Letters to the Editor
Immigration law would be folly
Certainly the Catholic Church is very concerned about the border security law passed by the House last January and currently before the Senate. Priests could go to jail for aiding illegal immigrants, even for providing them food and clothing.
The immigration law now in effect has only to do with helping illegals enter the United States. The bill now before the Senate proposes a prison sentence of up to five years for those who even aid these people now living in this country. Churches providing meals and clothing would be in violation of the law.
What a denial of Christ’s teachings! He left us with the parable of the good Samaritan. He admonishes us to treat our neighbor as we ourselves would like to be treated.
Again, when Christ was asked by the Pharisees what was the greatest commandment, He answered that you must love the Lord your God will all your heart, soul and mind. This is the greatest and first commandment.
He went on to say that the second commandment resembles the first, that you love your neighbor as yourself.
This proposed immigration law strikes at the essence of Christian belief and action. Surely the Senate must realize that law enforcement is not a function of the church and that a Christian would be morally obliged to ignore any such law. Its enactment would be absolute folly.
Frank Solari
Richmond
Immigrants ignore current laws
Your lead article in the 3/27 issue (“Virginia bishops urge immigration reform”) as well as others inside the publication deal with the issue of immigration. I take strong exception to the position taken by the Virginia bishops.
They conveniently ignore current laws regarding legal immigration to this country. That is bad enough, but they (and other Church leaders) fail to condemn the governments of Mexico, Haiti, and a number of other south and central American, and Caribbean nations for forcing their people to choose an illegal act in order to provide a better life for their families. Yet the Church never embraced the notion of the overthrow of clearly immoral governments and their leaders. The words “liberation theology” come to mind.
I understand that the majority of these illegal immigrants are Catholic and your article on page 3 addresses the issue of “losing them” to other denominations. Are we in some sort of a race? Look to Europe — a continent whose wars cost American lives twice in the last century. Europe never could figure out how to integrate itself. It was and is a polyglot of languages and ethnic groups now worsened by the migration and non-assimilation of Muslims.
Many of us are of European descent, and yet we have achieved a common language and have learned to tolerate differences while leveling these differences as quickly as possible. But, following the failed European model, you are now publishing the last page of the paper in Spanish. Why not Gaelic or Polish, or any number of other tongues? You do no one a favor in the long run by promoting a lingual ghetto.
Jim Hurst
Williamsburg
Woman upholds clergy celibacy
I am writing to comment on Ms. Ellen Jacobs’ letter, “Mrs. King’s Witness Raises Questions” (March 27 issue). She stated that Mrs. Coretta Scott King provided a shining example of why clergy should be allowed to marry and perhaps the Church should change on this issue.
This may be the case, but as a former Protestant, I can think of countless examples of why clergy should not marry. I know pastors that have gone through a divorce or had to deal with other marital issues. I have encountered many pastors whose children have had problems with mental illness, drugs and crime.
However, the most important reason that I’ve seen of why clergy should not marry is in the Bible, 1 Corinthians 7:32-34 — “I should like you to be free of anxieties. An unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord, but a married man is anxious about the things of the world, how he may please his wife and he is divided.”
Of course, these are only a few examples of why clergy should not marry and I certainly cannot draw a conclusion based on one or even several of these. However, I do feel confident in drawing conclusions based on the over 2,000-year example of the Church that Christ instituted on this earth.
Melissa Williams
Forest
One’s conscience formed by reality
In the March 27, 2006 edition of The Catholic Virginian my attention was directed to the headline, “Conscience must concur with church’s moral teaching, politicians told.” The body of text contained a quote from a “Statement on Responsibilities of Catholics in Public Life,” stating “As members of the church, all Catholics are obliged to shape our consciences in accord with the moral teaching of the church.” The Catholic Encyclopedia Note on Conscience states “…that every duty must be brought home to the individual by his own individual conscience, and is to this extent imposed by it; so that even he who follows authority contrary to his own judgment should do so on his own private conviction that the former has the better claim. … Unless a man is conscientiously submissive to the Catholic Church his subjection is not really a matter of inner morality but is mechanical obedience.”
Conscience is one’s own moral sense of what is right and what is wrong developed by one’s quest for spirituality, education and experience. Anyone who has lived at all is aware that life is replete with competing moral claims. Sorting through these often requires determining what is more right or more wrong. The Church calls this moral relativism. It could also be called reality, the reality of the everyday life that all of us face, including our politicians. As the Catholic Encyclopedia suggests, the only thing we are “obliged” to do is to follow “our own individual conscience.” We are not to mechanically obey.
Jesus told us how when he said, “Love God above all things and thy neighbor as thyself.” If only we, all of us including our clergy, could follow Him. We would perhaps have a much more Christian church.
Neal J. Robinson
Williamsburg
Politicians need to vote pro-life
In an outrageous example of political “spirit” and deceit toward Catholics everywhere, 55 Catholic Democratic members of the House of Representatives (including Rep. James P. Moran of Virginia) recently issued a “Catholic Statement of Principles.” Incredibly, 35 of the 55 signers voted against legislation banning partial birth abortion.
In response to this cynical effort to change black into white, the U.S. Catholics bishops issued their own statement (CV, March 27 issue), which says in part, “…we also need to reaffirm the Catholic Church’s constant teaching that abortion is a grave violation of the most fundamental human right — the right to life.”
