Concerns Over Election

Dear Editor: Reading the Daily News this morning, I was upset to learn that President-elect Obama plans to turn around the executive orders and allow funding for abortions to countries to which we give foreign aid and to lift the ban on embryonic stem-cell research.

It looks as if the spiritual warfare has begun. Jesus did tell us in the Scriptures that there are certain kinds of evil that can only be driven out by prayer and fasting. It sounds as if this is the time.

I invite your readers and my Brother Knights, who have been in the forefront of the pro-life movement in our country, to begin the attack against this evil through increased prayer and a serious plan of fasting to preserve life at all stages of its development from conception through natural death.

Together we can choose life so that we and our descendents may live.

Msgr. Joe Nugent
East New York

Dear Editor: You are so right when you say that Catholic involvement in politics cannot be compromised when it comes to standing up for the inalienable right-to-life.

Now, along comes Governor Sarah Palin, Senator John McCain’s choice for running mate, an exemplary young woman who is living the life of a true Christian, and the way she is being treated by the liberal media and, I’m sad to say, Christian citizens of our country is unbelievable. The questioning she is undergoing reminds me of what the Spanish Inquisition must have been like.  She is being accused of showcasing her children for political gain. Should she have locked them up in the attic or basement? This is her family and she is truly proud of them. 

It was no problem when Senator Obama and his wife had their two adorable daughters on the dais with them.  Oh, how everyone exclaimed at their beauty and poise.  We Americans ate this up! Oh, how we love children when they belong to the party we favor! 

Also, the hypocrisy of the National Organization of Women again comes to the fore. Here we have a young woman, devoted wife and mother and governor of Alaska.  She’s doing it all – isn’t this what the NOW has been advocating for so many years? No, not when she belongs to the opposing party.  All we hear from them and other liberals is, “How is she going to be able to handle the V.P.’s duties if elected with her family responsibilities?” Have they ever asked this of any other candidate, male or female? I don't believe so.

Governor Palin is pro-life and the love shown to her newborn by her family was so evident and heartwarming.  Would a gardener, when planting a seed, deliberately step on it and kill it?  I don't think so, because that gardener can envision what that seed will grow into from the moment it is planted in the ground. 

It is so disheartening, when speaking with members of my family and friends, young and old alike, and church-going Christians, to hear them say they are pro-choice. When did they stop believing that life begins at the moment of conception? They don’t believe abortion should be a political issue. The liberal media and Americans were so worried that Roe v. Wade would be overturned if Senator McCain was elected president. 

Another practice that bothers me and that is definitely one-sided: Why can politicans spout their political views from the pulpit in Protestant churches and synagogues and not in Catholic churches?

Celesta C. Miceli
Beechhurst

Dear Editor: At election time, we read in The Tablet’s Readers’ Forum section letters from all of those Catholic Liberal Democrats who vote for candidates who favor abortion rights offering excuses for why they vote for these people.

They will tell us as “Name Withheld” did on Aug. 16 that they agree with the abortion rights candidate on all of the “other” issues.

On TV, the two candidates running for president were asked by evangelical Pastor Rick Warren when do babies get human rights? McCain replied, “at the moment of conception.” Obama replied, “I think that whether you are looking at it from a theological perspective or a scientific perspective, answering that question with specificity, you know, is above my pay grade.”

This is the type of answer you would expect from a guy who was told before the Senate’s vote on partial-birth abortion by a Chicago nurse that there were babies who were surviving partial-birth abortions and being left to die on hospital tables and he still voted to keep partial birth abortions legal.

I don’t know the issues that people like “Name Withheld” find so important that they would vote for a person who favors abortion rights over John McCain, but I don’t believe that McCain’s positions on immigration or defending the country against Muslim extremists are so radical that a true Catholic could make such a choice.

Jim Lundrigan
New Haven, Conn.

Dear Editor: I was troubled reading some of the letters in the past few weeks, criticizing the bishops for their reactions to the Democrats. This whole controversy occurred after two prominent Democrat leaders, Nancy Pelosi and Joe Biden, self-described practicing Catholics, misrepresented the Church’s teaching on the critical issues of our day, abortion and the sanctity of human life. 

As chief shepherds of the faithful, the bishops are solemnly bound to defend us against false teachings.  Their “opinions,” are in fact, based on the moral teachings of the Church. 

Many letters made reference to following one’s conscience, in making decisions. That’s fine only if those consciences have been formed properly in light of revealed truth. Let’s remember that the real mission of the Church is the salvation of souls and not the “care of the seamless garment.” Many are being swept along with the popular culture, and desire for change, that's endangering their immortal souls. We must not forget that someday we will answer before the Lord for that “change.”

Michael Mattes
Neponsit

Lip Service to Pro-Life Cause

Dear Editor: I am a parishioner of St. Andrew the Apostle Church. I am appalled that so many in the Catholic community – both clerical and laity — consider my decision to vote for Barack Obama a grave moral error.

In choosing for whom I would vote, I ignored the ugly innuendo that so often surrounded this election, and instead studied the facts. After eight years of a president who condoned the use of torture, embroiled our country in an unjust war, ignored our Constitution, and cares not a whit for either our environment nor the disenfranchised in our country — while merely paying lip service to the pro-life movement — I was unable to bring myself to vote for a candidate who so closely aligned himself with Mr. Bush.

In the final analysis, I followed the dictates of my conscience as a Catholic and as a human being. I do not condemn those who voted for Mr. McCain. And I would ask them not to condemn me, nor the majority of Catholics who, like me, voted for Mr. Obama.

In closing, that some who voted for Mr. McCain would criticize The Tablet for acknowledging the historical implications of Mr. Obama’s presidency is a very sad statement indeed.

Christine Pratt-Scanlon
Bay Ridge

Loves Blue Ribbon School

Dear Editor: I had to take a moment to write The Tablet and let everyone, who is concerned about the future of Catholic education, know that Catholic education is alive, well, and flourishing at St. Bernadette’s in Dyker Heights.

I’ve worked in the field of education for the past 30 years and retired in 2007. I am now working part-time teaching sixth- and seventh-grade religion at St. Bernadette's school. Its emphasis is not merely on academics, which is obvious to all since we are the only school to attain Blue-Ribbon status, but more importantly on its Christ-centered education.

The day starts with prayer and a short scriptural reading that ends with pertinent questions to ponder. After lunch, a decade of the Rosary is recited by the students and the day ends with a final call to prayer by the principal.

The school is sponsored by the Religious Sisters of St. Lucy Filippini, a congregation dedicated to the spreading of the Gospel through its teaching ministry.

While I have only been at St. Bernadette since September, I am awed by its commitment to the Church and its teachings and the love and warmth that permeates this awesome school. I would encourage anyone interested in the future of Catholic education to visit its website: www.stbernadetteschool.org and click on the Principal’s Page. It will give you great insight to what drives our school. The future of our Church is our youth and St. Bernadette School is doing an excellent job in preparing them for the positions they will one day take on as the leaders of our Church.

Vincent J. Maione
Brooklyn