Letters to the Editor.

From Richard Hudon on philosophy and theology

In reading Father Kennedy's article "Religion and Philosophy in Canada" (Mar 00, pp. 16-21), I became acutely aware of my woeful lack of Catholic theology and philosophy. To add to my frustration, in reading and rereading Father's article, he points out the great achievement and contributions of Etienne Gilson in these areas. He then notes, regarding "a list of his publications" that "there are so many influential books among them that it would be too arbitrary to mention some of them here and not others."

Unfortunately, this deprives me of a starting point to study, assimilate and understand Gilson's writings. Could Father Kennedy provide at least a "starting list" so that I may cater to and enlighten my wailing soul with the food that it and my intellect cry out for in hunger?

Fr. Kennedy's list: A Gilson Reader; Reason and Revelation in the Middle Ages; The Christian Philosophy of St. Thomas Aquinas; The Unity of Philosophical Experience; The Spirit of Medieval Philosophy; God and Philosophy. If any of these are difficult to obtain, you may contact our advertiser for out-of-print books. See back cover.

Gloucester, ON

From George V. Eckenfelder re general absolution 

Having listened to our pastor remark that General Absolution was as valid as a personal confession and the latter was not necessary, I checked the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Article 1483 gives an entirely different story, as I expected.

I pointed this out to the pastor and he said that the Catechism was being challenged--I think he said "disputed" and that he did not follow it.

I would be most grateful if you would confirm or deny the challenge. My view is that even if amendments are being considered, one must observe the requirements of the Catechism without question.

Sidney, B.C.

Editor: There are no "challenges" to the Catechism.

From Pat Wilson re: consecration of Russia 

In your June issue of Catholic Insight, under the title of "Francisco & Jacinta Marto" it is stated that the consecration of Russia was made by John Paul II in 1984. This is not true. The Holy Father never mentioned Russia and the bishops of the world did not take part.

Our Lady promised that when the consecration did take place, a period of peace would be given to the world. Since 1984 abortions around the world have increased (up to 50 million), contraception has increased even in Catholic families, euthanasia is being legalized, Catholics are persecuted in China and elsewhere, and the horrible slaughter of thousands is reported in Africa.

It is an insult to the Blessed Mother to say this is her idea of peace.

Newcastle, ON

From Tony Moran

In the issue of "Catholic Insight", June 2000, in the story "Saints, Blesseds, Martyrs," you state that the consecration of Russia was completed in 1984. This is not true; there are many proofs of this. One of them is that Our Lady said there would be peace around the world when it was done; do we have peace around the world? And what about the "war on the womb"?

Calgary,AB

Editor: For a different interpretation see the account of the third Fatima secret, section Text commentary page 9.

From Margaret Purcell on Canadian Alliance 

How can any politician be classified pro-life when he repeatedly and publicly states that, in spite of being "personally" pro-life, he will vote in favour of abortion, if that's what his constituents want? And, unless the leadership candidates for the Canadian Alliance are telling one great whopper, following the constituents' wishes is exactly what they will be doing because they are tied to the referenda approach demanded by the Party. One can very safely assume the same rules apply to euthanasia and any other contentious issue. Interesting, when one considers their distaste for referenda when it comes to Quebec.

Given that the referenda approach bequeathed by the old Reformers to the new Reformers will remain in place, what difference does it make who becomes leader when he will be subservient to the majority, no matter what the moral cost?

What is the difference between a politician from any party who says he is pro-life, but will vote pro-abortion, and Pontius Pilate who knew and said that Jesus was innocent, just before he put His fate to the referendum?

St. Thomas More saw the folly of statesmen abandoning their private consciences for (perceived) public duty. We should too.

Welland, ON

Editor: For more on the same subject see columnist Rory Leishman.

From Fabiano Micoli

I'm so pleased that you published a bold article urging Catholics to abandon the Liberal Party. Catholics are asleep and don't understand what the Liberals really stand for, and so you are doing them a favour. Good citizens like you help make Canada a better place. Thanks.

Toronto, ON

From Lise Anglin: What charities may pro-life Catholics support?

The recent discussion in CI (June, 2000) concerning the World March of Women (pp. 7-8), UNICEF (p.4.), and PLAN (pp. 4-5), raises the important question of what charitable endeavours we lay Catholics may support with a clear conscience.

