Re: Potter Critic Michael O'Brien Takes on the Vampires of Twilight
I found Michael O'Brien's analysis of the (unfortunately) very crazed Twilight saga very insightful and well-written. Also insightful is Catholic movie critic Steven Greydanus' review of the appeal of Twilight, entitled “Twilight Appeal: The Cult of Edward Cullen and vampire love in Stephanie Meyer's novels and the new film.”
Here is the link to the website:
https://decentfilms.com/articles/twilight.html
I think LifeSiteNews readers would be very interested to read it. Greydanus addresses the message of chastity that Meyer allegedly tries to send her readers, as well as the problem of the definition of love.
Virlana Shchuka
Ontario, Canada
___________________________________________________________________
Re: Pelosi's Archbishop Corrects Her “Fundamental Misconceptions” on Catholic Faith
Dear Editor,
Obviously Ms. Pelosi is extremely confused in her thinking.
Pope Benedict XVI dealt with freedom in a recent encyclical: true freedom is following rules and right order.
I struggled to understand this a little until I thought of “Rules of the Road”! If these Rules are not followed by everyone, then we would not be free to drive anywhere safely, would we? If anarchy were allowed on our roads, they would be places of danger rather than safety.
This concept should be simple enough for general understanding, even that of Ms. Pelosi?
David A. Hogg
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
___________________________________________________________________
Re: Planned Parenthood Director Bemoans Lack of Info about Natural Family Planning
To the editors:
I've appreciated the LSN reporting for several years now. It's one of my favourite alternative sources of information. Lately, I have enjoyed the articles by Patrick Craine on hormonal contraception. In our marriage preparation course, we treat the issue of contraception as foundational. The couples are exposed to Humanae Vitae, Doctor Janet Smith and Christopher West. However, it is also very useful to provide some secular data regarding Natural Family Planning since some people are inclined to dismiss Church teaching out of hand.
By showing our couples that it is not simply the Catholic Church that proscribes contraception, we hope to encourage an openness to the Church's beautiful and life affirming teaching about the gift of sexuality. Thank you to Mr. Craine for further help in this undertaking.
Rachel Di Fonzo
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
________________________________
Thank you for the article about contraception and pro-abortion activists: “Planned Parenthood Director Bemoans Lack of Info about
Natural Family Planning.” The impression your article gave was that such functionaries don't know about the long-standing programs such as Billings Ovulation Method. Thinking I would help by sending a link to such natural family planning, I was surprised by the response. As you can see from her reply, Ms. Wershler has known about Billings Ovulation Method “for over 30 years.”
However, she wants “secular-based fertility awareness methods”, perhaps in opposition to “Christian-based fertility methods” or in the case of Dr. Billing's program, “science-based fertility awareness methods.” As with sex education, fertility is politics for Planned Parenthood, and consequently, women and the unborn suffer enormously.
Fr. Jeffrey D. Stephaniuk
Saskatchewan, Canada
—————————————-
Dear Jeffrey,
Thank you for your interest. The response to the Canwest news story on women looking beyond the pill has been intriguing.
You may be surprised to learn that I have been well aware of the Billings Ovulation Method for over 30 years. In fact, I attended the
BOMA international conference in Seattle a few years ago. There I met several lovely women who teach the method and learned a lot from the instructional sessions.
As you would imagine, I am an advocate for secular-based fertility awareness methods that serve our organization’s commitment to sexual
and reproductive choice. However, I do realize that all who support natural birth control methods have as much in common as not.
Sincerely,
Laura Wershler
Executive Director
Sexual Health Access Alberta
Calgary, AB
___________________________________________________________________
Re: Jennifer Lopez Down on In Vitro – So Why is IVF Contrary to Pro-Life Values
Hi there LifeSite News folks,
Hilary White's excellent article, “Jennifer Lopez Down On In Vitro” didn't mention the necessity of sperm donation, and, whether from a husband or not, could likely involve masturbation or condom usage or the procreative act in a form outside of what God has intended , which itself has several moral implications and in itself, would preclude in vitro fertilization as a viable and moral option. Perhaps she intends to touch on this in a future article.
Obviously in vitro fertilization is a big topic and there is limited space to include all the discussion in a reader friendly number of word! But I thought I would mention this just in case. A great idea to do a Pro Life 101 series. I look forward to reading it!
