An Urgent Message from Fr. Owen Kearns LC, Publisher

Letters 02.17.2008

February 17-23, 2008 Issue | Posted 2/12/08 at 12:59 PM

First, congrats on the new website. It’s a million times nicer than the old one.

Second, I would recommend making all online content open-access. Many websites were initially catering to subscribers only: The Economist and The New York Times websites were this way, though both have recently changed. (The Wall Street Journal still charges for its online content. We’ll see if Murdoch continues this practice.)

Recent marketing trends shift profit margins to advertising and make all online content free. Just a suggestion, particularly for people plugged in all day long at work.

Caleb O’Kray

Woodbridge, Virginia

Editor’s note: We need subscription revenue to stay in business, but all our online access is free to subscribers.

Just a quick “Hear, hear!” in response to a letter written to the editor in the Jan. 27 issue. It was a letter titled “Misguided Sisters.” Nothing to add to it. I think it said it all.

Mrs. Robert M. Sledge

Omaha, Nebraska

Your recent front-page article, “Victim’s Mom Battles Death Penalty” (Jan. 27) on the death penalty left me stone cold, killed by misguided compassion for evildoers instead of their victims.

In the entire article, there was not one word about the innocent victims of horrific acts of violence, cruel and unusual acts of torture, rape and murder against individuals who didn’t deserve to die, who leave permanently grieving families, friends and communities. My compassion is with them.

There was also no mention of sacred Scripture, which shows no sympathy for murderers who have violated the Fifth Commandment.

A Jewish scholar said if we followed the Old Testament, capital punishment would be mandatory. Jesus tells us in the New: “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can cast both body and soul into hell” (Matthew 10:28).

God doesn’t care a whit if our earthly life is prolonged: His sole concern is the salvation of souls. We all want salvation for the condemned. Nothing concentrates the mind like the thought of imminent death. If that doesn’t bring repentance, nothing will.

Paul Beery

Minneapolis, Minnesota

Editor’s note: The Church doesn’t teach that the death penalty is always wrong, but it does teach that in the modern world, the cases where it may justly be used “are very rare, if not practically non-existent.” You can find that in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (No. 2267) and the even newer Compendium of the Catholic Church (No. 469).

Why are you folks not paying more attention to Ron Paul?

Not only is he the only truly devout Christian candidate within this race, but he’s also been a pro-lifer throughout his entire Senate career, has always opposed unjust wars engaged in by the U.S. (e.g. the Iraqi War), and his economic ideas are much closer to the distributist ways of thinking developed by G.K. Chesterton among others.

What does it take? Romney’s a Mormon, of all things, Giuliani is a fallen Catholic, and John McCain flip-flops all over the place.

Ron Paul gets two quick mentions in the article, and Romney gets practically the whole page.

Please stop giving attention to the worst candidates of the Republican Party and start giving some press to the only genuine and practically Catholic candidate: Ron Paul.

Brian Zuelke

Cheyenne, Wyoming

I just finished reading the Jan. 27 Register and was delighted to read the front-page article titled “Ron Paul Draws Passionate Support.”

I believe that your correspondent, Charlie Spiering, did a fair and good job briefly covering Paul’s phenomenal run for the Republican Party’s nomination for president. Reading it, G.K. Chesterton comes to mind, as Paul’s positions seem to reflect so much “common sense.”

In particular, I was impressed with the statements of Thomas Woods Jr., saying he supports Paul because of his steadfast, long-held political views that ring true with the Constitution.

Also, “The fact that Ron Paul is a man of integrity, who can’t be bought, and preaches his views thick or thin, good times or bad, fair or foul weather, appeals to Catholics who believe that there are unchanging truths. It’s very rare to see politicians who stand by their guns in all circumstances, and this guy does it.”

However, I have to wonder what might have been (regarding past caucuses and primaries) if your readers had the benefit of this article prior to casting their respective ballots?

Perhaps, to make up for the lack of timely coverage of Paul in the past, the Register will see fit to provide further coverage, especially since the secular Fourth Estate gives little, if any, attention to him.

K. Dale Anderson

Randallstown, Maryland

The headline “Rebound? Birth Rate Up, Abortion Down” (Feb. 3) gives the erroneous impression that the overall abortion rate is down.

The truth is that while surgical abortions are decreasing, the number of procedures lumped under the heading of “early medication abortions” is rising dramatically. 

For example, the French abortion pill RU-486, which has been on the market for only a few years, has become an increasingly common option, making abortion less clinical and more private, according to its users. 

Women take the pill in their doctor’s office and then go home, where they take another drug to trigger contractions, essentially causing a miscarriage.

According to the pill distributor, 840,000 women have used the pill since it was approved. One must assume that many RU-486 users would call the loss of their baby a miscarriage, rather than an abortion.

Another new pharmaceutical killer is the “Plan B” pill, which is a super-strength birth-control medication.

Taken soon after intercourse, it will prevent pregnancy or cause an early abortion should conception already have taken place.

This drug is available over the counter in pharmacies, and so there is no way of knowing how many abortions may have resulted from its use.

Although we should take satisfaction from the reduction in surgical abortions, we also should be alert to the possibility that the overall abortion rate may be going up, rather than declining, because of a rising number of unreported medication abortions. 

Charles O. Coudert

Sherborn, Massachusetts

In our Prolife Profile of the St. Gerard Walkathon in Massachusetts (“Baby Steppers, Feb. 3”), we misspelled a key name and fumbled an important e-mail address. The founder of the event is Kathleen Laplante (we erroneously capitalized the “p”), and its e-mail address is  (we had a period where the underscore belongs). We regret the errors.

Make a Donation now!

Insightful. Informative. Uncompromisingly faithful. The National Catholic Register is more than a newspaper. It’s a cause. Your support for the Register funds important journalism that helps to build a Culture of Life in our nation, and throughout the world. Help us promote the Church’s New Evangelization by donating to the National Catholic Register right now.

Click here to donate