October 7, 2022

Letters to the Editor

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Column affirms convert’s belief in offering prayers for the dead

This is in response to Andrew Motyka’s column on the Perspectives page in the Sept. 16 issue of The Criterion. Its headline read “Praying for the dead is one of the most loving things we can do.”

As a Catholic convert who spent 40 years in evangelical churches, I can tell you that we had no such practices for our deceased: when they were gone, they were simply gone. To even speak of such things such as praying for the dead was in many churches considered borderline occult.

Now as both a Catholic and a student at St. Meinrad, I appreciate the Catholic Church’s larger view of life. Yes, there is an ending on one hand, but a continuation on the other: the person simply passes from one type of existence to another.

Scripture makes clear that people do not just continue on in theory or vanish into some kind of cloudlike existence: our friends and relatives are with Jesus in heaven, and giving thanks and praise to God continuously and praying for us back here on Earth.

And for souls still in purgatory, we can pray for them.

- Sonny Shanks | Corydon
 

Notre Dame reflection leads to fond memories for ‘father of the bride’

I just read John Shaughnessy’s reflection in the Sept. 30 issue of The Criterion about the Grotto and the log cabin overlooking St. Mary’s Lake at the University of Notre Dame.

Our oldest daughter was engaged at the Grotto; her fiancé’s roommates filled the place with flowers.

I choke up every time we visit, as most of us do I expect.

Thanks for the excellent work, as always.

- Greg Cafouros | Indianapolis | Notre Dame Class of 1972
 

Newspaper’s terminology should reflect the lives of the unborn, reader says

Why not stop using the words “abortion ban” in headlines and start using “legal protection of unborn babies” blocked by a judge?

We all know what ban means, and there is definitely not a complete ban on abortions under the Indiana law passed after the Supreme Court handed the issue to the States.

- Linda Ricker | Indianapolis

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