Letters to the Editor, March 6, 2010

Published: March 5, 2010

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Objection

EDITOR: We want to strongly object to your statements about former Bishop Martino's stand on anti-abortion teachings of the Catholic Church. Our church teaches that abortion is murder. Each of us as Catholics, including our bishops and all clergy, are obligated to stand up for the unborn and for our faith in these matters. It is very wrong for politicians who call themselves Catholics to promote or vote for laws which violate this commandment: Thou Shalt Not Kill!

Rose and Jim Lenox

Towanda

'Sunshine agencies'

EDITOR: Just a word of caution to up and coming seniors. Our government has created many agencies to provide assistance to those of us that have encountered problems usually found when we reach our 60s and above. I am now 73 and have learned that these agencies sometimes create more problems than they solve. I have found that the majority give us a feeling of security that may not be there. If you decide to sign up for the services of one of these organizations, I recommend that you question their representatives very closely. Most of these agencies are "sunshine agencies" that only provide services when the conditions are just right for them. Your needs may not be considered and you are left without the help you need.

Bob Baker

Dushore

Let's go green

EDITOR: In Daryl Miller's Feb. 12 letter, he said he wants to see the development of green industry to stay in our area, stating from a "pure numbers or accounting standpoint" that jobs have instead formed overseas.

Fortunately, we have the chance to change the numbers. An update to the state standard for alternative energy use may help create over 130,000 job years in the green sector statewide, so that Pennsylvania may stay competitive in this industry.

In the federal arena, our senators are moving with urgency to draft an approach that balances between protection and economic development. Sens. Specter and Casey must support this important legislation that will drive our home-grown energy future.

Sen. Cantwell's CLEAR Act, which favors a cap-and-cash back approach, is gaining energy. This bill is fair, consumer-friendly, and was recently endorsed by The Economist as "refreshingly simple." Another option in the works from Sens. Kerry, Graham, and Lieberman is expected soon, too.

The bottom line is that our senators need to pass policy now to help grow green industry that we can count on in Pennsylvania. Jobs are being lost overseas - let's support a comprehensive national climate and energy policy that secures our energy future and economy.

Karen Kennedy

Hughesville, PA

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19 posted comments

Dear Lively: No, I was never a professional counselor, just an advocate for the Christian response to this problem. If I were in charge however, you all would be slaving away in the convent kitchen .... Yes, I am smiling....we do not have to be so serious all the time.
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Joe Doherty,  03/10/10 12:43
Livey, In an ideal world people would consider the consequences of unprotected sex. Unfortunately our world is far from ideal. No woman should be required to carry an unwanted pregnancy to tern. My opinion only.
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divisive issue,  03/10/10 10:31
abortion is a choice,but is a choice to kill the life of a baby.that is the reason that abortion is such a hot button topic. as far as I know the thuoght of a coat hanger abortion does not sit well with anyone.however the consequenses of one are the results of the choice to have one.unwanted pregnancy is the result of the choice to have sex.few abortions are due to rape or incest, primarily they are for other reasons.if we teach our children there are consquences for our actions, and if we remember that as adults,we would have far fewer problems in this world.
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Livey,  03/10/10 7:41
While I disagree with Joe D., at least he has the common sense and courtesy to say that his position is an opinion. I wish other responders here would do the same. And I hope he wasn't counseling as a professional, but as a friend.
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neutral ground,  03/10/10 7:12
I think many professional counselors struggle in a counseling relationship with an expecting mother, because of the mandate to keep your own personal feelings out of the counseling relationship. I watched a colleague be fired because she stated that she could never accept a counselees decision to seek an abortion. She was unable to separate her personal feelings from her professional responsibilities. Basically, she was in the wrong profession. Like Sue, I hope we never return to the coat-hanger days, but obviously from some of the responses here, many people feel that is exactly what should happen. I think if my religion pushed me in that direction I would have to rethink its tenets or my commitment to it. Abortion is a terrible choice, but it is a choice nonetheless. It is not murder.
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Tonya,  03/09/10 2:29
Abortion is personal, private, and is best decided by a women, in consultation with her physician. The current law makes it legal, and thus, safe for a woman to seek an abortion.
Ending this law would not end abortion. Ending this law would simply return it to the underground, back-alley, coat-hanger days.
That is not what I want for my daughters or granddaughters. It is not what I want for your daughters, either. It is not a matter of religion, it is a matter of personal choice.
Pro-choice life, expressed agreement with me, that this was too personal for this forum. I thank the writer for that.
Would you feel better if I signed, "liberal Sue", instead of my own name? Sorry, I am SueA. Blame my mother.
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SueA,  03/09/10 10:13
Mr. Meehan, As I've stated repeatedly in this forum - some employers do not allow their employees to respond by name in this forum, especially on DIVISIVE issues that could reflect negatively on the employer. I have never written Sue a note, but I have responded to her regularly in this on-line forum, as she and I are in agreement on many issues. I am probably beyond pro-choice, and would be termed by some as pro-abortion. If you want to call it murder, you go right ahead. You're playing with words. Most definitions of murder involve the intentional killing of a sentient human being. A fetus does not fit that definition, so a mother making a choice for abortion is not committing murder, to my way of thinking. My note below to Sue, with a suggestion for the newspaper was for the exact reason you bring up. You're not going to change my mind and I'm not going to change yours. Why waste the writer's or the reader's time?
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pro-choice-life,  03/09/10 9:44
On abortion:

