Careful What You Wish For

In your article “Is There a ‘Catholic Vote’?” (page one, Feb. 21 issue), you presented some interesting facts regarding the presidential candidates and their support among Catholics. This is not the first time I have written, regarding a question I have, about people willing to vote Democrat in light of the new, more progressive direction that party has taken.

I find it troubling that, in a Pew poll, some 40% of Catholics are quite comfortable with a Hillary Clinton presidency. She has consistently defended the decisions of President Obama that have not been in concert with the values and beliefs of Catholics. Obama wasn’t even willing to attend a funeral Mass for Justice Antonin Scalia. Obama’s actions against faith-based groups, and the Obamacare-linked mandates, as well as his solid support of all aspects of Planned Parenthood, are troubling.

Hillary Clinton, who is on board with all these actions — and even likes to tie her support to a phony “war on women” to promote counterfeit feminism and progressive values over authentic feminism and traditional and faith-based values — will certainly continue these narratives with a presidential term.

And let us not forget Scalia. His unfortunate death and any other near-future judicial departures will be giving the next president the opportunity to appoint several folks.

It is quite obvious that those decisions in the hands of Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders will skew the court for generations to come. The social engineering of activist Supreme Court judges will only help Planned Parenthood, pro-choice positions, religious-expression restrictions, abortion rights, same-sex “marriage” and increased health-care mandates.

How those same Pew pollsters could have such an anemic reaction to Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio is also puzzling. Catholic Americans, go ahead and vote Democrat, but be careful what you wish for.

         Charles Lopresto

         Phoenix, Arizona

 

Sage Advice

Pertinent to “Is There a ‘Catholic Vote’?”: I have already heard that “they” would like Hillary Clinton to win the presidency. However, in the article, Joshua Mercer states that Clinton “does not deserve Catholic support because of her steadfast advocacy for abortions up until a baby’s due date.”

Of course, that is not allowing a woman to take care of her body, but giving her a license to kill. What everyone needs to notice is that her legislative experience is in New York, known to be one of the worst states regarding abortion. 

My advice to everyone who is Roman Catholic is to abstain from the desire to elect a female president until it is a woman who supports life, not death.

The decision made in Roe v. Wade in the U.S. has cheapened life and led to a statistical increase in homicide and child abuse. It isn’t that Clinton is any less “nice” of a person, but in a political election, it is the issues that affect the entire nation that are at stake, not a popularity contest.

Take care of everyone. Vote solidly pro-life!

         Zashka Mikka Sergeevna

         Corpus Christi, Texas

 

Needed Consideration

I was surprised as I read Brian Fraga’s “Is there a ‘Catholic Vote’?” article. It seems as if no consideration is being given to the one candidate who in almost all instances stands in alignment with Catholic teaching: Ben Carson. In fact, throughout the entire primary experience, not once was he caustic, rude, accusatory or in general out of line.

Carson spoke in a soft manner (some don’t care for that), was respectful, honest and refrained from name-calling. He was even merciful by his acceptance of Ted Cruz’s apology (for misleading Carson voters by telling them Carson was going home before all the votes were cast in the Iowa caucuses).

I’ve spent weeks reading his books and have deemed him a very good choice for Catholics. He has a plan of action in each area, he has good morals and a deep, intimate relationship with Christ (isn’t that our goal?). What he lacks is media attention to what he stands for. Most have written him off, thinking he isn’t qualified, has no backbone (due to his soft-spoken approach), isn’t well-enough informed, etc.

Fraga apparently falls into that category by not mentioning him in his article, other than to show him in the Pew Research survey.

         Shari Cummings

         Cashton, Wisconsin

 

Editor’s Note: At press time, Carson had already suspended his Republican presidential campaign.

 

Chats Have to Go

Relevant to your coverage of Pope Francis giving in-flight interviews to the media: I agree 1,000% that papal in-flight chats have to go. The Holy Father is doing more harm than good. Regarding Donald Trump and his position on immigration, doesn’t the abortion issue “trump” welcoming illegal immigrants?

         Bob Sekerak

         Milton, Vermont

 

Climate of Confusion

I am afraid that Edward Pentin’s effort to explain the position regarding climate change emanating from the Vatican of late in “The Vatican and Climate Change” (page one, Dec. 27 issue) only succeeds in highlighting its incoherence.

