Readers Speak Out: April 21, 2019

No shame

Re: Windsor hospital in bubble zone battle (Mar. 24):

The organization Feminists for Action is quoted as not wanting to be “shamed” by pro-lifers. How could they be shamed when not doing anything shameful?

They claim to need access to abortion “services” with a sense of “safety and dignity.” Safety for whom? I also fail to find anything dignified about killing a human being.

Sheila A. Hands,

Allison, Ont.

Public witness

Re: Windsor hospital in bubble zone battle (Mar. 24):

My heart is with Laurie Eberhardt and her fellow prayer warriors at Windsor Regional Hospital.

There should be no 150-metre restriction for their peaceful, educational prayer walk. Any bubble zone law is a grave infringement on freedom of speech and freedom of religion.

The longer I’m in the pro-life movement, the more convinced I am that the most effective means of ending abortion (while certainly not discounting every other peaceful pro-life effort) is public witness, solidly based on prayer.

Yvonne Dienesch,

Eganville, Ont.

Dangerous ideas

Re: Ontario throws down education challenge (Mar. 24): 

Recently I attended a board meeting at the York Catholic District School Board. A major part of agenda was on Equity Education. It’s worth noting that there were no parents at the meeting.

The major part of the evening was a presentation by board consultants. The message was that Catholic teaching will include gender expression, gender dysphoria, transgender, cisgender, gender non-conforming and intersex. It was supported with out-of-context quotes from Pope Francis and Catholic social teaching. 

There was no mention of Bible teachings or what the Catechism instructs about human sexuality, the person or marriage.

The diversionary talk about class size and less money for education hides the central issue students in Catholic and public schools currently face: the teaching of a dangerous idea about human sexuality. This is what trustees, the Catholic teachers’ union and even the bishops have failed to address. 

Lou Iacobelli,

Toronto

Be thankful

We are all appalled by the abuse scandals involving Catholic hierarchy. Bishop Douglas Crosby asked all parishes in Hamilton diocese to offer a Holy Hour to pray for the victims of abuse and violence. That is what we should be doing — praying for victims as well as perpetrators.

A recent issue of The Catholic Register pointed out there are 414,583 priests worldwide. It is consoling that, in spite of the small percentage of clergy who committed abuses, there are hundreds of thousands of priests not involved. May I suggest that we pray for all of them, as well as those who have retired.

Of course we must acknowledge and strive to correct abuse in the Church, but we must also be thankful for all our clergy.

Stella McCabe,

Mount Forest, Ont.