Keep the Family Intact

Relative to “Amoris Laetitia, 2 Views” (Vatican, April 15 issue): I agree with E. Christian Brugger that the papal exhortation Amoris Laetitia (The Joy of Love) needs to be addressed by the bishops and the Pope. There is another view that needs to be considered: the economic consequences when a parent abandons the family.

When that parent is the sole provider, the effects can be devastating. This is particularly true in fatherless homes among low-income or working-class families. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, “Children in father-absent homes are four times more likely to experience poverty than children in two-parent homes.” Fatherless children are more likely to become involved in “drug and alcohol abuse, drop out of school, and suffer from health and emotional problems.”

Given these statistics, one would hope the Church would do everything to keep families intact. Amoris Laetitia seems to do the very opposite. It sends a message that marriage is not permanent. The parent who walks out and marries again is given a reward: access to the Eucharist.

Skeptics may say that Amoris Laetitia does not apply where children are involved. Access to the Eucharist would be denied in such cases. True, the well-being of children is a factor in the exhortation. However, some diocesan guidelines leave it up to the divorced/remarried couple: Catholics should “decide for themselves” after consultation with a priest whether to approach the Eucharist.

There is also the view that Amoris Laetitia will be invoked only in exceptional cases. Language like “complex circumstances” or “irregular unions” certainly gives that impression. The economic impact would thus be negligible. But bishops in the U.S. are giving seminars to expand its reach. One diocese is posting notices in parish bulletins inviting the divorced and remarried to come forward.

The bishops of Kazakhstan warn that Amoris Laetitia will spread a plague of divorce.

With divorce will come the disintegration of the family and increasing poverty.

The sad thing is the Church of the future will become a party to that plague.

                        Charles Gallagher

                        San Jose, California

 

The Worst Curse

Regarding “Building Dialogue” (Letters to the Editor, April 15 issue):

The devil, in our modern era, has proposed two ideas: First, he does not exist, and, therefore, there is no evil in the world. Second, without evil, there can be no sin, and, therefore, we must respect every concept that is set before us, in order to avoid controversy and live in peace with one another, no matter how evil we see that concept to be.

Abortion is by far the worst curse this world has ever seen, and it certainly has brought about the degradation of the civilized world. It is, in fact, the rejection of the right of God to send life into the world. If successful, the devil will have his ultimate victory, because the human race will simply die of its own corruption and lack of the renewal of human life.

Evil exists, sin exists, and, above all, God, the infinite God of all creation, exists; and the life he sends into the world carries his image.

Every child in the womb is ensouled with the image and likeness of God himself. And that is what is being destroyed through this heinous procedure.

Those who participate in that procedure, no matter what their religious beliefs, see that this is truly a human being. Many walk away from that tragedy and never return to it again.

Only faulty civil laws protect the ongoing deaths of millions of children and also attempt to force those who do not believe in such a dreadful procedure to participate or lose their means of making a living in their own professions.

Life is never expendable. Wars have been fought to prove this simple precept. Those who ask for greater understanding of the “pro-choice” movement are simply asking that those who believe in the dignity, beauty and value of all human life sit back and let them do what they wish with other peoples’ lives. We can never allow this to happen.

There can be no middle ground between what is morally good and what is morally evil. There is evil, Satan and sin in this world, and good people must never accept them as just “another way of thinking.”

God asks us to do one thing in order to find happiness and accord in the world he created: “Choose life” (Deuteronomy 30:19).

                        Father John Vondras

                        Newburgh, New York

 

Human Worth

In the April 1 issue of the Register, a front-page article quoted U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (“Rep. McMorris Rodgers: My Down Syndrome Son’s Life Is Worth Living,” In Person) about the very meaningful life enjoyed by her child with Down syndrome. Her answer to the pro-abortion position was outstanding.

Elsewhere in the same issue, in addition to a cartoon on the subject of Down syndrome (Opinion, Page 12), there was the commentary on the life of the late brilliant physicist Stephen Hawking (“A Tribute to Stephen Hawking,” In Depth), who suffered with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease) for more than 50 years. 

Hawking did not despair of his severe disability. He was quoted as saying, “And however difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do and succeed at. It matters that you don’t just give up.”

Should Hawking’s life have been terminated long ago? Hardly!

The same is true of children with other handicaps, including Down syndrome.

                        Thomas P. Sheahen

                        St. Louis, Missouri