Don’t turn people away from Mass
I was flummoxed to read a question to Father Doyle (Catholic Virginian, Oct. 4) regarding an individual who was disruptive during Mass. It seems a long-time parishioner has been disruptive for some time yet appears not to be a threat to anyone.
Yet the parish priest has asked the individual not to attend Mass. Further, Father Doyle advocates for getting the police involved! Stunning to say the least.
I was raised to believe that the Catholic Church is an inclusive Church, particularly for those suffering in some way. It’s not a stretch to assume this individual may have a mental illness of some sort. That our Church would turn a person like that away seems beyond the pale.
Does the Church then ask parents who refuse to remove their screaming children from the sanctuary to no longer attend Mass? How about all the individuals who forget to turn off their cell phones?
Jesus taught us to love our neighbor, particularly those neighbors who are less fortunate or suffer in some way. Let’s face it: one need only to look around at any Mass to realize the Church grows steadily older every day.
There are two places I still feel young at age 61: the cardiologist’s waiting room and weekend Mass. The last thing we should be doing is turning people away. – Charlie Flocco, Richmond
Stop spreading misinformation
I realize that Facebook and other internet sources are not always reliable sources, but I was surprised to see The Catholic Virginian (Oct. 4) spreading misinformation about the coronavirus vaccine.
In both of the letters to the editor, the writers make the claim that the vaccine killed thousands or “tens of thousands” of people. I’d ask what the source of that information is. The Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) has reported 8,390 deaths following vaccination from December 2020 through Oct. 4, 2021, out of almost 400 million vaccinations (.0021% of vaccinations).
The CDC has reported there has not been any established causal relationship between the reviewed deaths and the administration of the vaccine. In the same time period, there have been around 43 million cases of COVID and almost 700,000 deaths (1.6% of cases).
I know “opinions expressed by letter writers do not necessarily reflect those of the Catholic Virginian or the Diocese of Richmond,” but allowing the entirety of the letters to the editor to be comprised of misinformation calls into question the trustworthiness of the publication, and makes it seem like it’s the only opinion of Catholics in Virginia.
In addition, the comparison to Jewish people being persecuted during the Holocaust was also in very poor taste. – Benjamin Moran, Richmond
Print facts, not lies
Please do not publish letters like that from Linda Browning-Kaloski with lies in them (Catholic Virginian, Oct. 4). We do not have millions of people die from the flu each year — it’s generally 30,000 to 40,000 in the U.S., and 250,000 to 500,000 worldwide.
And thousands have died from vaccinations? The CDC tracks the number who have died shortly after being vaccinated (about 8,000) — but they do not know how many died from the vaccine.
If Browning-Kaloski wants to disagree with someone else’s opinion, she can. She should not, however, be able to cite “facts” which are not true. – Bernard Caton, Glen Allen