Letters to the Editor

Submit a letter to the editor electronically | For our letter writing policy, click here

Does President Obama ‘blur’ the line concerning abortion?

Webster’s Dictionary defines the word “blur” as “anything indistinct to the mind.”

How appropriate that The Criterion carried Father Tad Pacholczyk’s column on moral absolutes along with the front-page story about President Barack Obama’s visit to the University of Notre Dame in its May 22 issue.

All you have to do is read each of these articles to see how the wrong of abortion is being blurred by our president.

Granted, President Obama is a gifted individual who can speak and move people in a way not seen in a great while. But it is essential that we listen carefully to what he is saying. Reading between the lines gives us the actual message.

For example, in his Notre Dame commencement address, the president said the following: “Your class has come of age at a moment of great consequence for our nation and for the world—a rare inflection point in history where the size and scope of the challenges before us require that we remake our world to renew its promise; that we align our deepest values and commitments to the demands of a new age.”

In other words, as I interpret it, we should step away from the horrors of abortion and accept what the secular world is preaching. That things are different now, and we Catholics are backward and not “up to speed.”

But we can’t do that, can we?

Father Pacholczyk tells it like it is. There are absolutes; there are some issues that can’t be watered down so that we all can “get along,” and abortion is one of those issues.

There is no gray area when we talk about the absolute sanctity of the infant in the womb.

But, unfortunately, there are those Catholics who feel different—who have fallen for the smooth talk and impressive rhetoric, and feel that President Obama should have been invited to Notre Dame in the spirit of dialogue.

Make no mistake; he did not come as the head of a debating team. He came as the most powerful person in the world who has already acted in ways that have endangered the lives of innocent infants, and will continue to push his agenda in even more frightful ways.

In the face of the evil of abortion, prayer is the only answer. The peace and love of Jesus Christ can and will overcome the forces of evil which are present in our country today.

Catholics should adhere to what our Church, in her wisdom, has steadfastly taught us on the protection of life in all of its stages.

Because despite what we are bombarded with by this administration and the media, one fact cannot be denied: Abortion kills a life.

- Joe Proctor | New Albany

Priest’s column about courage of singer Susan Boyle puts her in the right light, reader says

“The Parish Diary” column by Father Peter Daly in the May 1 issue of The Criterion was absolutely awesome.

I, along with millions of others, am totally fascinated with Susan Boyle.

This column put her and what she represents in the correct light. I have read this to many family members and friends, and everyone is in agreement with me. How cruel we can be without really realizing how it makes others feel.

Susan Boyle had the courage to be able to go on even after the snickers and remarks. Hopefully, everyone that snickered or rolled their eyes felt a little ashamed of how they acted when they heard how wonderful she can sing.

- Christine Mazza | Indianapolis