LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

The following correspondence concerns our News in Brief report about women's ordination and the Loretto Sisters of Toronto

1. To Catholic Insight from Donald Grant 

October 23, 1998

I am the solicitor who acts for the Loretto Ladies' Colleges and Schools and in this instance for Sisters Jane McDonell, Johanna D'Agostine, Caroline Dawson, Arlene Ashack and Maria Bierer.

In that regard, I note that in your September issue you indicated that "the Loretto Sisters have openly vowed to support women's ordination even after the Pope's apostolic letter ... was released." Notwithstanding the fact that Sister Jane McDonell, the General Superior of the Order, denies any such avowal, you go on in your October letter to state that these five women have "issued a defiant rejection of the magisterial ruling in July." This is patently false and as you can undoubtedly appreciate, with the Loretto Sisters' position in the Catholic community, could cause considerable damage. We take the position that what has been written constitutes actionable libel.

The purpose of this letter is to demand that you print a retraction in your next issue, failing which we will consider commencing an action claiming damages, prejudgment interest and costs.

I look forward to hearing from you with respect to the above.

2. To Mr. Donald J. Grant from C.I. Editor

October 28, 1998

Thank you for your letter dated October 23rd received by me on October 27th.

We are always happy to print corrections to stories which may be proven incorrect, or statements from parties correcting their position.

In your letter you mention that the General Superior of the Loretto Sisters "denies any such avowal" as made in the news story in the Minneapolis-St.-Paul Star Tribune of July 5, the contents of which we reported in our September issue. I have not seen this denial in any Toronto newspaper, Catholic or otherwise. Could you please forward the text of this denial to our office so that we may print it in our next edition?

3. From Mr. Donald J. Grant to Catholic Insight

November 12, 1998

Further to my letter of October 23rd and your response of October 28th, 1998 and subsequent telephone conversations, please find enclosed a copy of a letter written to the Minneapolis St. Paul Star Tribune by the Institute. I believe this Outlines the position of the Loretto Sisters with respect to the within matter.

Further, I would add that at the suggestion of the Generalate I wish to point out that not in Mary Ward's time or in the present date has the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary taken the stance of open defiance of, or a vow to dissent against, magisterial rulings. This would be contrary to the Community's tradition and charism as exemplified so clearly by Mary Ward. Throughout her entire life she sought to do God's will and remains a loyal member of the Church.

I trust the above and the enclosed are in order and I look forward to receiving a copy of your next issue.

4. From Sister Jane McDonell, General Leader of the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary in North America, to the Minneapolis Star Tribune, July 13, 1998, received by C.I. on Nov. 19, 1998, after close of the December issue

As the leader of the North American Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary, I want to respond to Cheryl L. Reed's article of July 5, 1998, entitled "Liberal Catholic order vows to stand firm for women's ordination." The article presents a very distorted analysis of the content of our 150th anniversary conference held in Toronto on July 3 and 4, 1998. The theme of the conference, "Living today: A bolder imagining of hope" centered on the IBVM charism of Integrity, Justice and Freedom and its meaning as we move into a new millennium.

Quotations in the article are totally misleading. They are taken out of context and reported through the single lens of women's ordination, which was not the subject of the conference. Only a single brief reference was made by one of the speakers to the question of the ordination of women.

Mary Ward, who founded the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary in 1609, said, "Be lovers of truth and workers of justice." Speakers at the conference called all participants to examine how they can be lovers of truth and workers of justice in these challenging times. Highlighted throughout was the need for all believers to be attentive and faithful to God's Spirit acting within and among us.

We strongly object to Cheryl Reed's version of what was an inspirational and faith-filled celebration of our 150 years in North America.

5. Editor's Comment

(Dec. 16, 1998)

Although the July 13 letter from Sister Jane McDonell does not appear expressly to disavow women's ordination, we infer from the circumstances under which it was sent to us that it was intended as such. We are happy to report this.

