August 1, 2014

Letters to the Editor

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Christian justice calls us to assist displaced children of God

Our first action and call as Christians to the displaced children from Central America is one of justice.

We are called to guarantee respect for the human person and the rights which flow from human dignity. We must provide the conditions that allow them to obtain human dignity according to their nature and vocation. They are children of God and called to receive his grace and fullness.

We must rise above the law and manifest the imminent God’s transcendent love unconditionally to his children. It is an injustice and travesty the limited connection the government is allowing the Catholic Church to provide the human dignity these children deserve.

We best can meet their human needs, connect them to healthy human support and still connect them to the courts as they discern their future. This transcendent spiritual truth usurps the sovereignty laws of the government.

We are called as Catholic Christians to provide human dignity to the children of God in whatever means. Secondary is the partisan political preference. Give us access to these children of God! In solidarity, let us pray and act to bring the human dignity these children deserve!

- Dr. Gary Taylor | Salem

 

Church meets people where they are

The June 27th editorial and subsequent letter to the editor about “The changing face of our family of faith” sparked memories in me.

As recently as the late 1960s, the new pastor at a parish in southern Illinois had to announce on his first Sunday there that there would no longer be confessions heard in German. He had, as had all priests in the dioceses at that time, learned German in the seminary.

Not having had occasion to use it at prior assignments, he did not feel conversant enough to use it in the confessional. My great aunt, who spoke English with no trace of her childhood German, was very upset because she had never gone to confession in English.

The new people, in this case Germans, eventually assimilated into the American culture, but first the Church met them where they were.

It’s the only way to minister to people. The “changing” is merely a matter of language and country of origin.

- Dolores Francis | Bloomington

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