Last Updated:Friday - 09/24/2010

WCR Letters to the Editor

The Vatican's clarity lauded

In theAug. 27 WCR, regarding the Vatican's "Responses to Some Questions Regarding Certain Aspects of the Doctrine of the Church," Bishop Fred Henry worries about ecumenical reaction in his disappointment "with the Vatican's lack of pastoral sensitivity, as it should have been better prepared to handle the very predictable pastoral confusion the document's release created.

"In combating the phenomenon of modern day relativism, attention must not only be focused on abstract truth but also on controlling the spin as the teaching touches not only minds, but hearts, souls and relationships."

In other words, the Vatican should have used "spin" to combat "confusion" and "relativism."

Bishop Henry is intimately familiar with "spin," having pulled our Church into partisanship in sometimes debatable and unsettled secular political disputes, and with using Vatican II as an excuse to devolve the conduct of Catholic worship to fashionable banality.

The Vatican document uses "clarity," not "spin," to explain its position. The "confusion" that worries Bishop Henry was created, not by the Vatican, but by the Church's detractors who demand change of the Church to suit them.

Rabbi Yerachmiel Seplowitz of Monsey, N.Y., reacts better: "What the pope is saying - and I agree 100 per cent - is that there are irreconcilable differences, and we can't pretend those differences don't exist. I can respect the pope for making an unambiguous statement of what he believes."

The major faiths are always defended by their leaders. How dare we expect less from our pope?

Bishop Henry does eventually explain the document's contents fully and well using "clarity."

Yet, he cannot resist excusing its detractors by criticizing our pope for shunning "spin," even while admitting that "brouhahas" are inevitable and must be addressed with more "clarity." I must stop now; my head's spinning!

Dan Bilenki
Calgary

Take a leap of faith

As a Ukrainian Catholic layman trying to follow and answer the call of my vocation to serve as a future deacon, I have searched with all of my heart far and wide for healing; not just my own healing, but to bring healing to all of the souls that I am blessed to come in contact with in healing the purpose of my life.

Jesuit Father Matt Linn who had a healing retreat with his brother Dennis back in the 1980s in Edmonton teaches that meaninglessness makes us sick, while meaningfulness makes us well.

God is a God of love, and for the most part, God wants us to do more of what gives us life and gives us love, not only for God and for ourselves, but for those around us.

By trying to re-connect with the purpose of my life I have had to take leaps of faith, as did St. Peter when he jumped out of the boat to walk on the water towards Jesus.

All of us are sinners, and all of us are in need of healing, whether physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual.

Providentially I was led to the Catholic Renewal Services to register for their annual River of Life Conference happening Sept. 28-29 at Mayfield Inn.

On Saturday Sept. 29 at 7:30 p.m. they will have a Sunday Mass and healing service presided by Bishop Sam Jacobs from the United States.

If you would take that leap of faith and join me there for the Mass and healing service, the Holy Spirit's healing fellowship will bless us all.

Marko O. Stefaniuk
Edmonton

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