P.S. We would like to apologize to Cheryl Reed for not making it clear in our September issue that the entire News in Brief item was taken from her article in the Minneapolis Star Tribune. The author of the Star Tribune article, by the way, stands by her story.

From Bishop emeritus Basil Filevich re December letter

I have personally known Bishop Roman Danylak since he was a student at De La Salle College in Toronto. After taking his priestly studies in Rome he was on a special assignment for a few years. On his return to Toronto he was my assistant from 1964 to 1978. He then became rector of the Cathedral and Chancellor of the Eparchy of Toronto.

On March 3, 1993, he was ordained bishop and appointed Apostolic Administrator of the Eparchy of Toronto. He remained as rector of the Cathedral at the same time. As Administrator of the Eparchy he fulfilled his difficult assignment conscientiously with truth and devotion until his new assignment to Rome in July 1998 which he accepted as a bishop loyal to Rome.

To state that "he was a priest who had been ordained but had left the Church," as related in the letter by Kathleen Hickey (December 1998), or even worse, to be called a "renegade" by a Latin-rite bishop are false and unjust statements and those persons making them owe Bishop Danylak an apology.

From Frank Wagner re Humanae vitae

Saskatoon, SK

I've just read most of the latest issue of Catholic Insight. It made me both happy and sad; sad because the CCCB as a group still hasn't fully accepted the Catholic Church's teaching on contraception, and happy because some Catholics are speaking out in defence of the truth.

But for the Grace of God and the Guidance of the Holy Spirit and the writings of the Popes, I too would be a victim of the same error as the CCCB. When Humanae vitae was first published I read it. My reaction was "surely there must be some exceptions." I read it again and this time I understood in my head that what Pope Paul VI had written was the truth. It was years later that I also understood the truth in my heart.

Finally I prayed about it again and it all became very simple. "Contraception is an abomination in the sight of God." That simple sentence contains all we really need to know about the evil of contraception.

Delta, BC

From Hugh Ballantyne re the Winnipeg Statement

The Winnipeg Statement says, "...Whoever honestly chooses that course which seems right to him does so in good conscience.

Isn't that a tautology?

Oxford dictionary: tautology: saying the same thing twice over in different words.

Fergus, ON

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We print the following exchange of correspondence between one of our readers and the Executive Director of the charitable organization Gift of Sight in Calgary, concerning population control

Dear Mr. O'Callaghan,

First, let me apologize for the tardiness of this response to your letters of earlier this year. Our founder and Honorary President, Dr. Art Jenkyns, has asked me to respond to your correspondence....

Although population control is not included in the mission statement or mandate of Operation Eyesight Universal, we do address this problem in our community health clinics. For example, diagnostic treatment education camps are held regularly at the Chandraghona Christian Hospital, Bangladesh. Dr. Sue Headlam conducts family health and education programs that supply information on birth control as well as general health and nutritional information. The family health and education camps are an integral part of all of our programs in the eight countries in which we operate. We must, however, remember that we are working in developing countries where living conditions are harsh and religious and cultural differences vast. OEU strives to educate people and will continue to do so. We encourage gender equality in societies where the voice of women is very faint.

We appreciate your concern over the issue of population control and would like to reassure you that we are involved in supporting population control through our family health education programs. These education programs augment our diagnostic and surgical eye camps and contribute to improving the lives of the people who are in need in the developing world.

I trust that this letter answers your concerns over OEU's involvement in population control programs. Thank you for your continued interest in the work of Operation Eyesight Universal.

John A Huggett, Executive Director,

Calgary AB

Response from Mr. John O'Callaghan

Thank you for your letter dated 21st July 1998, in response to my two earlier letters to Dr. Jenkyns, in which I had inquired as to whether OEU included population control measures in its activities to relieve suffering in the Third World.

It was with a mixture of anger and dismay that I learned from your letter that your association which...solicits charitable contributions, ostensibly for the restoration of the "Gift of Sight" to those deprived of it by disease, actually has a hidden agenda.

