKay, Alta., responded most admirably and quickly to help victims of a train derailment. The safety and preservation of life became foremost.
What puzzles me most about us folks is that we really do treasure human life.
Yet years ago when the "derailment" of pornography invaded our communities through convenience stores, drug stores, most of us did nothing.
Why did we not respond quickly to protect the potential victims in our families? The same goes for abortion and other attacks upon our community and family.
But it is never (hopefully) too late for good people to conquer depravity. Let's do our part for the safety and preservation of the traditional family in all of our Alberta communities.
Jack Mallett
Vegreville
JP II Bible School helps Church
In response to(Feb 7). letter to the editor:"Is JPII Bible School hurting the Church?" I am an 18-year-old student this year at JPII.
These last five months have seen a big growth in my life, both in my faith and my interpersonal relationships. I came to school knowing what the Catholic faith was but not knowing much about why we believe what we believe or do what we do, the way it is with the majority of Catholics who attend church out of habit.
I leave knowing much more about my faith, having made the decision that this is truly what I believe and living it daily.
I know now that God is involved in every moment of my life. He cares about every decision I make. I have been called by God, just as everyone has, to be a disciple of Jesus Christ and he has a purpose for my life.
I will be leaving this year, not knowing all the answers, there are always more to find along the road of life, but I will have the basis to stand on if and when challenged.
JPII Bible School isn't hurting the Church, it's helping. It is teaching the young people to live, love and teach their faith to the world.
We leave with an answer that propels us to continue to learn; God has a purpose that I have to fulfill, what is it?
Most of us go at the end of this year to attend school and enter the workforce. We will be like the others our age but our lives will shine Christ's examples. something many lukewarm Catholics cannot claim
Amy Benson
Radway
Volunteer describes the faithful harvest
After reading a letter in the(Feb 7 WCR)., ("Is JPII Bible School hurting the Church?") I felt compelled to respond.
Since its inception in 1984 in Radway, over 700 students have completed a year or more of Catholic formation in an environment that fosters a life of prayer, devotion to the sacraments and growth in holiness fostered by Christian community life.
Continually growing, JPII is being used as a model to start other Catholic Bible schools.
As a volunteer at the Hinton campus, I have had the privilege of getting to know both staff members and students and have witnessed God's love and mercy transforming lives.
None of us are perfect but I see a desire among the members of the Bible school to be obedient to God's will, to grow in holiness and to spread the Gospel message by living it.
Some of the good fruit produced by the Bible school includes two priests and five seminarians. Many graduates of the Bible school have gone on to serve on national evangelization teams both in Canada and abroad, spreading the Gospel message to thousands of youth. Numerous others are serving in parish ministry.
Some have become Christian recording artists, some are leaders in the pro-life movement and others have formed powerful ministries such as Catholic Family Ministries that have had a positive impact on countless Catholic families.
Many more have married and are now raising a new generation of faithful Catholic children.
From the evidence I have witnessed, JPII Bible School has already produced much good fruit and continues to do so.
Barb Rosmer
Hinton
Church defends life
The Jan. 31 WCR featured an article about the heroic virtue of a woman who died because she refused doctors recommendations to abort her unborn child so she could receive cancer treatments.
It also recalls a similar story of St. Gianna Beretta Molla but ended with a quote from the Catechism which states that "legitimate defence can be not only a right but a grave duty" (no. 2265).
I believe that to fully appreciate the Church's teaching on this difficult moral issue, this quote must be read in context.
In the same section of the Catechism it says that "the act of self-defence can have double effect: the preservation of one's own life; and the killing of the aggressor. . . . The one is intended, the other is not" (no. 2263).
Even in the case of self-defence, the Church specifies that the death of the aggressor is unintentional.
In the cases of these women, keep in mind that the baby was never the "aggressor," cancer was.
In canonizing St. Gianna in 2004, our pope was clearly making a statement of what the Church's teaching is on this issue.
Carole Krik
Vegreville
Letters to the Editor
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