Good Sister Brigid
Regarding “Religious Sisters Changed My Life” (NCRegister.com, June 22, 2023):
My four siblings and I were enrolled at St. Joseph’s Cathedral School in Hartford, Connecticut.
The way of doing things at a Catholic school was different from the countrified suburb town where we lived in 1954. My seventh-grade teacher was a Sister of Mercy who for two years instilled what it was to be Catholic, to accept the challenge of perfectibility, to be good and worthy.
Sister Brigid was in her 20s, energetic and enthusiastic. From seventh through eighth grades, I learned the thousand things, big and little, that made up a community in any Catholic institution.
Sister was thorough, and attention to the details in all we did as students, as young Catholics, stayed with me for a lifetime.
Occasionally we would form two lines and walk across to “make a visit” at the grand cathedral next door. The significance of the sanctuary lamp was pointed out — how necessary it was never to enter a church where that light shone, indicating the Real Presence, without kneeling at the altar to make greeting and a brief acknowledging prayer to the living Presence of Christ.
Sister Brigid introduced me to music, singing, notation, even the Gregorian chant. Stories of her family punctuated grammar, math and even writing letters to the Vatican to release Cardinal József Mindszenty, imprisoned by the Soviet Union in Hungary.
In my memory she lives as a part of my formation as a good person and, I hope, a good Catholic.
Ed Turbert
West Hartford, Connecticut
Baffling Support
Relative to “What’s Driving Catholic Support for Harris?” (page one, Sept. 22 issue):
Some political experts, including Timothy Carney, are baffled by the strong support for her; Carney comments, “A Catholic supporting her is inexplicable to me.”
Legalized abortion without restrictions is the Democrat Party’s preeminent campaign issue. In 2019, the General Assembly of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops voted to make abortion their preeminent issue — but as a right to life for the unborn.
The decision Catholic voters must make is: Choose life or choose death.
As a Catholic, any choice other than life is inexplicable to me!
James Haydamack
Marine City, Michigan
Eucharistic Value
Concerning your coverage of reception of Holy Communion and the Real Presence:
Growing up with a family that lived as a Catholic minority, I was able to attended our non-Catholic relatives’ services, but we wouldn’t partake in their communion service, because that would mean we held the same belief.
Therefore, I was shocked when I witnessed Catholics who don’t believe in the Real Presence were receiving Holy Communion. Discussing this with a fellow Catholic, I always understood that there were three things necessary to receive Holy Communion worthily:
1) You must believe it is Jesus.
2) Not be aware of any mortal (deadly) sin, without receiving the sacrament of reconciliation.
3) Observe the current laws of fasting before receiving Jesus.
Truth is truth no matter where it is found, but distinctions are always going to exist because we have both intelligence and free will. However, two contradictory truths cannot be true at the same.
Mary Rose Erskine
Waukesha, Wisconsin
Subliminal Impact
I treasure the Register for your typical solidity and depth of reporting and opinion, so it was startling for me to be disappointed in the 2024 Election Issue of Oct. 6.
You are professionals in the use of words and of the subliminal impact of how a page is presented. The words that were missing: the track record of past performance — which is a far more meaningful basis for evaluation than the campaign words of a politician. The unequal subliminal impact: the pictures on the Voter’s Guide.
Not only were the choices showing a pleasant Harris and a grumpy Trump, but the Harris photo was higher than the Trump photo rather than side-by-side (i.e., “equal”) the way the pictures on the front page were appropriately handled.
David T. Lukes
San Pedro, California
Inherent Dignity
We can “agree to disagree” on the merits of pumpkin-spiced lattes; the wisdom of the Pittsburgh Steelers starting Russell Wilson over Justin Fields; or the talent of various contestants on The Voice.
However, we cannot “agree to disagree” when it comes to the inherent dignity of each and every person, regardless of their sexual orientation, gender identification, socioeconomic level, immigration status, national origin or religious beliefs.
Respect for our fellow human beings is a nonnegotiable that needs to permeate every level of our society, from locker rooms to board rooms, bar stools to church pews, and personal ethics to public policies.
