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Thursday, March 28, 2024

From readers – September 14, 2017

Seeking joy

This thought in response to the recent exchange of letters: True joy comes from living a virtuous life (including Christian sexual integrity), with the hope of eternal life in Christ, our Lord and savior. Approving of others’ sins out of a misguided sense of “acceptance and tolerance” risks their eternal joy and shortchanges their ability to experience real happiness even in this life.

Debra Braun
St. Agnes, St. Paul

Christianity more than ethics

There has been a lively exchange in these pages about Catholicism and doctrine. Two points have been made: first, the Church must always affirm her whole body of teaching. Second, it is untrue to the Gospel to judge another by means of oversimplified litmus tests for faithfulness. I would add that Christianity is neither a morality nor an ethics. It’s true that there is a Christian morality. It’s true that there are Christian ethics. But Christianity itself is not the total collection of “truths” about morality and ethics (do this, don’t do that). Christianity is the devoted human response to the event of the Incarnation of God in Christ. My meeting with Christ is personal, for Christ has come to meet me as I am so as to make me something more. In a truly personal meeting I can be awakened to the other’s personal history with God. Only then can I “be Christ” for her. If I choose either condemnation or silence in the face of another’s doubt then I cancel out his personhood. But if I seek a personal meeting with the other in order to bring light to him from within his doubt — then I am imitating Christ, who does not come to condemn, but to save (Jn 3:17).

Father Byron S. Hagan, parochial vicar
Holy Cross, Minneapolis

Better fact checking

The recent front page article on water quality (“Catholics urged to contribute to state’s water quality conversation,” Aug. 24) began with the statement that half of the state’s lakes are too polluted for swimming and fishing. A quick reference to the Minnesota PCA’s website on impaired water shows that less than 10 percent of our lakes are listed as impaired. If the author of this article cannot get such a simple fact correct, why would we believe any other statement she makes? Shame on both her and the editors for failing to stop the spread of fake news.

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Len Lorence
St. Pius X, White Bear Lake

Editor’s note: Unfortunately, we omitted the key qualifier that it’s in the southern half of the state that 50 percent of the lakes are often too polluted for swimming or fishing. Please see the correction on page 2 of the September 14 print edition. It has been corrected in the story online. We strive for high journalistic standards and with this mistake failed to meet them. We sincerely apologize for the error.

Share your perspective by emailing CatholicSpirit@archspm.org. Please limit your letter to the editor to 150 words and include your parish and phone number. The Commentary page does not necessarily reflect the opinions of The Catholic Spirit. Letters may be edited for length or clarity.

 


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