The following letters to the editor appear in the edition of Oct. 21, 2004. Letters appearing in this space do not necessarily reflect the views of the Arlington Catholic Herald or the Catholic Diocese of Arlington. The editor reserves the right to edit letters as necessary. There is no guarantee of publication. Send letters to: letters@catholicherald.com.

Vote for Life

As a Catholic and as a Christian, God has placed you on earth at this most critical time in our nation’s history. We all have a duty and obligation to God to defend life because God gave us life.  God said, "I set before you life and death. Choose life." As a registered voter, you will have an opportunity and an obligation to do God’s will. You must vote in November and vote pro-life. Jesus said in Matthew 12:30: "If you are not with me, you are against me."

Charles Drogovich
ProGod ProLife Coalition
Staunton, Ill

Can’t Decide? Write in Your Own

I understand the frustration of the letter-writer from Woodbridge ("Stop Making Excuses," ACH 10/7/04). I strongly plead with him and all eligible voters to vote. I, too, find it unacceptable to vote for "the lesser of two evils," but hope there is yet an alternative.

There is no opportunity for a vote of non-confidence (i.e. "none-of-the-above candidates"), and many states don’t offer third-party options on their ballot. However, I hope it is true that Americans are offered the opportunity for a write-in vote. I believe it would be better to make the statement, by voting for an alternative party, that the two major parties are not acceptable, but you believe that casting your vote and being counted is important. If all those who do not enthusiastically support President Bush or John Kerry don’t vote at all, that does not give a true picture of the election. The total count will go to those two candidates, giving the impression that there is no opposition or alternative candidates.

If those non-voters would at least participate by voting for any third-party candidate, it would be clear to all that the winner, in fact, had a smaller fraction of the total votes and, thus, no "mandate."

Every eligible voter should vote his or her conscience — not a frivolous write-in name such as Charlie Brown — but a true candidate that stands for something important to you. I believe you will be happier having voted, for you did what you could. Leave the harvest to God, but at least plant a seed.

The only pro-life party I am aware of is the Constitution Party. Without life there is no way to pursue liberty, happiness or justice. As Americans, we hope that the Constitution will be faithful to our founding fathers and the formation of our nation under God.

Let us stand up before the Lord and our fellow Americans. Vote while you can. If we don’t use it, we may lose it.

Jeanette Maas
Martinsburg, W. Va.

Suicide Prevention

I was heartened to see the article "What Drives a Youth to Commit Suicide" (ACH 9/30/04) and wanted to thank you for doing this tremendous service. This is an issue that has been ignored and must be addressed before we lose so many more young and not-so-young lives.

On Oct. 3, I was twice reminded of this powerful link: in the morning as I participated in the first Out of the Darkness Community Walk to benefit the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP), and in the afternoon when I joined with fellow parishioner from Blessed Sacrament in the Life Chain.

Suicide prevention is an urgent matter when we consider the following statistics (taken from a much longer list found on the Web site of AFSP — www.afsp.org):

• Every day, 80 Americans take their own lives and 1,500 more attempt to do so
• Suicide is the fifth leading cause of death among all those 5 to 14 years old
• Suicide is third leading cause of death among all those 15 to 24 years old.

Suicide prevention is definitely a pro-life issue as we need to help and protect the precious lives that are taken by this tragedy.

Armelle Tallec
Arlington

Astonishing Admissions

The HERALD recently featured an article on creation and evolution which quoted extensively from the musings of Father George Coyne, director of the Vatican Observatory (ACH 9/30/04, page 3). The article gave the impression that Father Coyne was a reliable source of information about the proper integration of faith and reason. But nothing could be further from the truth. In an interview article in the Chicago Catholic New World newspaper (June 23, 2002), entitled "Searching the Heavens: Vatican Astronomer sees Hand of God in the Stars," Father Coyne made some astonishing admissions that contradict Catholic doctrine:

In a few short sentences, Father Coyne contradicts several important doctrines of the Catholic faith. He refers to God as a "he or she" who is "not keeping control of everything." But the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that "God is the Father almighty, whose fatherhood and power shed light on one another" (emphasis in original) (CCC, 270). Father Coyne teaches that the "Creator can’t know everything." But the Catechism teaches that God’s knowledge, like His power, is infinite: "In God power, essence, will, intellect, wisdom and justice are all identical" (CCC, 271).

Father Coyne sees God "sort of hoping and wishing and setting things up so there’s a strong possibility for human life." But the Catechism teaches that "God is the Lord of the universe, whose order he established and which remains wholly subject to him and at his disposal" (CCC, 269). Sadly, Father Coyne’s musings illustrate the confusion that results when men attempt to reconcile the Catholic faith with naturalism and molecules to man evolution.

Last weekend at Christendom College, Catholics had the opportunity to hear Catholic experts in theology, philosophy and natural science expose the fatal flaws in evolutionary science and in the theological ideas of apologists for evolution like Father Coyne who use natural science as a cloak under which to disseminate philosophical and theological errors. The Third International Catholic Conference on Creation gave Catholics the opportunity to evaluate the evidence for special creation and the literal historical interpretation of Genesis and to decide for themselves whether theistic evolution or special creation better explains the facts of Scripture, tradition and natural science. Tapes are available from this conference by visiting the Kolbe Center Web site at www.kolbecenter.org.

Hugh Owen
Director
Kolbe Center for the Study of Creation

Copyright ©2004 Arlington Catholic Herald.  All rights reserved.