Last Updated:Friday - 09/24/2010

WCR Letters to the Editor

Be a witness to the faith

Re: "This Catholic father wants to come home" (WCR, Aug. 27).

I am happy to welcome Gaston Dostie and family home. Yes, welcome among the sinners that we are in the Church founded by Jesus Christ 2,000 years ago.

If you, your wife and your children decide to come back home, you will not only meet the Catholics that seem cold, unfaithful and lukewarm, but also those who are faithful to the Scripture according to Jesus' teaching and to the magisterium of the Catholic Church.

You will see and hear people from the inside, which will give you a different perspective.

We need you as a witness of deep faith, to make a difference in your family and in the marketplace, as Jesus taught us to: "Go and teach . . .".

I invite you to read the articles 1830-31 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church which states that the gifts of the Holy Spirit sustains and strengthens us to follow the promptings of the Holy Spirit.

Think of St. Monica, who lived with an abusive husband having a pagan behaviour and her son Augustine who was not living according to the teachings of the Church.

It did not stop her from believing, praying and suffering for the conversion of her son, who became St. Augustine.

EWTN TV has an excellent program - The Journey Home - testimonies of Protestants who converted to Catholicism.

The book Home At Last by Rosalind Ross (a convert Jew) gives testimonies of 11 people who found their way to the Catholic Church, not because we are better, but because God called them to have the fullness of the faith that the Catholic Church has.

Sr. Elisabeth Coulombe, sgm
Edmonton

Come look at the Church from the inside

You say you have a "huge problem."

Is that not because you are looking at the Church from the outside? To outsiders, the Church may look dirty, and grubby from years of being exposed to the elements and spotted with filth thrown at it by vandals.

Maybe you even see a few cracks and chips fallen off here and there. For many, she does not look very attractive.

But step through the door! Inside you find splendour, light, truth and beauty beyond compare: for there is Christ and those joined to him. He beckens and enfolds you in his embrace.

So come in, close the door behind you and leave your "huge problem" outside where it belongs and join the family of Christ waiting for you inside.

Margaret Lambert
Edmonton

Spread the word about St. Benedict's chapel

The brainwave of recently transferred Archbishop Thomas Collins, the chapel named after Pope Benedict, seats some 50 people and is presided over by an exceptionally hospitable priest from Nigeria, whose first name is Collins.

Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to be well publicized. I suspect that many of the hundreds of local residents employed in the East Block itself, not to mention its countless visitors, are unaware of this quaint little chapel somewhat hidden away on the third floor, in the far corner to the immediate right as one steps off the elevator.

There are no directions towards it, nor any mention anywhere of the original idea of it becoming a haven of stillness in the midst of our busy world.

To my knowledge, the existence of the chapel hasn't appeared in any bulletin since it first opened, and except for cards at the entrance, there are no advertisements of any sort encouraging the public, regardless of denomination as originally envisioned, to come in and find prayerful peace.

René Benoîton
Edmonton

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