To the editor:
In the June 30 issue of the Herald, you argue that we should “Work for sensible gun control.” Ninety-three percent of guns used in crimes are obtained illegally, whereas less than one percent are from gun shows.
It is true that most U.S. suicides use guns, but America’s suicide rate is not unusually high — in other countries, they find a way. Our gun homicide rate is unusually high, but 63 percent of victims have a criminal history — most gun violence happens between criminals.
To the editor:
It seems whenever there is a shooting, there is a clamor for more gun control, as in a recent editorial, “Work for sensible gun control.”
They say guns are killing people. I have yet seen or heard of a gun discharging itself into a person, much less loading itself. People kill people, and yes, some use guns. But guns get blamed and not the people using them. Why?
To the editor:
After reading Mary Uhler’s editorial in the June 30 issue of The Catholic Herald, I felt a need to respond. The term “common sense gun control” has been a familiar headline in the news lately, but when you read further (as in Mary Uhler’s editorial), it’s just another attack of the Second Amendment.
In one paragraph, Mary says, “I’m not calling for a ban on gun ownership,” while just one paragraph later the heading reads, “Do civilians really need assault weapons?” She goes on to quote a Dallas area bishop who calls for a ban on all semi-automatic rifles. Just think if this logic was used against the First Amendment — kind of scary, right?
To the editor:
In the June 16 issue of the Catholic Herald, you give four of the five columns on Page 5 to “Celebrating Women.” As the father of six daughters (and two sons), I applaud that.
However, on Page 23, you give two column inches in column five to the story, “Pope elevates memorial of St. Mary Magdalene to feast day.”
In my not-so-humble 90-year-old opinion, this story should be on the front page!
To the editor:
In his letter responding about the use of Latin in liturgical worship (Catholic Herald, March 17), Tom Roberts wrote, “The Council of Toulouse in 1229 declared, ‘We prohibit also that the laity should be permitted to have the books of the old and new testament’; they were in Latin.”
More information is required lest false conclusions be drawn about the Church. The Council of Toulouse was a local council, held by a local church. It was not an Ecumenical Council, for the whole Church.
It addressed the problem of Albigensian heretics (aka Cathars), very active in Toulouse, who mistranslated the Latin Scriptures to support their pernicious heresies. When the Albigensianism problem was resolved, the limited edict for that local church was no longer needed.
To the editor:
Thank you for your editorial, “What’s happening to our ‘perfect union’? Many politicians find divisive issues and exploit them.
When private sector workers began to lose their benefits, politicians began to attack the benefits of public sector employees. Their rhetoric fanned envy, often demonizing those who seemed to be better off.
To the editor:
This is in response to all the Muslim attacks on the free world for the last 1,400 years.
One cannot be a good Muslim if he condemns any of this behavior. It is written all over the Koran that if you do not submit to Allah and the teachings of his prophet Muhammad, you are not a Muslim and the penalty is death. There is no freedom in Islam.
To the editor:
This is in response to all the Muslim attacks on the free world for the last 1,400 years.
One cannot be a good Muslim if he condemns any of this behavior. It is written all over the Koran that if you do not submit to Allah and the teachings of his prophet Muhammad, you are not a Muslim and the penalty is death. There is no freedom in Islam.
To the editor:
In reference to the recent column on the Parable of the Prodigal Son by the Bishop of the Diocese of Madison, His Excellency finds a spirit of entitlement to be pervasive in current-day American culture.
Granted, many if not most of us have the standard of living of the wealthiest of persons, both by historical standards and by standards of much of the world today. This, of course, needs to be qualified that there remain many, in our midst, who “fall through the cracks” and are in dire need, but again, this is fortunately not the case with most of us.
To the editor:
Fr. John Zuhlsdorf’s column, “Latin is language for Church teaching, worship” (Catholic Herald, March 3), could be taken at its word. We have Latin. He states that Judaism has Hebrew.
When the Torah is read in Hebrew, the congregation understands it. When a child becomes Bar or Bat Mitzvah, he or she reads from the Torah and presents a short essay.
