Letters 06.29.14

Contribution Overlooked

Pertinent to "Recalling D-Day, 70 Years Ago" (page one, June 15 issue):

"Men and women across the United States and Europe commemorated the 70th anniversary of D-Day and the events of that fateful day, June 6, 1944, which launched the major turning point in World War II."

That was the opening statement from this article about D-Day chaplains. While very commendable, your story left out a significant number of combatants. Juno Beach, one of the five landing grounds in Operation Overlord, was the responsibility of the Third Canadian Infantry Division and Second Armored Brigade, assisted by British commandos. Twenty-two thousand Canadian soldiers landed on the beach that day, suffering 1,200 casualties. The First Canadian Paratroop Battalion, elements of the Royal Canadian Navy and the Royal Canadian Air Force also took part.

Our nation and its accomplishments get ignored and overlooked by Americans all the time. Usually, we take it in stride. However, at times like this, it can be quite annoying.

Peter Mahon

via email

 

The editor responds:You are quite right. Our story overlooked the commendable contributions of our neighbors to the north, and we apologize for the oversight.

 

Chaplain Remembered

Relative to "Recalling D-Day, 70 Years Ago" (page one, June 15 issue):

As the world celebrated the 70th anniversary of the D-Day invasion of June 1944, the Franciscan Friars Conventual held a special remembrance of one of their own: Father Ignatius Maternowksi, 32 years old and a captain in the U.S. Army, was the only Catholic chaplain to die in the D-Day landing.

Father Ignatius’ body lay in the roadway for three days, as the German commander would not allow him to be removed. On June 9, when the 90th Infantry Division claimed the area, Father’s body was recovered and buried near Utah Beach. In 1948, his remains were returned to the United States and interred at the Franciscan Friars’ Mater Dolorosa Cemetery in South Hadley, Mass.

Father James McCurry, the provincial minister of the Our Lady of the Angels Province of Franciscan Friars Conventual, traveled to Guetteville, France, on the Normandy coast to participate in a ceremony remembering the sacrifice of life that Father Maternowksi made there.

Joseph Hamilton

Our Lady of the Angels Province

of Franciscan Friars Conventual

Baltimore, Maryland

 

Thanks, Dad

Regarding your coverage of Father’s Day in the Register’s June 15 edition, I am moved to write about my dad and why I am so thankful and sincerely grateful for what my father has taught me and still teaches by his example. Although "No" is an unpopular word today, from Wall Street on down, with bailouts and entitlements the norm, I’m thankful for coming to the realization that I was raised by a father who believes in responsibility, hard work and a sense of duty to oneself, family and neighbor.

Delaying gratification meant something to Dad, who is a consummate doer. His guidance illustrated why "No" actually taught me there’s a difference between being a "tough" woman and what it means to be a "strong" woman. It is my ardent desire to travel along the continuum of the strong woman.

While talk can be tough, the real strength of anything is in doing, when partnered with integrity and silence.

Thanks, Dad, for emphasizing the premise without lecturing. Thanks for recognizing I still need my dad today, continuing to parent in the coach sort of way by imparting the "Wisdom of No."

To many, saying "No" is turning one’s back on a person in need, and especially a loved one, but as my dad shared, "It is really vital that when I leave this earth I know my children can stand on their own."

I cannot speak for my siblings, but I am able to say:

Dad, thanks for teaching me how to maintain landscaping. Spreading the horse manure definitely made many cognitive connections.

Thanks for making Saturdays a day of home-cooked breakfast, laundry on the line, ironing with hot water and no starch, doing dishes and shopping down at the largest open-air farmers’ market in North America.

Thanks for showing us how to renovate a whole house; because of our hard work, we never wanted to throw a party when you were away.

Thanks for having me read a story of my choosing to you every night with proper posture, pronunciation and enunciation.

Thanks for insisting on assigned seats, clean hands and combed hair at family meals.

Thanks for letting me know my mom was not running a restaurant and that I was to eat what was in front of me and be thankful I had nutritious, homemade food.

Thanks for never letting up on my tone of voice and your famous last words — "hold-off."

Thanks for my hand-me-down clothes and $10 at Christmas. No one ever complained; we just knew we should be thankful.

