My Sister Is Special

In our family we have a little sister with Down syndrome, so we really like it when the Register has articles about people with special needs (“So Much to Offer, So Far to Go,” March 26-April 1). Last week, I won the Diocesan Respect Life essay contest with an essay about her. Here is what I wrote:

I have a 3-year-old sister named Christina with Down syndrome. It can be a challenge having a sister with a disability. When she was born, I cried because I knew people would make fun of the way she looked and spoke. Sometimes people give her weird looks as they pass by, but it doesn’t bother me anymore. Those people don’t know her like I do.

Christina is slow at learning to speak, and I don’t always understand her, but that does not stop her from communicating. She says “Let’s go” and takes me by the hand to show me what she wants, like something to eat or her favorite Elmo DVD, and she always says “Thank you” after you give it to her.

Christina didn’t learn to walk until she was 2½, but now you can’t stop her. Sometimes, she climbs up on the kitchen island, knocks everything down and yells for me to come and see her standing up there with a big smile on her face. She loves running away from me when she is in trouble.

People with Down syndrome really love, and once in a while they teach us how to live our faith better. Christina always seems to have a smile on her face, and really cares for others. One time my mom took Christina to Eucharistic adoration. As they went into the chapel, she enthusiastically waved and said, “Hi Jesus!” as if he were standing right in front of her. Everyone in the chapel turned and smiled at her, saying, “She knows he is here.’’

Christina is like any other kid, just slower at learning things. She should not be treated differently. Most people don’t know that 95% of Down syndrome babies are aborted. The people who do this don’t know what they are missing. Every year, my family and I go to Washington, D.C., for the March for Life and try to stop this discrimination against unborn babies. Just because they don’t have a voice does not mean their lives should be ended. We have to be their voice.

I think nobody should be rejected because of the way they look or speak. We are all God’s children and he loves all of us.

Gabriela Velasquez

Age 12

East Moriches, New York

Reservations About Rice

Regarding “Anne Rice’s Jesus Is Our Jesus” (Weekly Book Pick, Feb. 19-25):

I am a subscriber to the Register, which I think is a great paper. While I agree that we should pray that novelist Anne Rice will come to full acceptance of the teaching of the Church, she is quite far from this as of now. She has written many dark and evil books. 

What if her acceptance of abortion, the homosexual lifestyle, contraception and the denial of the Holy Father’s true authority come across in future volumes on the life of Our Lord Jesus?

I was disturbed that you would promote her book, as we do not know what her future books will entail or what her true motives are. Until she is in complete union with the Church’s teachings, I believe you should hold off on promoting her writings.

 

Catherine Petruzzi

New York

Keep Marriage in the Mugs

I thought that Jaimie, a single parent, had a poignant plea to include pictures in Baby Mugs of babies of single parents (“Single-Mom Mugs,” Letters, March 26-April 1). I commend her courage in keeping her baby, and her letter struck a chord since I agree that her child is as precious as every other baby.

But there is an important consideration to be made here. A single parent and children of single parents do have a more difficult path ahead of them than two parents and their children. Most parents would not choose single parenthood for their own children due to the hardships that come with it. 

My 10-year-old daughter is not old enough to read all of the Register, but she loves that page with the Baby Mugs and Umbert the Unborn. And while she is still in her formative years, I want her to receive the impression, as much as possible, that a two-parent home is the norm. So little in the world around her does that right now. She is at an age where subtle messages are powerful.

I hope the Register keeps Baby Mugs as is, simply because we need the counter-cultural influence. Perhaps a separate article or feature on courageous and successful single parents would be a better choice.

Kim Carroll

Gig Harbor, Washington

Politics or Principles? 

In “The Case Against South Dakota” (Commentary & Opinion, March 19-25), Mark Stricherz argues that pro-lifers should not back legislation that bans abortion in all cases except when the life of the mother is endangered. In his opinion, it is bad politics. In essence, he is arguing that the ends justify the means.

Since when has this type of rationalization been morally right?

Joel Fago

Sierra Vista, Arizona

Leslee Unruh: Yes!

I agree totally with Leslee Unruh (“It Is Never the Wrong Time to Do Right,” Commentary & Opinion, March 26-April 1) and disagree totally with Mark Stricherz, “The Case Against South Dakota” (Commentary & Opinion, March 19-25).