If I were to see a woman drowning in a physical sea of churning waves and the rapid current of apostate teachings, amoral ethics, accepted norms and Roe V Wade (Norma McCorvey 1973), I would do all I could to save a fellow human being. I would not question the circumstances as to how she arrived in this situation.
{Unprotected sexual intercourse can produce a pregnancy}

I would take whatever action necessary to save a life or lives even if at my own peril. In the early stages I would toss out a life preserver as I stood ready to haul her in to safety.
{I guess you could see this as proper counseling; God’s relationship to humankind, community support, family support, the church, the life of her unborn child, speaking with the would be father, the beauty of motherhood and adoption services}

As time progresses and all the signs are visible to point in the direction of certain wasted life, I would jump off my precipice of lily white Mr. Know-it-all good-guy. I would swim in the swamp of sin and bad information for a face to face chat. I would know that there would be a ninety-nine percent chance that my efforts would be spurned. Education or lack of it, intelligence, background, financial picture, race or religion does not enter the equation. For me and for countless others; these circumstances pale in the face of wanton and premeditated murder – death of a defenseless child, i.e. abortion! The only protection this little person in the making has is its mothers’ womb and her ability to face reality.
{Yes, I have put myself “out there” in peaceful demonstrations and one-on-one counseling. Yes, I have supported teen aged girls in the past, and no the flame of truth has not died away just because I am now up in years. “God’s Word is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow.”}

I expect all the agnostic, atheistic and or liberal responses such as my “dogma” or literal sense of the Bible and my supposed infringement upon the personal life of another person. However, the abortion issue is of far more importance than all this humanistic, feel-good claptrap. This column is called an opinion column, thus I exercise my right to voice my convictions (opinion.) I would fall short of doing all I could to help people live an everlasting life without the stigma of possible “down the road” guilt – sin which is never satisfied.
As an aside, I am not without my own spiritual difficulties, none of us are. I am not the one to cast the first stone, nor am I a guy who would forever “damn” a person to hell for any reason. “All have fallen short of the Glory of God.” That’s why Jesus boys and girls but never use contemplated or future forgiveness as license to commit evil, it just doesn’t work that way.
I will shake my head in despair over this but I am totally out of sackcloth and ashes. Do as you will with your life but know that there is help out there for you no matter who you are. I disagree with those who say this is a personal matter. That worn out cliche' is an apathetic excuse for those who lack the intestinal fortitude to stand for the truth or even endorse their post with a real name.