There is no “agreeing to disagree” over human dignity!
Pope Francis reminds us, “Human dignity is the same for all human beings: When I trample on the dignity of another, I am trampling on my own.”
Deacon Keith G. Kondrich
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Hunger for Power
Pertinent to “Is Gretchen Whitmer Mocking the Eucharist? Catholics React” (NCRegister.com, Oct. 11):
My concern is not just Gretchen Whitmer mocking the Eucharist. My concern is for the moral vacancy of many women holding higher office. Of course, many of our female civic and media leaders are of good and fine repute, but they aren’t the ones most often seen and heard from.
Politicians like Whitmer make us feel that motherhood and marriage and home life are zero, and that families are pathetic.
When that doesn’t work, they say our Christian faith is stupid. They mock our freedom of religion. They can say whatever they want, and we can’t.
When that doesn’t work, they start supplanting — or trying to — our natural blessings by persuading unstable (and jealous?) men to compete against us — in sports, in dress, via abortion, via divorce, via transgendering.
The “Whitmers” holding office will not publicly admit that even childbirth is women’s sphere: power for me, but not for thee.
Victoria White Berger
Covington, Louisiana
Judgment Day
Pertinent to November, the month of All Souls:
Fourth-century St. Ephrem the Syrian, in his Hymns on Paradise, preached about Judgment Day as if it were unfolding before his eyes:
“The King of kings will descend from heaven, from the throne of glory, to take His seat as Judge, and will call all the inhabitants of earth before His judgment-seat. Alas! a clap of thunder makes us tremble now; how then shall we bear the clang of those trumpets which shall wake the dead? As soon as the sleeping bodies in the bosom of the grave shall hear this sound, life will animate them once more.”
Ephrem then unfolded the Book of Life in which all our thoughts, words and works are written: “Then each man will be called up to undergo a severe examination, and will not dare to lift up his eyes to the Eternal Judge, whose divinely just decree awards to each one life or death, heaven or hell.”
Life is short and saints like this doctor of the Church have a way of bringing to the forefront of our minds the important things.
Steven Clark
Manila, Philippines
Praying for the Election
Let this be our prayer on Election Day 2024:
That good will and mutual respect awake with the dawn and illuminate all choices made, a generous vision of the common good inform each individual vote, and all truth be spoken in love and all encounters be characterized by peace.
That compassion bridge the painful chasms created by fearmongering and half-truths, justice roll down like water and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream, and democracy emerge as the true winner.
That the sunset at day’s end be radiant with the vibrant colors of reconciliation and hope, what is done on this historic day will enable the world to lie down in peace and assure our children a future, and, come Thanksgiving Day, we may gather together at tables of gratitude, home at last.
Rev. Jeffrey Myers
Frankfurt, Germany
Editor’s Note: Rev. Myers is a Lutheran pastor in Frankfurt.
Signs From the Bible
Pertinent to “What’s Driving Catholic Support for Harris?” (page one, Sept. 22 issue):
Scripture contains verses that could be, or are being, partially fulfilled, yet not fulfilled in their entirety. Example: the Antichrist. The spirit of the Antichrist is here now (1 John 4:3), but the Antichrist is not yet come.
In Matthew, 12:41-42, at the judgment, some will arise and condemn others. “The men of Nineveh will arise with this generation and condemn it” and “the queen of the south will arise with this generation and condemn it.” A different subject in Matthew 2:16, when Jesus was born: Herod ordered the massacre of holy innocents, all boys 2 years of age and younger, to satisfy his desire for worldly power. Partial fulfillments coming? Who, hypothetically, might the millions of aborted children “rise up and condemn”? Maybe Catholics enabling and voting for those who promise abortions without restrictions nationwide? Yet, unlike Herod, the slaughter of our innocents is not up to 2 years old … yet.
One more Bible reference. Let us hope that Revelation Chapter 17 is without partial fulfilment in the next president’s desire for power as our nation becomes increasingly “drunk on the blood of the holy” innocents and slaughter of our children. Does our country and future president “represent the great” country “that has sovereignty over the kings of the earth”?