Graham Osborne
British Columbia, Canada
________________________________
With regard to your article “Jennifer López… etc” in LSN 07 JAN 10, I would like to suggest that, in future articles under the heading of “Pro-Life 101”, the following criteria regarding “Techniques to assist in fertility”, laid down by the Vatican Instruction “Dignitas Personae” of 12 December 2008, be included:
“With reference to infertility treatment, the new medical techniques must respect three fundamental goods: a) the right to life and to the physical integrity of every human being from conception to natural death; b) the unity of matrimony, which implies reciprocal respect of the right of spouses to become father and mother each one only though the other; c) the specifically human values of sexuality, which «demand that the procreation of a human person be desired as the fruit of the specific conjugal act of love between the spouses».
“Techniques that are presented as an aid to procreation «are not to be rejected due to being artificial; as such they bear witness to the possibilities of medicine, but must be morally evaluated by their relation to the dignity of the human person, called upon to respond to the divine vocation, to the gift of love and to the gift of life».
“In the light of this criterion the techniques of heterologous artificial fecundation and those of homologous artificial fecundation which substitute for the conjugal act must be excluded. Contrariwise the techniques which are configured as an aid to the conjugal act and to its fecundity are admissible.” [See references to “Donum Vitae”]
Please note that this text was translated from Spanish to English as I could not find the English text at Vatican website.
Frank Kures
Madrid, Spain
___________________________________________________________________
Re: Ugandan Catholic Bishops Object to Punitive Emphasis in Controversial Anti-Homosexuality Bill
LifeSiteNews reported on a statement by the Catholic Bishops of Uganda in response to the controversial bill that would strengthen sanctions against homosexuality. Some of the bishops' analysis seems reasonable, but one comment they made is troubling, raising questions about their understanding of jurisdictional boundaries in society, including between church and state.
The bishops write: “The introduction of the death penalty and imprisonment for homosexual acts targets people rather than seeking to counsel and to reach out in compassion to those who need conversion, repentance, support and hope.” The problem with this assertion by the bishops is that it is not the role of the state to pursue “conversion, repentance, support and hope.”
If some branch of the Church, or organizations in the voluntary sector, were promoting the criminalisation of homosexuality, then the bishops would have a valid argument. But God gave us the state or the civil magistracy to bear the sword, to establish and enforce the law against crime. It's one thing to debate whether or not homosexuality should be a crime, but it's not a Christian argument to say that the reason it shouldn't be a crime is because the state should be about the business of promoting and advancing “conversion, repentance, support and hope.”
The bishops are confusing jurisdictional boundaries with their comments, weakening important doctrinal foundation which distinguishes Christianity from totalitarian regimes. These regimes include today's Humanist Western states which seek to subsume all of life under the state and Islamic regimes which seek to centralise all of life into one overarching jurisdiction, that of the Mosque.
Political and organizational centralism is incompatible with the Bible even though some branches of the Church through history have adopted theologies of centralisation. It is very important today for Christians to demonstrate our commitment to liberty, the rule of law and democratic governance. Most Christians don't realise how unique Christianity is in affirming these principles. Our leaders need to be able to make this case rather than being fuzzy on these principles.
The Ugandan bishops also weakened their statement by attempting to insist on a rigid distinction between sin and sinner. LifeSite wrote: “Having expressed the Church's insistence on hating the sin, but loving the sinner, the bishops say that the bill's core flaw is the targeting of the sinner, not the sin.”
Neither in reality, nor in Biblical theology is there a hard and fast distinction between sin and sinner. The only area of analysis where you ever see explicit attempts to make this distinction is when discussing homosexuality. It suggests cowardice and theological illiteracy, not a commitment to historic and Biblical Christianity. Why don,t Christians attempt to make this distinction when discussing adultery or pornography or theft or murder or pedophilia or fraud, etc.?
Certainly you can distinguish between sin and sinners, but attempts to put up a solid wall of separation between sin and sinners does not reflect the spirit of theology of Christianity. If the lack of a proper understanding of distinctions between sin and sinner is a problem with the Ugandan legislation, such confusion is no less a problem for the Ugandan bishops, analysis.
Tim Bloedow
Ottawa, ON Canada
___________________________________________________________________
To write a letter to the Editor: E-mail your letter to [email protected]. Write “letter to the editor” in the subject line. You must include your name and complete address, as well as your phone # (the phone # and street address are for verification of identity only, and will not be published). Please note that all letters are subject to editing. LifeSiteNews.com will publish letters to the editor at its discretion, giving priority to the most concise, well reasoned, factual and timely submissions. Harsh language or personal attacks will not be published.