No Justifying Abortion

Dear Editor: In the Nov. 6th edition of The New York Times, there was an article that can only be described as ghastly.

The article profiled Dr. Susan Wicklund, and her work performing abortions.

It states, “40% of women have abortions during their childbearing years.” It goes on to say that abortion is “more common than tonsillectomies, or having a tooth removed.” That statistic in and of itself is startling.

Dr. Wicklund then talks about the “horrors” of abortion.  She aborted a fetus of 21 weeks. When she saw the tiny arms, she vowed she would only perform abortions during the first trimester. Dr. Wicklund also describes how she made a horrible mistake when she aborted a pregnancy of a rape victim. The victim was further along in the pregnancy than first believed, and the aborted fetus was actually conceived with the rape victim’s husband.

Dr. Wicklund uses a lame excuse that unwanted pregnancies could be avoided if opponents of abortion were not against birth control. She scoffs at the theory of abstinence, saying, “...emphasizing abstinence rather than contraception may cause girls to delay their first sexual experience for a few months, but when they do have intercourse, they are less likely to protect themselves with birth control or a condom.”

The fact that Dr. Wicklund still justifies abortion after two horrifying incidents is troubling, to say the least. 

Richard A. Barry, Jr.
Bayside

Send Used Christmas Cards 

Dear Editor: Wish you a very happy Christmas and a bright New Year. There are 5,000 children and three schools in my residential area. Kindly help me by sending pens, pencils, rosaries, used cards and used magazines and statues for the children.

We shall be praying for you in return. Please help!

Father Paul Cruz
Kerala, India

Editor’s Note: Father Paul’s address is P.O. Box 691 571, Kottiyam – P.O., Kollam - 691 571, Kerala, India.

Pastor Will Be Missed

Dear Editor: It is with great sadness that we are preparing to celebrate Msgr. Perfecto Vazquez’s retirement.

Although this announcement was expected, our reaction was “shock.”
Monsignor, as I usually call him, has not only been a good friend but an asset to Guardian Angel Church.

In his 14 years at Guardian Angel Church, he has demonstrated an outstanding level of leadership, energy and will to follow God’s calling.

Our parish has not only grown in numbers and ministries but has grown in love, devotion and service for our Risen Lord.

Through the years, Monsignor Vazquez has had an open door policy that is not only well known by the community of Brighton Beach, but also by the congregation of the parish.

As you know, we have had lots of celebrations. The very best among the big celebrations was the rededication of Guardian Angel Church on its 100th anniversary on Nov. 5, 2000. The rededication Mass was celebrated by Bishop Thomas V. Daily.

In preparation, the church was completely restored. The main altar was restored and enlightened with gold leafing. The first-ever baptismal font was put in place, using the oak from the altar rail. Guardian Angel’s windows of stained glass were placed in the vestibule. All the murals were restored in 2000. One of the murals on the church ceiling was replaced in 2005 with a title of “The Angels Over Brighton Beach.” A new sound system, new heating and air conditioning were also done in 2000. The church bell which is 200 years old was restored and given a permanent place in the church’s garden with electronic mechanism for its tolling.

The Monsignor has endless energy and enthusiasm. I dare to say that he challenges us younger ones. And also dare to say that he will continue to be energetic and enthusiastic in the years to come.

It has not only been a privilege to know this man of God, but we are thankful for his hard work, his love for people, his perpetual smile and his ability to bring joy and chuckles with his endless joke telling.

As Father John P. Cush stated in his homily at Monsignor’s 50th anniversary Mass, “He is a man of the 3H’s (Happy, Healthy, and Holy).” He will be missed.

It is almost unfortunate how at times our birthdays can determine the future. He will have his 75th birthday on Dec. 22, and as I understand it he must retire.

I am however happy that this “Duracell Bunny” will continue to “Put Out Into the Deep” as an active senior priest and spiritual director of the Cursillo Movement.

To celebrate Msgr. Vazquez, we will have a retirement dinner on Jan. 12, 2008 at Paradise Caterers.

Carmen Loperena
Brighton Beach

Against Capital Punishment

Dear Editor: Anyone who claims that the magisterial authority emphatically condemns capital punishment is simply not being honest. It is true that Pope John Paul II disbelieved its use could likely be justified in modern Western societies but not at all because the Church “changed its teaching” which it never has in its entire history and never could. I personally agree with the Pope’s ultimate judgment but take offense at seeing his moral vision misrepresented.

To read the entirety of Evangelium Vitae and not merely selected parts, we see him reflect on the strict cultural criteria that a society must exercise to be a healthy society, criteria that the secularized and increasingly amoral Western nations fail to demonstrate.

Most notable among these is respect for vulnerable lives, those at the beginning of life, or those near the end of life. When a society cannot protect such lives, it lacks the moral credibility to be effectively understood as protecting life through the exercise of ultimate punishment. Thus, capital punishment for those who slaughter innocent life is not viewed as an innate wrong but as an act that cannot possibly accomplish its purposes of deterrence and justice in societies that do not venerate innocent life itself.

Catholics who are submissive to the intellectual environment created by liberal cultural trends tend to exercise the same agreed upon sophistries and euphemisms when they need to mask the evil they embrace. Many pro-aborts deny what they are by saying they are against abortion. What they really mean is that they are opposed in the same way a five-year-old may be opposed to eating peas. They are opposed to the inevitable horrors surrounding the act but not at all morally opposed to the act itself.

Peter Ingrassia
Richmond Hill

Cover-Up of Sexual Abuse

Dear Editor: High marks to The Tablet for its front page article (Nov. 10) and editorial comment concerning the AP report on sex abuse in public schools. It is appalling that this important story was not covered by the mainstream media and its failure to do so was a dereliction of duty. Some might argue it was tantamount to a cover-up.

Dick Melville
Ozone Park

Value of Centering Prayer

Dear Editor: Last week Mary Griffith wrote asking why Father Lauder is encouraging the practice of Centering Prayer. Her understanding is that this practice is discouraged by the Catholic Church, is not Christian and is not advocated by the Church and she would appreciate an answer. The editor made a statement but did not answer the question.

Centering prayer is alive and well in our diocese, thanks to the late Father John B. Healey. He started two Centering Prayer groups in 1989. One meets on Saturdays at 10:30 a.m. at Immaculate Conception Center, Douglaston, and the other meets on Tuesdays at 7 p.m. in Our Lady of the Snows, North Floral Park.

Anyone wishing to attend a Centering Prayer meeting can contact Contemplative Outreach of Long Island, 44 First St., Hicksville, NY, 11801 or call Barbara Sullivan at 516-481-0472 or go to their website www.contemplativeoutreach.org.

Pope John Paul II had a great love love for the contemplative life and prayer. The Bishops at the Vatican Council used Luke 10 as a basis for their conclusions, i.e., Jesus Himself gave us the answer about this contemplative prayer study.

Father Healey advised us not to be discouraged since discouragement is a desperate tool that the Devil uses many times to take us away from it.

Father Healey in America magazine (February, 1991) stated that it took him half a century to go from his head to his heart. “I knew much about God, but I did not know God,” he wrote. This practice took him to the feet of Our Lord since he admits he was “top heavy with doctrine.”

Father Healey conducted workshops on centering Prayer on The Prayer Channel and after his death The Prayer Channel decided to run these programs again and again since there is a hunger out there for this type of prayer.

The journey begins and ends within. It begins with yearning for the presence of God which lies within each and every human being and contemplative prayer is just the beginning of the journey.

Peter and Anne Brennan
Bellerose