Good Friday in Focus

On Good Friday this year, the Rolling Stones played their song Sympathy for the Devil in Havana, Cuba.

Pope Francis asked them not to have a concert on Good Friday, but they denied his request. They made a mockery of the solemnity.

Since I have no sympathy for the devil, I spent part of my day on Good Friday at a pro-life prayer vigil in front of Planned Parenthood, where I heard a priest talk about the brutal killing of the Missionaries of Charity sisters and the kidnapping of Father Tom Uzhunnalil.

The lives of the sisters who were caring for the elderly were taken savagely. The extremists who killed the Missionaries of Charity in Yemen tied them up, shot them in the head and smashed their heads, according to the superior of the small community, who considered her escape miraculous.

Those who choose to have sympathy and courtesy for the devil will someday have to stand naked before God. At that time, if they still have sympathy for the devil, then he will be pleased to meet them.

What is not mentioned in the song Sympathy for the Devil is Easter. There is no mention of the Resurrection or what many consider the most valuable material item in the world, the Shroud of Turin.

Today, we are still not able to replicate the Shroud of Turin, which portrays a 3-D image on a “micro surface” of an ancient linen cloth of a crucified man. Scientists say the image was created with a burst of light that is beyond our capabilities to reproduce.

The Rolling Stones should sing next Easter about the stone that was rolled away and our redemption.

Russ Rooney

Rogers, Minnesota

 

Intellectual Hokey Pokey

Pertinent to “Notre Dame’s False Civility at the Cost of Truth” (page one, May 15 issue):

“You put your right foot in. You take your left foot out. You do the hokey pokey, and you turn yourself around …”

Notre Dame’s president, Father John Jenkins, is dancing the intellectual hokey pokey when, with a wink, a nod and a Laetare Medal, he praises the “civil” words of Vice President Joe Biden, who has for decades spoken ardently on behalf of a most uncivil act: the dismemberment of human life within the womb.

And that’s what it’s all about!

Michael Berberich

Galveston, Texas

 

St. Kateri in Montreal

I read the article about the Shrine of the North American Martyrs (“Saving the Shrine of the North American Martyrs,” NCRegister.com, July 2) and was pleased that it will be staffed again with priests and supported by a group of interested people.

However, I have also visited the burial place of St. Kateri in St. Francis Xavier Church on the Mohawk reservation outside of Montreal and truly felt it was a unique and holy place. It is a shame that it does not receive the interest generated by the North American Martyrs’ Shrine.

Charles Eble

Indianapolis, Indiana