Last Updated:Friday - 09/24/2010
February 19, 2007
WCR Letters to the Editor
Creation is filled with the spirit
Re: "Love your local ecosystem (WCR, Feb. 5).
I am glad that amidst the excitement over Archbishop Collins' transfer to Toronto you have not lost sight of the most urgent issue of environmental destruction.
Brother Moy's message, "listen to the earth" and "love your local ecosystem" seems simple enough but it poses more of a challenge than most of us are prepared to deal with.
Few of us are serious about drastically downsizing consumption.
As the brother points out, there is nothing new about that. Humankind has caused "massive ecological devastation" since the beginning of civilization. It is good to read of the brother's faith in the earth's ability and desire to heal and how that healing will assist us in our growth towards God.
It brings to mind the theology of the Jesuit paleontologist Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. In his groundbreaking works,The Phenomenon of Man and The Divine Milieu, he presents all of creation as filled with the spirit of God and evolution as a continuous process in which we are part of nature, evolving towards Omega, God.
Teilhard De Chardin died on Easter 1955, well before Vatican II. The Vatican was suspicious of Teilhard de Chardin and wished he would go away. Maybe it is time for a resurrection of his vision.
Teilhard De Chardin concludes in his The Divine Milieu that he is ready to be embraced by the Earth because, for him, she is the body of "He who is" and "He who comes."
John Zyp
Edmonton
Slamming church doors shut impacts on everyone
The article"Cecilia Johnstone fights on for women" (WCR, Jan. 22) is a breath of fresh air in the Catholic Church. We all know our Lord's apostles were mostly married.
How many churches in the country are closed? Nobody wants to hear or talk about it. In the past more priests came from the country than from the city. This closing of churches was totally unfair.
They took away not only the churches, but also the people's social life.
Even the lay-led services that we had were taken away. After seven years, we did some investigation. Eighty five per cent of adults and 90 per cent of young people left the Church.
Did our bishops let a petition go around and then take it to Rome with them so the pope would understand?
After I helped with teaching for over 40 years, I see and feel the country people's pain. Any church should grow along with its people.
This is totally wrong. Cecilia Johnstone is so right - women should be priests too.
The front page article in the Jan. 29 WCR - "Pope pondered resignation" - is good too. Everybody needs a break. Also, they should be able to step down after a certain age.
There is much room for improvement. The cities got what they wanted and shut up. I live in the city myself now but will never forget the loss and injustice that is done to the country people. A good lay-led service once a week would have kept those people together.
Mary Feddema
Red Deer
Letter to the Editor - 03/12/07
Letter to the Editor - 03/12/07
Look at the part oil profits play in the Iraq war
Re:"Killing Saddam violated God's law" by Bishop Fred Henry (WCR, Jan. 22).
It was not the Iraqi government but its American master that chose to execute Saddam Hussein in a great rush. The U.S. was deeply involved in all of Saddam's major crimes. The farce of a trial before a kangaroo court - "Saddam was hanged for the wrong reason" (Gwynne Dyer in World Report).
The fact that Washington initiated a war of aggression that has resulted in the deaths of possibly hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and almost 3,000 Americans violated God's law.
In Texas, George W. Bush personally supervised the executions of 152 people and is proud of it.
What would wildly lucrative profits for big oil have to do with U.S. involvement in Iraq? Linda McQuiag says, "The Iraqi government is under pressure to pass a new law to open up Iraq's vast oil reserves to foreign investment and ownership."
Let us join the many Americans who are protesting this illegal war. Not only are their daughters and sons being killed, but thousands of Iraqis are innocent victims too.
Hank Zyp
Spruce Grove
Why not cast an eye to the West for our bishop?
With the loss of Archbishop Thomas Collins to Toronto and the publicity his departure has had in the Western Catholic Reporter, one question has surfaced in my mind: Is there no priest from Alberta who is capable of leading the flock of the Archdiocese of Edmonton?
The leading contenders for the job asnoted in the WCR appear to be from Ontario or Quebec.
I understand that the decision rests with the Vatican, but hope and pray that Christ nominates someone amongst our worthy shepherds to guide the flock of Edmonton who understands the unique concerns of our archdiocese.
Wally Wilchowy
Grande Cache
Now is the time to make your Lenten commitment
After Christmas, I wrote a note acknowledging the Filipino community for sharing their traditional Missa de Gallo during Advent (WCR Letters, Jan. 15).
The season of Lent is just around the corner and one custom that I try to promote is a Lenten commitment sheet beginning on Ash Wednesday. Also at Sacred Heart Parish in Red Deer, at the request of teachers, we have an "early bird Mass" every Friday at 7 a.m. throughout Lent.
Let us continue to be adventurous during these important liturgical seasons and help each other grow into Christ with our parish stewardship programs.
Rev. Don Stein
Sacred Heart Parish
Red Deer
Turn to God to bring an end to abortion in Canada
So the abortion holocaust continues unabated in Edmonton, Alberta and Canada. Some have said countries like Canada that legalize abortion (and contraception) have reached the point of no return. Canada has a negative birthrate, one of the lowest in the entire world.
The Canadian modus operandi seems to be, "If you come to this country, join us in the injustice. We murder the unborn. We are a culture of death."
We are also theoretically under the auspices of Our Lady of Guadalupe who single-handedly stopped child sacrifice in Mexico beginning in 1531. Abortion is a form of child sacrifice.
Only God and Our Lady can lead us out of this terrible situation. We must turn to God like never before with Masses, rosaries and prayer of every description to turn this sad situation around. Abortion on demand anywhere is not God's will.
Orthodox Jews are against abortion and contraception. Many Muslim countries have reproductive birthrates. How is it that predominantly "Christian" Canada is so evil?
The now-retired Benedictine pro-life priest, Father Paul Marx, used to say that abortion follows contraception like night follows day. The late great Pope John Paul II also commented, "Some people think the pope talks too much about the culture of death. On the other hand, the Church cannot ignore what is happening."
We can continue to pretend Canada is the best country in the world in which to live, but this doesn't change the fact that we have an abortion problem in this country.
The social sin of abortion in Canada is, of course, a direct result of individual sins like fornication, adultery and selfish parents who don't want kids.
What are we standing on guard for?
Gerard Liston
Edmonton
Letters to the Editor
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