The criterion for our actions as pro-lifers is not political timing but faithful witness to the truth. The fact that the abortionists are “energized” by the South Dakota abortion ban means that they feel threatened, and rightly so.

As Ms. Unruh points out, there has been much scientific evidence collected about the beginnings of human life and the impact of abortion on women. A challenge of Roe v. Wade that caused all this evidence to be introduced into the record would seriously undermine the flimsy foundations of legalized abortion.

Jesus Christ is the Lord of human history and he will ultimately prevail. We need to be sure we are on the winning side of human history by sticking to our principles whether they are politically expedient or not.

Gerald T. Yeung

White Plains, New York

Leslee Unruh: No!

Leslee Unruh is doing a disservice to the pro-life movement as well as being grossly unfair to her fellow pro-lifers when she accuses them of supporting pro-life efforts “when it suits them” or “when it puts them in good standing among others.”

Those who oppose the South Dakota bill banning abortion are not opposed to the ultimate goal of ending abortion, just this particular tactic at this point in our nation’s history. At a time when we clearly do not have the votes on the Supreme Court to overturn Roe, it is unwise to give the pro-abortion side another precedent to be used against us. All this loss would do is give more ammunition to the pro-abortion argument.

Ms. Unruh ends her article by quoting Mark 13:36, which refers to the Lord not finding us sleeping when he returns. I think a more appropriate quote would be Matthew 10:16, where Our Lord advises us to be as “wise as serpents” when dealing with the world.

Suzanne Greydanus

Bloomfield, New Jersey

Physician’s Precision

In your recent article on deaths from RU-486, the mechanism of action for the drug was misquoted (“FDA Faces Questions Over RU-486 Deaths,” April 2-8). It should have read, “It blocks the action of progesterone by binding up the progesterone receptors and preventing progesterone from maintaining the pregnancy until maturation of the placenta.”

Thank you for the wonderful articles on so many life issues. The physicians in the Catholic Medical Association are committed to assisting the Church in explaining the issues and restoring a culture that respects all human life from conception to natural death.

 

Kathleen M. Raviele, m.d.

Vice-President, Catholic Medical Association

Time to Rise

Regarding “Up From the Ghetto” (Editorial, March 26-April 2):

This was a much-needed message that every Catholic publication should put into the Catholic public square for discussion and action. Christians (especially Catholics) have been diffidently ignoring the attacks, put-downs and loss of rights for almost half a century now. However, it is ourselves who are most responsible, due to our lack of defending Our Lord and God and protecting his place in our culture.

It would be most useful for the Register to publish a series on how we, individually and collectively, can go about reversing the trends of the last 50 years.

Frank W. Russell

Nalcrest, Florida

Formation in the Pharmacy

Relevant to “Connecticut Drops Bill Forcing Rape-Victim Abortions on Catholics” (April 2-8):

According to Pharmacists for Life, abortifacient birth control kills an estimated 8 million or more pre-born U.S. citizens annually. For pharmacists to refuse to take part in committing this injustice against the lives of pre-born children is not only a moral duty but also a basic human right. No human person should be forced to perform an action (dispensing abortifacient birth control) that’s intrinsically incompatible with human dignity.

All people of good will are called upon, under grave obligation, not to cooperate personally in practices which, even if permitted by civil legislation, are contrary to “Thou shalt not murder.”

When the state, not doing its job, declares an evil to be a good, it is never licit for pharmacists — or for any of us — to cooperate formally in that evil. By not cooperating with evil, pharmacists are, in truth, doing their job.

Father Patrick J. O’Doherty

Ocala, Florida

 

Unambiguously Pro-Register

I have never read a magazine or newspaper with such satisfaction as I get from the Register. I read everything from the front page to the last page of every issue. Even after reading I cannot throw it away, because I wish someone could also read this wonderful paper.

One day I brought several issues to a church and left them. I found the next day that all were gone.

So I am going to bring all issues to the church as soon as I finish reading them. I believe this would be one way to increase readership and thus help people get information that cannot be obtained through the mainstream media.

Thank you for your wonderful work. God bless you.

 Y. Gemma Droual

Turlock, California