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Thursday, March 28, 2024

From Readers – February 13, 2020

Caucus against assisted suicide

In view of the Feb. 25 caucuses and the inclusion of a resolution against assisted suicide, I encourage caucus attendees to realize that assisted suicides in Oregon have nearly tripled in the last decade and its non-assisted suicide rate has risen 41% higher than the national rate in a single ten-year period following its implementation of its “Death with Dignity Act.”  Additionally, caucus attendees should remember that the American Medical Association has taken a strong stand against physician-assisted suicide, stating that “physician-assisted suicide is fundamentally incompatible with the physician’s role as healer.”  Check out Frederick J. White’s article, “AMA Says ‘No’ to Physician-Assisted Suicide,” REALCLEARHEALTH, 5 July, 2019, http://bit.ly/3a34XBo.

Roland Mayer
Epiphany, Coon Rapids

Get to know the ‘other’

(Re: ‘Lonsdale pastor apologizes for ‘words that were hurtful to Muslims,’ Jan. 29 at TheCatholicSpirit.com.) The controversy over Father Nick VanDeBroeke’s homily, given on Migration Sunday and the Feast of the Epiphany no less, clearly denotes a need for further education and conversation on Church teaching regarding our immigrant brothers and sisters. We as Catholics all need to wrestle with how to open our hearts to whoever is the “other” in our midst and respond as Jesus would have. We do not need any more divisive rhetoric spewed into our lives. We as Catholics and members of a diverse and polarized society need messages from the pulpit encouraging us to encounter one another, to build bridges with one another and to not tolerate or succumb to fear rhetoric. I work at Ascension in north Minneapolis and have attended services at the mosque two blocks away. Let’s get to know the “other” and truly engage in building relationships if genuinely committed to following his example.

Anne Attea
Ascension, Minneapolis

Helping others not ‘either/or’

In response to the writer who opposed granting asylum to migrants as well as allowing legal immigrants to reside in Minnesota, I would point out that our Somali neighbors contribute with the taxes they pay, just as we U.S.-born Minnesotans do. When considering the impact of the immigrant population, there is a large net financial gain, not loss, by virtue of their contributions to our tax base and GNP. Having just returned from time spent in the border witness immersion program in McAllen, Texas, I can state that the situation for asylum seekers is much more grim under the Trump administration. At this time, no Central Americans are being allowed entry while awaiting their hearings. These are people fleeing the worst imaginable violence, risking their very lives to escape the danger in their countries. What parent would take this risk, unless desperation led them to it? They leave behind the land they love, their culture, their belongings. They are forced to live in squalid camps on the Mexican side of the border, with no resources other than what is provided by volunteer organizations. I agree that we need to take care of our native-born homeless as well as homeless veterans, but it doesn’t have to be an either/or situation. We have the resources. What we lack is the will — and the legislation that will provide a safe, legal way to address the plight of the migrants and asylum seekers. Jesus taught us to welcome the alien, as my grandparents were welcomed when they fled the situation in Czechoslovakia two generations ago. My grandma, who was 5 at the time, remembered someone handing her a banana, a precious and unfamiliar gift. It seems we have run out of bananas.

Karen Thimm
St. Gerard Majella, Brooklyn Park

 


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