Our church does not participate in politics, nor should it be used by politicians who are Catholics in name only. If these politicians want to call themselves Catholic, they need to vote pro-life and “work actively to restrain, restrict and bring an end to the destruction of unborn human life.”
John T. Dowd
Franklin
Adoption services need more homes
As a professional social worker, I read with interest your article on Anti-discrimination (editorial March 13 issue). Sometimes, even we Catholics miss the forest for the trees. I think the main focus here is there are loving homes wanting to share those homes and that love with children.
I wonder if we, as Americans, realize that most children adopted are not infants. We tend to think that every child adopted is a cute, cuddly, squirming, bundle of joy. However, just like the garbage that we recycle, so are many children in society.
Catholic Charities does a great job placing infants from unwed mothers, and we Catholics are to be congratulated that we “put our money were our mouths are” in regard to abortion solutions. But there are many children who are in difficult situations, with dysfunctional parents, who are unable to provide the structure and security that their children need and all children deserve. If the gays and lesbians of the world want to take these children and offer them homes, I say THANK YOU. The children that need homes are not the ones who are easy to rear. The children who need homes could easily be categorized as “damaged goods.” We can either rear them in institutions, or we can keep them in foster care, or we can thank the people who open their doors, and are willing to provide guidance, love, caring and the all too important sense of belonging to a family.
As for adoption, Virginia does not recognize the homosexual couple, so the child is adopted by a single person. In reality, it is probably the same way with Massachusetts. What most citizens don’t know is that Departments of Social Services are so busy and over-worked, that they turn many of their problems over to private Social Service Agencies. Catholic Charities is one of many (DePaul Services, and Lutheran Family Services are two others).
These agencies accept payment from the area Department of Social Services. If we, as Catholics, don’t want the taxpayer’s money, then we don’t have to take it. We can be choosy as to who our consumer is. But money talks, and I suspect that the “all or none” ultimatum that has been issued will be accepted. The reality is, there probably aren’t too many homosexual couples knocking on the doors of Catholic Charities.
There are many homeless children of all ages. There aren’t that many homes. I say God Bless them all!
Michelle DeBord, MSW
Rural Retreat
School board head learns from visit
I had the privilege of spending the day visiting classrooms and spending time with the students, faculty and staff at St. John the Apostle School in Virginia Beach. The school is going through the accreditation process and, as school board president, I wanted to get familiar with the inner workings of the school so I would be prepared when the visiting team arrives in May.
I was able to address the faculty and staff at their regularly scheduled Wednesday meeting. I was impressed with their passion and dedication to their profession and to SJA. They were developing a “philosophy” and were looking for the appropriate words that define our school and its mission. It was evident to me that this was very important to them and to the future of our school. They asked if I had any input and I told them they were already going in a great direction.
I have always told everyone that will listen that our environment is special. This was reinforced by my visit. I witnessed 230-plus great kids having fun learning. The teachers were incredible and all of them had developed their own style that was truly effective.
I don’t remember any of these techniques when I was young, but I’m certain that it will make an impact on our children as they continue to develop. I was amazed that our kindergartners were engaged in word recognition and were really good at it (all I remember from then is “nap time”).
The fifth graders had a Hollywood “red carpet” set up called “Access Terra Nova” and the students were gaining skills in public speaking and increasing their vocabulary. Every class brought a fresh approach that I really thought was tremendous.
It was great to see the collaborative effort of passionate teachers and disciplined students. Needless to say, I was really impressed. We are very fortunate to have this special group leading our children. They should be proud of our significant increase in enrollment for the 2006-2007 school year. This is a testimony to what has been accomplished in the classroom, the excellent Terra Nova scores and the environment provided for our children.
Mark McMullan
School Board President
St. John the Apostle School
Virginia Beach
Readers sees red on website views
While I fully understand the desire many of us may have to steer teenagers away from websites of questionable merit, I have to deplore the language and scare tactics of your recent editorial ( “Beware of website,” March 27, issue).
The notion that anyone (much less teens using a popular website) could be categorized as ‘fair game for sexual predators’ is utterly deplorable. No one is ever ‘fair game’ for that kind of malice.
Ironically, your article suggests to our teens that they should be more aware of what they write and say because schools and employers may be reading. Few of them would so casually offer up a verse quite as offensive (or condemning of character in the eyes of a would-be-employer) as that ‘fair game’ reference. Please apologize to your readers.
David Underwood
Newport News
(Editor: It is deplorable that anyone should be considered the target of sexual predators, but that is a reality. There have been numerous incidents of young people as well as adults who are molested and sometimes murdered after being lured by sexual predators through the internet. The term “fair game” was not meant to imply that victims of sexual predators deserved that fate.
Case in point: the day Mr. Underwood ‘s letter was received, Marcus Whitfield, a 30-year-old radio installer from Philadelphia, was arrested on charges that he sexually assaulted a 15-year-old New Jersey boy he had met on Myspace.com. He came to the boy’s home while the parents were not there and took him to a motel where he allegedly assaulted him. He is currently being held at the Ocean County Jail on $75,000 bail.
Yes, the editorial intendend to warn teens and their parents about being careful of what they write and say on websites such as myspace.com. They need to know that such statements become part of the public domain and can be judged as detrimental by prospective employers and college admissions officials in addition to making them vulnerable to sexual predators.)
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