May our Lord Jesus Christ and his Mother Mary protect us and America.
Joe Marincel
Flower Mound, Texas
Pilgrimages’ Blessings
Regarding your recent article about Andrew Masi, “Photographer’s Pilgrimage: Shutterbug’s Quest to Capture Every Cathedral and Basilica in the US” (Aug. 25, “Culture of Life”), I was thrilled to hear about his big adventure and wanted to share with you that I, too, have been on my own personal pilgrimage to see all the basilicas in the United States. I began my trek in May 2013. My first volume of pictures and thoughts has been collected in a book I put together as a memoir of my adventure. I live in Bowling Green, Ohio, and intend to finish my basilica tour this fall. I’ve saved the basilica in Hawaii as my last church so that my husband and I can celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary there. I think this is a great climax to this whole pilgrimage!
I spend a couple of hours at each church and take lots of pictures. I attend Mass, say the Rosary by myself or with the group. A couple of times the people see I am new there and ask me if I would like to lead a decade of the Rosary. I always excitedly say, “Yes!” I will also light a votive candle and make a monetary donation to the poor box and at the offertory.
I wish Mr. Masi all the best in his trips. I know exactly what he must be feeling. I get so uplifted, and my heart is always filled when I walk into those beautiful churches. I just soak it all in. Our Catholic faith is such a blessing to me.
Lisa Codding
Cardinal’s Concerns
Thanks for bringing readers news about Cardinal Müller (“Cardinal Müller Talks Theology in South Bend — and Criticizes the Synod” (NCRegister.com, Sept. 27).
I have really admired Cardinal Müller since he showed up at Mark Houck’s house shortly after the FBI was weaponized against his family. He epitomized faith in action.
I agree with all his points in this article. In my point of view, the synods have become a total bore. It is like a rut worn by people throwing themselves against a wall of faith. They never tire of being pushed back to the other end of the rut, then taking a 180-degree turn, only to run at the wall again. Same junk, different day.
I especially disagree with the synod’s pushing items, as the cardinal notices, from the “United Nation’s 2023 Agenda for Sustainable Development.” Since the cardinal mentioned it, I decided to skim through it. It is also a bore, with all sorts of goals and few specific executions, except for babies (pun intended). Their lengthy sections on women and girls push “reproductive rights” on women and girls and the U.N.’s desire to steer them into high-powered jobs. Same with the synod with its obsession for woman deacons as some sort of trophy. Is this a great need? I have, in all my six-decades-plus of life, never heard a woman express her burning desire to me to be a deacon. This is a fringe-group issue.
Joan T. Murtaugh
Palos Hills, Illinois
Speaking Out
In “Ohio Bishops: Springfield Falsehoods Risk Igniting a Dangerous Blaze” (NCRegister.com, Sept. 27), Father Raymond de Souza’s criticism of President Trump and JD Vance seems to make the issue worse than it was. Trump (in the debate) said, “as was reported — I saw in the news, maybe it’s not right”; and then he spoke further about migrants eating animals. And also, JD Vance saying something about “cat ladies” sounds like a real scandal — not! It does not. Father and the bishops seem to be making a super big deal out of something minor (following the mainstream media’s lead). When I read Father’s commentary, I thought I was reading a commentary from the left-wing media.
I am also dismayed that our Catholic bishops, who seem to be anti-Trump, never speak out about the transgenderism, the drug cartels killing 100,000 Americans each year, and the child trafficking to the Catholic people. Don’t the bishops write letters to their flocks anymore? I never hear them read in my church. I don’t think they’re doing their job, on that score.
One last note: Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine is soft on transgenderism.
John Cochrane
Profoundly Disappointed
As long-term and monthly donors to EWTN, we were appalled and profoundly disappointed by the article “Tim Walz’s Catholic Roots” on the front page of EWTN’s National Catholic Register’s Aug. 25-Sept. 7 issue.
