Letters 05.24.20

Readers respond to Register articles.

(photo: Register Files)

Value of Lives

I see the debates: This was done too late; that was wrong; this is only political, and that was in error. Everyone uses political reasons to second-guess whatever was done about this virus. 

Yet, in all this “we’re trying our best” chaos, one thing amazes me.

Despite the politics, despite the agreement there is no “right” answer, and despite the fear, one thing is clear about all the actions being taken to contain this virus: We are doing it because we feel the innate value of a human life. 

Last year, I could point to many things, from abortion to euthanasia to casual treatment of suicide, and despaired the future of America. 

And then this year we said: Stop everything! We have to save lives! Deep in our souls, we knew this was the right thing to do. God is not dead in America; somewhere deep in our hearts, we know we are still “one nation under God.” And I believe he is pleased.

            Tom Salapatek

            Canton, Michigan

 

God’s Judgment?

Is the Coronavirus Pandemic a Judgment From God?” asks columnist Mary Healy (In Depth, April 26 issue). It could well be — and it could get a whole lot worse.

We are taught, as Christians, that our first parents sinned against God, and all mankind since has suffered from the effects of that first sin. So what have we learned from that? Apparently to commit more sin.

We have institutionalized abortion, we view same-sex “marriage” as normal, we relieve suffering through physician-assisted suicide and we question the very notion of sex, allowing those who “feel” they have been born into the wrong body to change it. These behaviors are the new normal throughout the world, and, if anyone hadn’t noticed, the coronavirus is also a worldwide phenomenon.

Judgment from God? Stay tuned.

            Jack Wolock

            Worthington, Ohio

 

Divine Chastisement

I commend professor Mary Healy’s highly instructive essay regarding divine chastisement and the current COVID crisis (“Is the Coronavirus Pandemic a Judgment From God?,” In Depth, April 26) by distinguishing between God’s positive will and God’s permissive will.

However, her proposed response should have included a specific call to repent for our sins against the sanctity of all human life, particularly for killing children in the womb by abortion. Under the new covenant, God does not send physical punishment for sin because Jesus Christ took on all such punishment. 

However, our sins do obstruct our prayers for healing from the effects of a fallen world and the sins of other human beings. Thus, our prayers for healing from COVID need to include a call to repentance for — and vast apathy about — the killing of children in the womb.

Healy’s quotation from Joel Chapter 2 provides hope that repentance does bring healing. However, Isaiah Chapter 1 (which is also proclaimed in early Lent) provides specificity to the current need for repentance. Isaiah explains that God is reluctant to protect Israel from a foreign invader because Israel’s hands “are full of blood” (from sacrificing their children to the pagan god Moloch). He then exhorts Israel to “wash yourselves clean.” U.S. Catholics need to act and “wash ourselves clean” by making the ending — and outlawing — of the far more extensive and deadly pandemic of killing children before birth by abortion as our most preeminent obligation.

Michael J. McMonagle
Pro-Life Coalition of Pennsylvania
Lansdale, Pennsylvania

 

Corrections

“Give and Take” (Letters, May 10 issue) was written by Ken Horstman, not Faith Favale.

In “Converted in College: Hillsdale Students Find Truth of Faith on Campus,” the last name of Jill Riegle, a Hillsdale student, was misspelled. The Register regrets the errors.

 

Clarification

In “Online Pilgrimages Abound” (Travel, April 26 issue), we included a link for the National Shrine of Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos; due to the launch of a new website after the Register went to press, that link changed. Please visit the shrine online at https://seelos.org/about/.