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Joe Doherty,  03/09/10 7:47
Pro-choice-life,
Did you not write a note addrssed to liberal Sue; and did it not deal with the subject of abortion? I would want to seperate myself from you and Sue. You simply unfealingly call it devisive. I call it murder.
Why don't you tell it as it is? And also have the nerve to properly identify your selves?
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Marty Meehan Wyalusing,  03/08/10 12:03
In today's newspaper the new bishop effectively dodged the abortion issue. Maybe he's more of a politician than Bishop Martino.
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aggie,  03/07/10 10:40
Thank you, Sue. I think the newspaper should reject letters on the issue of abortion, regardless of position. It is a divisive issue, and nobody is going to be influenced by something written here.
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pro choice life,  03/06/10 5:36
Our representatives and senators represent all the people in thier districts,not just Catholics.Please don't try and shove you beliefs down my throat.
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Dave,  03/06/10 4:27
The teachings of theCatholic Church apply solely to members of that church.Those members may choose to follow, or not, as their conscience dictates. If a practicing Catholic is contemplating abortion, surely she will consider the churches viewpoint. In our nation, it is a woman's right to determine her own destiny, including when, or if, to have a child.
It is too individual, and too private,to be debated in this forum.
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SueA,  03/06/10 12:26
@give it up~
You are Sooo right, it is her decision as to want the baby or not, she is the one who has to live with it.(better now then 21 years on welfare.)
As I studied the bible, I learned that the command is not to "MURDER." Kill is not in the original Hebrew text as Joe D. mentioned. The king James version is a lie, it's a kings "version." You should read the original text to see how it really was.
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an ex JW,  03/06/10 7:58
My God asks that I preserve the earth for future generations. Part of that is reducing or at worst maintaining the world's population at sustainable levels. My God does not believe human life is any more significant than any of the other life forms he created. God gave man a bigger brain so he could figure these things out for himself. We are in a different world now than we were when man wrote the bible, and much of what it says is no longer pertinent to our present world. Man needs to change with his world, or risk losing it.
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think for yourself,  03/06/10 7:34
I think the Review article was accurate. What most responders here seem to forget is that the pregnant woman is entitled to her own religious beliefs, or to have no religious beliefs at all. She alone, hopefully with the help of her doctor, is responsible for the decision to continue a pregnancy or to end it. if you wish to believe that's murder, more power to you. But it's her decision and none of your business. This gets really old after a while and I'm not sure what the point is. I have never known anybody to change their opinion on the abortion issue after they reached the age of 18.
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give it up,  03/05/10 11:55
If a beating heart is a sign of life and abortion stops a beating heart then clearly abortion is murder. God said "Thou shalt not kill"
in that command HE included all the living.n not only those outside the womb. It's too bad if Bishop Martino was only trying to get CAtholics to behave as Catholics . Anyone who refuses to accept one teaching of the CAtholic Church while calling him or herself a Catholic is an apostate heretic.
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Robin,  03/05/10 10:44
Mr. and Mrs. Lenox, I see nothing wrong in the Daily Review's reporting of the facts in their article about the new bishop. They correctly stated the facts of the controversy, without taking sides. Catholic politicians recognize that not all their constituents believe as they do, and they have an obligation to serve all the people who elected them. They can do this best by keeping their religious views out of the political arena. It's time that even devout Catholics recognize that viewpoints other than their own are valid. You don't have to agree with the opposition, but you must recognize their right to have an opinion contrary to your own.
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agree to disagree,  03/05/10 8:20
Dear Rose and Jim Lenox:
In my view you are an anomaly to your peers and a breath of fresh air to me. It is a rare thing to see persons of high moral standards and an unwavering faith in God step forward with a view on abortion which [seemingly] goes against the amoral national trend.
I salute and support you for your personally held beliefs and absolute spiritual conviction. Some may say “Thou Shalt Not Kill,” then use the phrase to cover a multitude of political hot-potato issues such as the death penalty, the slaying of an enemy combatant, murder, war, suicide and yes, abortion too.
I don’t wish to sound authoritative on this but I do know that the original Hebrew as written in the Torah [Genesis 20 vs. 13] does not actually use the word “kill” rather, the original text said; “Thou Shalt Not Murder.” This difference of interpretation regarding Biblical text is one of the vast and varied reasons wherein we have separated into different denominations. The word murder is a specific term meaning the taking of a human life whereas the word kill may be seen in a very broad way such as, and pretty much over-the-top, killing of animals for food.
Although I am not a Catholic I stand with you on this issue. I think what it boils down to is whether or not a person believes the Bible to be God’s Holy Word or not. Below is a copy of biblical text which I think, in my limited and humble opinion proves the fact that FETUSES ARE LIVING AND FUNCTIONING HUMAN BEINGS, to “abort” or kill them is to commit murder. Our nation is guilty as charged.

{In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a town in Judah, and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, and she exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.” Luke 1:39-45}

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Joe Doherty,  03/05/10 8:14