Considering how Gov. Walz misuses his office to promote abortion, transgenderism and practically every other immoral practice and belief, the Register should always be explicit in its opposition to such amoral promotions.
Instead, this article does the opposite, by entirely avoiding the real dangers Walz poses to our faith, should he ever become vice president.
James and Hanh Casey
Arlington, Virginia
Praise and Disapproval
First, praise should go to Register publisher Michael Warsaw. His insightful “Publisher’s Note” on “Two Views of Freedom” was timely and excellent (Opinion, Aug. 25 issue).
I’m saddened that such a respected national Catholic newspaper would provide front-page coverage to Gov. Tim Walz and his vague connection to the Catholic Church (“Tim Walz’s Catholic Roots,” page one, Aug. 25 issue). The Democratic Party’s candidate for vice president is on record for bragging about passing the most radical anti-life legislation in the country.
That alone should nullify any past influence he might have from Catholic social teaching. I might add his leadership of anti-life issues was condemned by the bishops of Minnesota.
Ray Richmond
Cypress, California
Gap Closes on IVF
This is in response to your article from Aug. 30 “Trump Proposes the Government Pay for IVF; What Are Catholics Saying?” (NCRegister.com).
I had unquestionably decided to vote for Trump in November as the “lesser of two evils,” but suddenly the gap between the “lesser of two evils” has closed due to Trump’s seeking taxpayers to pay for IVF treatments or mandating insurance-company coverage.
There is no doubt that Kamala Harris would be detrimental to all pro-life gains our nation has made. The Harris-Walz ticket would be the “Dream Team” for the abortion industry. There is no doubt that many more unborn lives would be in jeopardy if Harris wins.
But we Catholics need to let Trump know that his IVF proposal is unacceptable by going to 45Office.com and telling him that we do not want to be forced to pay for IVF treatments!
At least 1 million more IVF embryos are destroyed/frozen than through the common abortion. There have to be many infertile couples who do not choose IVF simply because they cannot afford it. So if Trump were to make his proposed changes, it would undoubtedly increase IVF deaths.
We are supposed to be Jesus’ hands and feet in the world, so let’s get going.
Michael Rachiele
Lenexa, Kansas
Voters, Take Heed
Re: “What’s Driving Catholic Support for Kamala Harris?” (Sept. 6, NCRegister.com):
The Code of Canon Law (Canon 1397 §2.) states, “A person who actually procures an abortion incurs a latae sententiae excommunication.” Abortion is the gravest of sins and before 2015 forgiveness was reserved to the bishop (though many American bishops had already extended to their priests this authority).
As reported by Joan Frawley Desmond in the Register, Sept. 3, 2015, Pope Francis has extended this universally to all priests. “Experts provided further context for the papal letter, noting that, in the eyes of the Church, direct involvement in an abortion is not only a grave sin, but a canonical crime that incurs the juridical penalty of automatic excommunication. Excommunication bars a Catholic from taking part in the sacraments until the penalty is lifted. U.S. priests have been given the power to remit the penalty when they hear the confession of a woman who has undergone an abortion or the confession of her boyfriend, spouse or parent who may have paid for it or exerted pressure on her to end the pregnancy.”
But does the gravity and guilt of the sin of abortion, as well as the canonical penalty, end here?
What should the definition of “direct involvement” be, and where does it end?
Are the doctors, nurses and medical staff willingly performing the abortion free from this grave sin? How about the lawmakers claiming to be Catholic who openly support and vote for legislation making abortion legal?
And, finally, where it all begins, how about the voters who support candidates, regardless of party affiliation, who will vote to make or keep abortion legal, even up to the moment of birth?
Vice President Kamala Harris has made the ability to have an abortion up to the moment of birth the law of the land the cornerstone of her presidential campaign. She campaigns on the topic everywhere she goes.
So voters need to take heed.
Father Paul Rousseau
Grand Isle, Vermont
Longer Vision for Life
“Catholics 4 Kamala” has a nice alliterative ring; so does “Catholics for Communism” or the “Klan,” but Catholics for Christ rings true and takes the long view of life, while theirs is narrow and has a false focus for persons of faith.
