Last Updated:Friday - 09/24/2010
February 13, 2006
WCR Letters to the Editor
Trustees raise concerns
The Edmonton Catholic School Board was disheartened by your editorial in theFeb. 6 WCR discussing our recent deficit. We are not disheartened by the fact you wrote a story on the deficit but that the editorial contained information that was not true.
You stated that only one trustee, Janice Sarich, stated opposition to the deficit. This is false. All trustees have spoken very clearly about their grave concerns about the deficit. This is a serious issue and we are all very serious in rectifying the situation. The board of trustees continues to meet on this issue and further action will be taken.
You stated: "The superintendent has pledged that schools will not be affected by the deficit. . . . Any staff cuts will be at central office." The board of trustees has instructed the superintendent not to layoff any staff.
Finally you state that it took the board chairperson, Debbie Cavaliere, 37 days to inform the board about the deficit. This too is untrue. The superintendent informed the board of trustees in early December that there were serious issues concerning the financial statements and he and his administration would need time to investigate the issues before reporting to the board.
The administration took time to go through the complex financial records together with the external auditor, fully investigate and uncover the financial shortfall before informing the chairperson in late December. Responsible decisions are made only when you have the facts.
Once Chairperson Cavaliere was fully informed with accurate information, she brought the information to the next scheduled meeting of the board and also verbally told each trustee of the issue before the meeting.
Mr. Argan, as a Catholic newspaper, there is a sense that you would only report information that was fair and true. You did not mention in your editorial that no one from your paper attended the public meeting where the deficit was discussed. How do you print a factual article and report on an event when you were not there to see the debate or hear what board members had to say?
Our board is comprised of trustees who are committed to Catholic education. We have a comprehensive three-year plan to pay off the deficit as we continue to move forward and build on a system that provides a quality faith-based education to over 32,000 students.
All trustees would welcome calls if your readers have additional questions.
Debbie Cavaliere
Debbie Engel
Jim Urlacher
Mark Razzolini
Judy Buddle
Patrick McDonald
Board of Trustees
Edmonton Catholic Schools
Editor's Note:
TheJan. 30 WCR carried an extensive report on the deficit based on interviews with the superintendent, two trustees and the minister of education.
Speak clearly, please
If I may, I would like to list a few quotes from the front page of your Jan. 23 issue concerning the pope's recent encyclical, God Is Love:
"Eros, this gift of love between a man and a woman, comes from the same source of the goodness of the Creator as does the possibility of a love which renounces the self in favour of the other."
"Self-sacrificial love can transform erotic love so that one no longer seeks his own joy and pleasure, but seeks first of all the good of the other person."
"The transformation of eros into charity was a journey of purification that impacts one's family and the larger families of society, Church and world."
Can someone please explain to me, and many others, in plain language what in heaven's name he actually means by the above mumbo-jumbo?
Centuries ago, the papal encyclicals were written in Latin so that the majority of Catholics could not understand them. Today, it seems, that the papal encyclicals are being written in double-speak so that the majority of Catholics still cannot understand them.
Please say a prayer for clarity.
M.I. DeAbreu
Killam
Letter to the Editor - 02/27/06
'Pseudo-Catholic' politicians taken to task
In hisFeb. 6 letter to the WCR, Joe Gubbels claims that leaders of religious organizations who use their position to influence and lobby voters "will have to face possible consequences." Perhaps so, but then, all men of God who have ever stood up for the truth have had to face possible consequences. Ever heard of Golgotha, Mr. Gubbels?
It is high time the shepherds of the Church stood up to condemn the evils visited upon us by vacillating, pseudo-Catholic politicians and their supporters, refusing to be cowed by such cheap threats as losing some dubious "tax-exempt" status.
Did the Church in Soviet Russia ever enjoy such favoured status? Is the Church in communist China, or in the politically-corrupt nations of Africa today so favoured?
Yet it is not in the socialistically pandering nations such as Canada that the Church thrives, but in those places where persecution purges the faith and makes it pure, strong and vibrant.
I wonder if Mr. Gubbels is equally adamant that militant feminist, pro-abortion, pro-euthanasia, and homosexual advocacy groups, all of which are actively and financially supported by our predominantly atheistic government, and shamelessly work to influence and lobby both voters and politicians, should also lose their special status?
For those who may think that the rest of Cardinal Ratzinger's statement somehow allows them to freely vote for anti-life politicians, they should look well to the qualifier of "proportionate reasons." If they believe that health care or social welfare issues somehow trump pro-life concerns, then they had better think again. Health care and social welfare are not of much use to an innocent life that has been mercilessly snuffed out at the hands of our so-called "caring" society.
Jim Verreault
Red Deer
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