HOW TO CHOOSE A GOOD CATHOLIC SCHOOL (Letter printed in 'NZ Catholic', February 8)

  Tom Gerrard of Rosmini College, retiring as New Zealand’s longest-serving secondary school principal (NZ Catholic, November 16), says there are two ways to choose a good school for your children.

The first, he suggests, is to check a school is doing well academically and culturally. In view of the fact that, as Dan Stollenwerk points out in a letter on the facing page of the same issue, the only reason for a Catholic school’s existence is to witness to Jesus, prospective parents must surely first of all assess the school’s level of participation in the Eucharist, and its Christian witness in the community.

    The second question to ask, Gerrard says, is how are old boys doing 10 years out? As there’s no other objective measure of love for Christ and his Church, he must mean parents should ask if those old boys are attending Mass and receiving the Sacraments.

TOM SCOTT INADVERTENTLY MAKES A GOOD POINT (Letter to Dom Post, February 13)

In depicting a Nazi belt buckle inscribed ‘Gott Mit Uns’ (‘God with us’) Tom Scott inadvertently makes an excellent point.

Just as no one in their right mind would denounce Christianity because it was totally perverted by the Nazis, neither should anyone denounce Islam because it’s totally perverted by ISIS.

DISMISSING DEAD CHRISTIANS (Letter to Dom Post, Feb 12)

In regard to ‘the fate of Christians in the volatile Middle East’, Rosemary McLeod (February 12) displays remarkable equanimity.

Does she realise tens of thousands have been killed in Syria alone and that a disproportionate number are women - who are also raped? Or is she dismissing them so lightheartedly because they’re Christians?

I KNOW A FEW MONKS (Letter to Dom Post, February 10)

I’m privileged to know a few monks. I’d say that generally they’re apolitical, eminently sane, actively practising acceptance of all-comers and eschewing prejudice of any kind.

Your editorial comment (February 10) that Tony Abbott’s nickname, ‘the mad monk’, is due to his ‘far Right politics’ and ‘unpleasant personal prejudices’ is way off beam.

WHY ISN'T IT 'VILE' TO SMASH IN THE HEADS OF BABY HUMANS? (Letter to Dom Post, January 29)

If someone like Rosemary McLeod (January 29) feels moved to say smashing in the heads of baby animals is ‘vile’, why has she nothing to say about smashing in the heads of baby humans, which is precisely what happens in an abortion procedure?  

Is it because we don’t see abortions happening? No, because we didn’t see Ewen Macdonald bash those calves either. We read about it in the paper. But we don’t read about smashing babies’ heads in the paper.  

It’s hard to avoid the inference that McLeod and other columnists do stories about people killing baby animals because they know we’re okay with it. That’s just a question of schadenfreude. But when it comes to killing baby humans en masse, it’s a question of guilt en masse and we don’t want to think about it.

WE'RE A NATION OF BYSTANDERS (Letter to Dom Post, Jan 27)

Susan Devoy just took my breath away. ‘If there’s any lesson everyday New Zealanders can learn from the Holocaust,’ she says, ‘it’s don’t be a bystander.’  

Hey, we’re a nation of bystanders. What is the legal killing of thousands upon thousands of preborn babies, but a holocaust? A photo of a pile of shoes, appalling as it is, can hardly compare in horror to a photo of the outcome of one day’s work in an abortion clinic, pictures we can all see online. 

Susan Devoy would like to see more young Kiwis attend Holocaust Remembrance Day. Thousands of young Kiwis never get the chance because they’re killed before birth.  

Susan Devoy says human rights begin at home. Her first home, like everyone else’s, was the womb. That’s where human rights begin.  

Susan Devoy says hate grows when we stand by and do nothing. What is killing your own child if not an expression of hate, hatred of self? 

Unlike the Germans in WWII, we’re given the stats. We know what’s going on but we stand by and do nothing.

 

POPE FRANCIS ON FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION (Letter to Dom Post, January 23)

Chris Bowen (To the Point, January 23) accuses Pope Francis of thinking ‘it should be illegal to offend someone’s religious delusions’.

 

Where does he get that idea? Because what the Pope actually says on the subject of freedom of expression is, ‘I cannot continually insult a person because I risk making him angry and risk an unjust reaction. Freedom must be accompanied by prudence’.   

Methinks it’s Chris Bowen who’s deluded.