As Catholics, our perspective has the longer vision for life.
Why are we here anyway? What is our purpose? Our mission? Christ said to go out and make disciples.
To do that, we need to know what and who we are as baptized Catholics.
We are children of God our Father and adopted children through the blood of his Son, Jesus.
We are to be imitators of Christ in thought, word, deed and politics. He told us that he is the Way. So why not follow?
He said to let the children come to him, not that you have a right to deny them life so that they don’t even get a chance to go to Jesus!
Neither did he say to take some potion so that you can still have sex without consequences.
He never said that if you don’t like the gender God gave you that you can mutilate your body and pretend you are something else!
You are not God. He said he didn’t come to change the law (Ten Commandments).
So why play God and skip the laws you find hard?
Our nation was conceived by men who sought justice for all, not biased toward the elite. Patriots risked death for treason by fighting for a balance of power in a government that favored no class or religion.
Good men of various faiths and no faith wrote a constitution that had served well until the 1960s when the Democratic Party adopted a new platform that no longer served the working class or public servants.
They pushed legislation that belonged more in the private sector. No more school prayer or biblical references, but teachers forced to teach sex education, gender ideology, socialism and diversity.
Public schools should teach how to learn, to debate civilly, and to think about both sides of an issue. Parents are the primary educators of their children, and the government should not usurp that right. America was never intended to be a homogenized nation, rather a plurality of peoples and ideas who work together for the common good through compromise, not by force.
Is it moral to say you are a Catholic and act like an atheist? Is it moral to rig elections or to spend taxpayer dollars (without taxpayer consent) to ruin an opponent’s reputation or attempt an assassination? Is it moral to arrest people who peacefully assemble to protest? Is it moral to attack Catholic justices because they are Catholic? Is it moral to fail to prosecute those who vandalize churches, bring drugs across the border or engage in human trafficking or to prosecute medical personnel who refuse to participate in immoral surgery? Recall the Little Sisters of the Poor debacle.
We followed the wrong shepherd because some no longer recognize the voice of their true shepherd. Do not listen to angry name-calling voices, slick media or political harangues. If you do not pray daily, you cannot hear his voice above the din of competing voices.
Nancy Lessard
Barrington, New Hampshire
Prayers for Venezuelans
The article “Vatican Response to Venezuela Leaves Observers Perplexed” (Vatican, Sept. 8 issue) I just read has left me perplexed.
I don’t understand our Pope’s stance on the situation there. I stand in prayer for the Venezuelan people and clergy — they’re in desperate need!
It’s beyond heartbreaking that 8 million citizens have fled their homeland to seek a better life. With an innumerable amount of the Venezuelans traversing the horrific Darién Gap in their flight, these refugees endure unimaginable horrors in their attempt to escape Venezuela.
That itself should stand as evidence of how dire the situation is in Venezuela! I shudder and tremble just thinking about it and shed tears of heartbreak over these dear ones.
Is our Pope perhaps too sheltered, or located too far away, to really know what’s going on?
If he could watch just one documentary on the Darién Gap to raise his awareness, I would like to believe it would pierce his heart and propel him to further action, helping him not be indifferent to the reality of the Venezuelan government and its detrimental effects on its citizens. Venezuela’s bishops are to be complimented for their denunciation of the Maduro regime! May God bless them richly!
Thank you, Father Raymond J. de Souza, for writing this most honest article and reporting the facts to us readers.
My prayer is that we can cry out to our Lord God, with prayers on behalf of our brothers and sisters in Venezuela, along with all the clergy. Praying too that changes come into the hearts of Maduro and his henchmen, may God open their eyes! Be assured that the effectual fervent prayer of the righteous man availeth much!
Take advantage of our faith in God to move mountains on behalf of Venezuela.
Personally, I love the Chaplet of Divine Mercy and offer the praying of it up for the Venezuelan people.
Cathy Kennedy Sanchez
Robertsdale, Alabama