To say on the one hand that the Church has “no reason to offer a definitive opinion” and that “honest debate must be encouraged among experts, while respecting divergent views,” and to say on the other hand that we must immediately adopt measures that are predicated upon the rightness of one particular viewpoint in the debate is to grasp two incompatible positions. It also sounds like a surrender to the “just do something!” mentality, which usually results in ill-considered action.

It is likewise troubling to hear prelates express faith in the international climate-regulatory apparatus, harboring as it does ideological underpinnings that are inimical both to human freedom and the Catholic Tradition.

         Patrick J. Lally

         Youngstown, Ohio

 

Beautiful Gift

Your article “Divine Liturgy Comes to Notre Dame” by Elisabeth Deffner (Books & Education, Dec. 13 issue) was the greatest gift you could give your readers. Our family discovered the inspiring, poetic, reverent, beautiful Divine Liturgy 20 years ago, when we discovered St. Anne Byzantine Catholic Church here in the central coast of California when we moved here.

How unfortunate that still so many Western (Roman) Catholics are not aware of Eastern Churches in communion with Rome. Articles such as this one are most appreciated and much needed. Worshipping at these Eastern Catholic Churches is indeed a foretaste of heaven. The singing, the poetic language and reverence lifts one’s heart and soul to Almighty God.

Another great experience at these Eastern Catholic churches is the warmth and friendly people during their fellowship after Sunday Divine Liturgy. Our hearts rejoice that the beautiful Divine Liturgy is now being celebrated at the University of Notre Dame. May the Holy Spirit move many students and others to discover the treasures of the Eastern Catholic Churches.

         Mr. and Mrs. Constantino Santos

         Atascadero, California

 

Unlikely Evangelists

Evangelism by the laity is a recurring topic that always left me feeling a bit clueless as to what a practical application of it might look like. In one sense, I was quite impressed by the way Protestant churches approached this. They trained their congregations, had programs, strategies and were quite creative — and yet what emerged was, often, cloned evangelists with stock rhetoric. There was something missing.

I discovered what it was when I worked for a chemical company years ago, in the tearoom on one of the plants I visited. One of the managers, who also had his tea break there, was very antagonistic towards God and the Church; and like many atheists and God haters, he would deliver his anti-God sermons almost every day. It was clear that a conversation would be pointless, so I prayed for him instead, sometimes out of pity and other times out of annoyance. I was not the only player in the piece of theater that was about to unfold, though. The next was “the tobacco man,” who used to tour the plant selling pouches of tobacco smuggled in from Europe on the trucks. His role was that he had a full forearm tattoo of the Crucifixion scene. Each time he came in, the atheist winced, as his eyes were inexplicably drawn to the cross.

One afternoon, God fielded a ringer, the head chef of the canteen: a man with a volcanic temperament, made worse by a punitive financial settlement following a recent divorce, which occupied his every waking moment. As the atheist began his daily rant against God, I could sense that the chef was in no mood for it, and without pausing, he declared to him, “You ungrateful b------; he died for your sins.”

Whether or not there was silence in heaven, I don’t know; but there was in the tearoom. The atheist was glued to the spot, head bent over, and visibly shaken. The chef thought about his ex-wife. The tobacco man took a long drag on his cigarette and lowered his tattooed arm into position on his knee, and the atheist looked into the image of his Savior’s eyes — without wincing this time. The Gospel had been preached to him in its fullness; his own soul’s condition revealed to him, like a violent lightning bolt; the sword of the Spirit had found its mark; and his life would never be the same again.

God is always looking, always preparing, assembling teams of evangelists, creating a space to do his work and completing the task, often with people who are not religious at all, untrained and even totally unaware. He is the prime mover in evangelism.

         Stephen Clark

         Manila, Philippines

 

End Game

Donald DeMarco’s “Even Stars Perish: Death Is the Great Equalizer” (In Depth, Dec. 27 issue) brought to mind an Italian saying dating back to the Renaissance. It is this: “At the end of the game, the king and the pawn go into the same box.” Indeed they do ... as do we.

         Peter Skurkiss

        Stow, Ohio