The unspeakable horror of abortion has infiltrated a number of "charities." This diabolical infiltration is often hidden. The most distressing examples are those charities that pretend to be for children (and in fact probably do some good work for children), but at the same time are part and parcel of the abortion industry.

I applaud those Catholics who are going to the trouble of investigating each charity first before contributing to it. When in doubt about the charity's policy on life issues (abortion, fetal testing, euthanasia), ask. Request an answer in writing.

Toronto, ON

Editor's note: Over the years Catholics in Canada, and the Vatican at the United Nations, have been struggling with the answers. In 1996, after years of making two symbolic payments of $2000 and $3000 a year to UNICEF, the Vatican finally cut off even those tiny sums when it became clear that UNICEF had become a promoter of abortion.

In Canada, in 1976, Archbishop Philip Pocock of Toronto, acting after consultation, withdrew that city's Catholic Charities from the United Way because the U. W. funds Planned Parenthood which promotes abortion. The Archbishops of Vancouver and Edmonton followed in time as did the Bishop of Calgary.

As pointed out in the articles "March of Women" Part IL (C.I. July/August, pp. 8,9,35), and Part III (see pp.11 -12), the present Bishop of Calgary Fred Henry thinks this is a false kind of isolationism.

From Ted Verola

It was a surprise to find your publication the other day at one of our local book stores--McNally-Robinson. It was in among the spirituality section with the neo-pagan journals, Buddhist magazines, etc.

Anyway, I'm glad it was there and I'm glad to subscribe. I'd not heard of the Catholic Insight before. It is hard to find good publications.

Thanks. Only please do not give my name, address, etc. to any other mail-out service which is soliciting subscribers or funds.

I look forward to the next issue. Could you begin with June 2000 as my initial issue?

Winnipeg, MN

From C. Edward Collins about the review of Michael O'Brien's latest offering

By pure chance, Tim LeHaye and John Jenkins were on Larry King's show to hawk the seventh book in their "Left Behind" series on the very night I read the CI review of Michael O'Brien's latest novel. I was struck by both the differences and the similarities between Le Haye/Jenkins and O'Brien. For CI readers unfamiliar with the "Left Behind" series, it is a well-written fictional account of what some Protestants suppose will happen in the end times. So far, fifteen million copies of the first seven volumes have been sold, and the authors plan five more volumes provided, one assumes, that the first five don't come true first.

The chief differences between the Catholic and Protestant authors' visions are that O'Brien's characters face impossible odds and win in losing, while Le Haye/Jenkins hold that all the Protestants will have already been "raptured" by the time things have got that bad. Thus, in the Protestant view, all the non-Christians (Catholics included, of course) are left holding the bag.

However, it is not the differences, but rather the similarities between Le Haye/Jenkins and O'Brien that I find disturbing. The chief similarity is simply that everyone in these books is just swept along on the wings of prophecy or history or whatever one wishes to call it. The disturbing part is that, although I would be the last to deny that human society is very, very sick, I think the patient might still be saved. Before that can happen, however, Christians will have to shake themselves out of the gloom that this kind of fiction only intensifies.

Of course, we cannot count on the Protestants to help very much, whether they get raptured or not They have thrown away the antidote, which comprises not only Christian tradition, but also the cultural traditions generated by Christianity in both the western and eastern worlds. That self-inflicted vacuum forces most Protestants into an unwitting embrace of popular culture. It doesn't matter to them whether it's country and western, rock, or any silly variation thereof. They merely carry on, pretending to be unaffected by the culture of death and gleefully ignoring the fact that their one-dimensional worldview appeals only to the thoughtless and the desperate.

As far as Michael O'Brien and the black helicopter menace are concerned, one might ask whatever happened to the Church Militant. Has it become little more than an ill-trained, poorly equipped, rag-tag outfit, with its soldiers just looking for a place to hide until the war is over? The Church has tried to rally the Catholic laity for more than three decades now, first with the Second Vatican Council and then with a host of inspiring papal encyclicals and other encouragements from our long-suffering Commander in Chief, the Vicar of Christ on earth. Maybe we need to form into "dirty dozen" units and ferret out the fat, lazy unit commanders. Maybe Lee Marvin should be appointed to the next vacant archbishop's chair.