Thanks for not allowing me to watch any of the eight television stations, except several hours on Friday and Saturday nights, with supervision.

Thanks for being a baseball coach practically every year of our little-league lives.

Thanks for teaching me in high school to study hard, play a sport and work a part-time job.

Thanks for showing up to watch my high-school games.

Thanks for not paying for my college education. It actually made me study and know the value of a dollar.

Thanks for praying for me and forgiving me when I made mistakes and continue to make mistakes.

Thanks for encouraging me to further my education and pay off all my debt while I was single. I married late, but I am thankful for the extra maturation time.

Thanks for making me one of five kids. I learned the value of growing up with others, sharing and dealing with all of the various temperaments.

Thanks for teaching that different kids have different needs and providing according to our needs.

Thanks for employing the Socratic Method when recognizing how stubborn I really am.

Thanks for taking the time to parent me: raising the bar and not accepting excuses, disciplining and always being there for me. I am so grateful now that I am a spouse and parent.

Saying "No" in many ways rather than saying it outright has given me the dignity to know who I am today, what I am truly capable of and a sense of personal responsibility to myself, family and neighbor, despite all the mistakes.

Thank you, Dad, and thank you to all the fathers who take the time to sacrifice for your children, and not sacrificing them, by teaching the valuable lesson of "No."

Colleen Saka Narduzzi

Grosse Pointe Woods, Michigan

 

Leaders Wanted

Regarding "Canadian Politics: Pro-Lifers Need Not Apply" (Nation, June 15 issue):

Once more, we have a leading politician — this time in Canada — supporting abortion yet claiming to be a "devout" Catholic. As with some bishops in Canada, many bishops in this country have also written letters and made pronouncements against these pro-abortion, so-called Catholic politicians. But, as usual, they do nothing but talk and wring their hands.

Let me make an observation: If any politicians of any party claimed they supported murder of African-Americans, wouldn’t our bishops take immediate action to excommunicate those politicians? It would happen overnight. They would not and should not tolerate such a viewpoint.

Our Catholic Church believes abortion is murder. What is the difference if it is an unborn baby or a black adult? Both are human beings.

What kinds of leaders are our bishops? Is their support of politicians so important that they are unwilling to take actions on our fundamental beliefs?

Or worse, is there another reason?

Fred Holzweiss

Englewood, Florida

 

Great Insight

I very much appreciated the article "The Fight Against Redefining Marriage: Time to Quit or Dig In?" (NCRegister.com, May 27) for the information and insight Joan Frawley Desmond has provided.

Certainly, we cannot "quit"; we must "dig in"! Science has discovered a lot about man’s origin that we didn’t know up until recent times, but none of this information changes the fact that the union between one man and one woman for the procreative purpose is embedded in man via the natural law — from the beginning of homo sapiens’ life on earth.

Had this union not taken place — and been passed down through the ages, through the centuries — none of us would be here today. There just isn’t any way for the conception of a child to occur between two persons of the same sex. This relationship between one man and one woman has been given the name of marriage.

Another word must be found and given legal recognition in civil courts to satisfy those who insist on legal standing for a relationship (that can never produce a child) between two persons of the same sex.

While there can be no thought of blessing such a relationship, the Catechism of the Catholic Church (2357) addresses this "intrinsically disordered" inclination with both firmness and compassion.

Pam Haines

St. Petersburg, Florida

 

Unchurched Northwest

I was shocked to read in the June 1-14 issue ("Churching the Unchurched," Culture of Life) a comment by Deacon Thomas Gornick regarding Oregon’s religious population.

Although not in quotes, the article said the deacon asserts that Portland is religious but not affiliated with traditional denominations. For many in Portland, he said, one’s religion consists of quiet time in the wilderness.

For a Catholic deacon to make such a statement suggests that he needs a better grounding in the faith he is supposedly sharing and teaching.

Barbara Ladwig

Carlsbad, California

 

The editor replies: The comments in our story from Deacon Gornick weren’t a reflection of his faith, or lack thereof. Rather, he was stating a fact from his experience in ministry and what is generally know about religion in the Pacific Northwest. A 2009 Gallup poll, "State of the States," indicated that fewer than 19% of people in Oregon identified as Catholic. The deacon went on to praise Portland Archbishop Alexander Sample for his approach to evangelization.