...Programs operating under the guise of family health and education are in a great many cases nothing more than pressure groups for the propagation of artificial methods of birth control.... Since hearing from you, I have taken every opportunity to spread the information contained in your letter. As a result, many to whom I have spoken will no longer be contributing to your organization, and they have all agreed to join my efforts in letting the truth be known.

Mississauga, ON

From Mrs Amanda Bremner re catechetical materials

I represent a grassroots organization of home schoolers called F.A.I. T.H. (Faith Alive In The Home). Due to the almost total lack of Catholic teaching materials which are obedient to the letter of Vatican II, we decided to start producing our own materials.

Currently we have a primer level reader at the printers. This reader is a reprint of a family-oriented 1960s Catholic primer. A newly written first year grammar and first year mathematics text are in the proofing and editorial stages. We are conducting market research for Catholic teaching materials in French.

The purpose of this letter is not to use Catholic Insight as an advertising vehide, but to have our request forwarded to Fr. J. J. Delaney (Letters, November 1998).

We are having difficulties finding a suitable catechism. We would be glad to receive any out-of-print Catholic educational materials which are suitable to be reprinted or updated. We are looking especially for English and French, but would also like to have information on materials in any other language. Many of the old texts and other materials are true treasures that may be lost forever if not preserved. There is one series of French readers of which (for some grade levels) only one copy remains which has not been destroyed.

Please send materials to Amanda Bremner at 340 Blackthom St., Oshawa, ON, L1K 1K9.

Oshawa, ON

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Editor: Not only do we not object to this kind of "advertising", but we positively encourage it. The more information we exchange with one another, the better.

From Paul Gordon re St. Michael's Boys' Choir School

I recently found out that St. Michael's Boys' Choir of Toronto is, yet again, committing themselves to a Christmas Concert Benefit in aid of the Oshawa General Hospital Foundation. I am surprised that the Choir School would even want to go anywhere near controversy, let alone jump in head first. Last year, St. Michael's could not give a reasonable explanation to a person who works for Priests for Life as to why they were going ahead with the concert. This year they have not returned my call.

With the exception of Ottawa, Oshawa General Hospital is the largest and busiest abortuary in Ontario east of Toronto. According to the Family Action Committee, 1,000 babies are killed there every year.

Oshawa General is no charity. It is well funded by the Ontario government. Last year, under threat of losing municipal grants, it finally confessed to holding a (secret) multimillion dollar reserve fund while shamelessly hustling the citizens of Oshawa for building funds. Recently it was awarded funds for a multimillion dollar cancer centre.

In this building, with the approval of its Board of Directors, people are paid to kill babies, and, shamefully, others are paid to look the other way or remain silent. In this day and age it all works very well, because people have learned not to see, not to care, and not to cry for others. Maybe some of those babies, as poor or as unwanted as we judged them, might have just taught us that.

I beg St. Michael's to reconsider its stand on this issue.

Oshawa, ON

Editor: I understand that there was much discussion about this concert, but that after all was said and done, the concert was held, with picketers outside. There appears to be some hope that this kind of incident may not recur.

Part of the discussion centered around the mistaken advice to the school that by "designating" or "earmarking" funds to a particular unit, the odium of helping an abortion hospital is avoided. Pro-life rejects this fallacious thinking.

It also continues to be applied by staff at the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops in Ottawa with donations to UNICEF. In 1998 they once again recommended such donations.

The same wrong approach of designating funds is used by some Knights of Columbus Councils which, for example, donate money to a cancer unit of an abortion hospital, such as the Credit Valley Hospital in Mississauga, ON.

This so-called "earmarking" of funds to a particular project in the hope that none of it will support projects of which one doesn't approve, is useless. As soon as the budget for one project is filled, extra moneys are allocated elsewhere. UNICEF is blatantly antifamily; it consistently applies the contraceptive mentality. It should not be supported in any way whatsoever.

Give money to the Catholic organization of the Holy Childhood instead, and you will help children throughout the world, instead of killing them. (On the same subject, see our remarks in C.I., December 1997, p.22.)