Lethbridge, AB

From L. Killoran re marriage in the church

I have an important question to ask you, but I would like to quote an article from the Catholic Catechism, #1629: "For this reason (or for others that render the marriage null and void) the Church, after an examination of the situation by the competent ecclesiastical tribunal, can declare the nullity of a marriage; i.e., that the marriage never existed. In this case the contracting parties are free to marry, provided the natural obligations of a previous union are discharged."

I am 74 years old and have been married for 52 years; this question is not for me or us. A friend came to my wife and me about a dispensation from a previous marriage. She was really concerned about the sentence that "the marriage never existed." If we think of the connotations of this statement---there was never a happy courtship, never happy times in the beginning, the children today mean nothing, all the hopes and dreams that they had never existed, that it's not true--how can the CCCB and the Church which they represent say this?

Can we say of a priest who has been laicised that all his prayers, his homilies, and Masses never existed? It's certainly not a compassionate sentence.

Stroud, ON

Father Kennedy answers

A clarification is necessary first of all. I presume that the letter is not complaining about a declaration of nullity concerning marriage ceremonies which are clearly invalid by the law of Christ, such as those of Catholics marrying outside the Church; no one could reasonably object to such a declaration by the Church.

What seems to be in question is a declaration of nullity concerning a marriage ceremony many years later when one (and usually both) of the parties has always been convinced of its validity. Such a declaration is usually based on The Code of Canon Law, #1095, which says, in part: "The following are incapable of contracting marriages--those who, because of causes of a psychological nature, are unable to assume the essential obligations of marriage." I have written about this matter before, in my review of Robert H. Vasoli's book What God Has Joined Together: The Annulment Crisis in American Catholicism (CI, March, '99). According to Vasoli the granting of dispensations today is a scandal. He allows that some marriage ceremonies have been invalid; he sees the scandal in the wholesale granting of annulments and in the fact that, when they are appealed to Rome, they are overturned ninety percent of the time, as his own was.

Of course the granting of an annulment does not involve saying that what has happened has not happened; it means merely that the marriage has always been invalid. Sometimes the man and woman are both happy that they can remarry. But often one of the spouses is crushed, as your friend seems to be. And this is intensified by the realization that one wonders how all those weddings, presumably carefully checked beforehand by the Church, can be declared invalid, especially when one of the spouses is certain that his or her marriage was valid, as Vasoli was.

The case is different from that of a laicised priest, however. Laicization is not a declaration that he was not validly ordained, but permission to live as a layman and no longer as an active priest.

From D.T. Smigeiski re Fosters' Parents Plan

After reading about the anti-life antics of the PLAN in your June edition (p. 4) for the second time, I finally got off my butt & sent the following letter to PLAN cancelling further contributions. I've also encouraged all those on the "God-Squad" (Christian family & friends) to do likewise if applicable. Could you suggest a similar--but "Christian-friendly" -- organization where I might reallocate my charity dollars? I'm sure others may be interested in hearing of recommended charities as well.

I love your magazine - very professional & informative!

Edmonton, AB

Editor: One of many charitable organizations we could recommend is: Canadian Food for Children, 40 King George's Rd., Toronto, ON M8X 1L3 Tel. [phone] Other reader suggestions would be welcome.

From Kevin Fenondes

I would like you to publish my appeal for good Catholic magazines (old copies) for our centre, Family of Faith Foundation, so that our Catholics here in Bombay will benefit by reading good Catholic literature.

This apostolate was established to correct and counter New Age influences among the Catholic Faithful in India.

Family of Faith Foundation

70 A Hill Road, Bandra

Bombay, India 400 050

From Pat Xavier for Toronto readers

I have recently started attending Canadian Martyrs Church and have discovered that Fr. Richard Love has a weekly Mass on Saturdays at 9:30 a.m. for the unborn and to end abortion. I thought this might interest your Toronto readers, since I don't know of anyone else who has regular Masses for the unborn. The Church of the Canadian Martyrs is on 522 Plains Road, off Woodbine, one block south of O'Connor, bus 91 from Woodbine subway station.

Toronto, ON