I am delighted to learn about the gradual re-opening of Masses in the Archdiocese of Vancouver, and also that different pastors can approach the challenge in different ways, depending on the parish.

I could also really identify with Anna Loch’s May 11 article “Moving from a Zoombie state to a more embodied life.” Let’s pray that we can find innovative solutions so that, while taking necessary precautions, as many people as possible can worship in person again as a community, and especially that the little children can receive their first Holy Communion and the older ones can receive confirmation soon.

Kathleen Higgins
Delta

 

The federal government will soon be sending extra money to every pensioned senior in Canada to cover so-called extra expenses due to our current medical crisis. When the math is done, the total comes to less than $10 a week, which will not go that far for older people in some situations. But there is another generation of people who could very well profit if they only had a chance to live in the first place.

Some of our elderly have been praying for the unborn for 50 years, ever since abortion became an accepted form of birth control in this country. Many can no longer participate as active members of pro-life organizations but are willing to support those who do because we who are older can always see the face of the goodness of God in the innocence of every child.

Many of us do not need the token, pre-election bribes being handed out to be paid back by future generations. Let us who are able donate this cash to our local pro-life organizations who are working constantly to save the unborn and help the mothers of these children. All of these children need a chance at life more that we really need our “allowance.”

John and Patricia Poston
Mission

 

I am writing to thank Alan Charlton for his May 11 article and to say how much I enjoyed his writing about life growing up in the war years in England. It was most interesting and must have been much harder than what we all are going through now with this coronavirus pandemic. And yet, he made it sound like he had such a happy childhood. I believe his mother must have been amazing.

Jane Girard
South Surrey

 

I’d like to say how much I enjoyed Alan Charlton’s article, “The disasters that formed the bookends of my life,” at once a message of encouragement and hope, and a memoir that transported me to England during the Second World War. I’d love to read more about what life was like for Alan during that period. God bless.

Daniel Hui
Burnaby

 

In the May 14 online article about St. John-Paul’s 100th birthday, Archbishop Miller referred to Saint John-Paul II’s “Knack for admonishing dictators, to his preaching of religious freedom as the cornerstone of all human rights.”

As someone who grew up under Nazi and then Communist tyranny, John-Paul II was never afraid to proclaim the truth in the face of great evil.

Today, as we witness the constant erosion of freedom and human rights in the imprisoned island of Hong Kong, as well as the persecution of Catholics and Christians in China, the Vatican has been strangely silent about such gross violations of human and religious rights.

Again, the supposed deal (details of which are still murky) between the Holy See and China does nothing to help the faithful underground Catholics within China, not to mention the close to 400,000 Catholics in Hong Kong. Any further crackdown on the democratic aspirations of Hong Kongers would mean the end of this once free and vibrant city.

Is Pope Francis so anxious to sign an agreement – any agreement – with China that he is afraid to speak out against it, lest he offends the communist dictatorship? Who is advising Pope Francis? And why are they not heeding the words of Cardinal Joseph Zen?

I believe it was the Church’s moral leadership during the papacy of Saint John-Paul II that was at least partly responsible for the toppling of the Soviet Union as well as communist dictatorships of Warsaw Pact countries.

 Can we say that the Church today has the same moral authority in standing up to evil and tyranny?

Patrick May
Vancouver