Readers Speak Out: September 22, 2019

Dignified death

Re: Faith shouldn’t have to bend to survive (Aug. 11-18):

Excellent article by Charles Lewis. But I wonder what euthanasia has to do with palliative care.

During my 35 years as a registered nurse (14 years with palliative care), I listened to thousands of patients. They wanted to talk. People do not fear dying; they fear the process and want assurance they will not die alone.

Everyone’s needs (physical, emotional, spiritual) are unique and must be met by a well-trained team of professionals and volunteers. 

This allows a person to keep living by providing the best quality of care with respect, comfort and love every day until a dignified death comes naturally and with no regrets.

Joan Fortier,

Newmarket, Ont.

Doubt and confusion 

It seems to me that much of the logic and science around gender identity — maleness and femaleness — is being hidden from our young people. Doubt and confusion are being taught from authority figures to beautiful young souls.  

But I sense that the real author of this is not human.

Let us support voices which will refute this and respectfully affirm the beauty and dignity of male and female identities.

Carol Leeming,

Whitby, Ont.

Left leaning?

Re: Left turn (Letter to the Editor) Sept. 8:

I am grateful for the letter by Terence Moynihan pointing out the recent left-leaning tendency of The Catholic Register. I agree with him that the human causes of climate change are still to be determined and I question the need to terrorize the public over this issue, and especially the connection of climate change to the promotion of population control. 

Furthermore, The Register has referred in a negative way in the past to other “conservative Catholic” publications — a description that I disagree with. There are devout Catholic or traditional Catholic publications and news sources versus many liberal Christian options, but we are being bombarded enough with left-wing fake news that we don’t need The Register joining this group. The crisis of the state of the Church in Rome has become evident under Francis’ papacy — not because of him but under him — and it is being exacerbated and will be prolonged by the members of the curia and new cardinals that he has chosen.

It can be argued that The Register should focus on this attack on the Church as the gravest threat to society today — not the unproven role of man in climate change.

John JF Killackey,

Mississauga, Ont.

Impressive writing

Re: Streets are filled with many crosses (Aug. 11-18):

I am always impressed by the writing of Deacon Robert Kinghorn in his column Church on the Street.

His columns show such warmth, compassion and empathy, while allowing the reader a glimpse into the challenges and grittiness of lives lived under circumstances most of us have never endured and, if we confronted, would more than likely “pass by on the other side of the road,” to quote a parable.

Ralph Thomson,

Surrey, B.C.