Letters to the Editor

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We must always remember the one non-negotiable issue

I continue to be pleased and energized by the nationwide rallies in opposition to the outrageous assault on religious freedom reflected in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ health care mandates, including the strong showing recently at the Indiana Statehouse rally in the rain.

Perhaps there may finally be some awakening by Catholic—and other Christian—clergy and laity to the reality of an intrusive federal administration openly hostile to traditional Christian moral values, particularly those reflected in Catholic Church teaching and doctrine.

However, as a lifelong Catholic, it is a somewhat somber and bittersweet thought to reflect on the fact that much of our current moral distress might have been avoided if we Catholics—and other Christian believers—had previously voted in a manner that reflected Catholic/Christian doctrine and teaching on key moral issues.

In 2008, then Sen. Barack Obama, the most open—and honest—advocate of all forms of abortion and contraception to ever run for the highest office in the land, would probably never have been elected without the strong voting booth support of self-proclaimed Catholic/Christian Church members.

While this may seem to be an overly harsh assessment with too much “single issue” focus, I do feel that the sanctity of all human life from conception to natural death must necessarily remain a non-negotiable moral position.

My hope and prayer is that, with God’s help, it may still not be too late to effect a course correction for a ship of state that is clearly headed in the morally wrong direction.

- David A. Nealy | Greenwood

A heartfelt ‘thank you’ to all of our Church’s wonderful shepherds

I would first like to say how much I enjoy Father Kenneth Doyle’s answers in all of his “Question Corner” columns.

Beside the intellectual part of the answer, his decorum and sensitivity to whom he is responding is always well thought out and is wonderful.

I am a retired person who, when I worked, put in a lot of hours and didn’t have much time to help the Church.

But my brother was a Protestant minister, and I remember that when I would visit and wanted to spend time with him I had to go with him as he did the work of his church.

Just as a priest’s job is 24 hours a day, seven days a week, his was too. I also made the same comment about him only working on Sunday, but I always added about it taking four gentlemen to bring the money to him. I am sorry, Jim.

As both an extraordinary minister of holy Communion to the homebound and a consolation minister, I now work a lot with people with needs.

As both, I have lost count of the number of times a person has said, “When a loved one died, I called Father at 2 a.m. and he came right over.”

I am sure Father didn’t get to bed before 10 p.m. because he always had a meeting or was working with a group, and he, too, had to get up early for the next day.

Over the years, I have been in a lot of parishes and seen a lot of priests. Most of the time, I too didn’t think about how hard they had to work.

Any business person will tell you that it takes a lot of time to administer the business of a parish. Add a school, and it’s even more time. You add even more time when the priest is administrator of more than one parish.

On behalf of my brothers and sisters in all of those parishes, I want to say how sorry we are to those priests for not realizing all of the hard work that they do for us. We are also sorry for all of those times where we let them down, and did not help them enough. I am sure a lot of them are with the Lord now, and I am sure they are all still praying for us.

Thank you, God, for all of the wonderful shepherds that you have given us.

- David Gaither | Indianapolis