Just a friendly rebuttal to Chris Morrissey’s March 12 critique of Prof. Jordan Peterson. While Peterson never claims to be a theologian, and while Dr. Morrissey is absolutely correct in pointing out that as far as salvation goes Peterson falls woefully short with his self-help advice, I believe Catholics should not throw him out altogether.

Peterson makes an important contribution to the public square that should be duly noted. Our public universities, especially in the humanities, have been shamefully propagandizing young people with ideology that has proved to be incredibly harmful to themselves and society in general. For decades, parents have dutifully sent their catechized children off to institutions of higher learning only to have them returned as feminists and cultural Marxists, championing a doctrine of political correctness that in many cases reviles the Catholic faith.

Peterson has broken through the oppressive silence that the university establishment has held over professors and, despite being told to keep quiet by his legal team and being threatened by the university itself, he has stood up.

Peterson does two important things. First, he puts into laymen’s terms the evils of the 19th and 20th centuries and the very evils that are being propagated in our institutions of higher learning today. He does so with tenacity and humour to warn us that history can repeat itself.

Second, he talks about Truth (with a capital T). In an era of entrenched relativism, especially in the university setting, this is significant. He chides people to seek the Truth, to speak the Truth, and in doing so himself, even if imperfectly, he is a model for a generation of confused young people who have been told that truth is a mere construct of their own beliefs.

If you want to learn about the dangers of enforcing equality in society, see the harms of gender politics, compelled speech, or identity politics, or understand why the evils of Nazism have been soundly condemned while the evils of communism have been largely ignored, watch Jordan Peterson. These are important lessons for our time.

If you want to get to heaven, well, that is another story.

Natalie Sonnen
Executive director, LifeCanada
Chilliwack

 

As an MP, my primary responsibility is to the constituents who elected me. There are times where what I'm hearing from my constituents is different from what I'm hearing from my party, and it is my job to represent my constituents.

Your Vancouver-area MPs will have an opportunity to stand up for their community on Monday, March 19, when the House of Commons will vote on an Opposition motion to protect the Canada‎ Summer Jobs Program.

This program supports worthy organizations that ‎provide jobs to students. Unfortunately, a new Liberal policy will force organizations to submit to a “values test” before accessing funding, and this values test will exclude many worthy organizations who don’t believe they should be forced to share Liberal values. 

The opposition motion is very clear. It does not seek funding for political or activist groups. It says, instead, that “organizations that engage in non-political non-activist work, such as feeding the homeless, helping refugees, and giving kids an opportunity to go to camp, should be able to access Canada Summer Jobs funding regardless of their private convictions and regardless of whether or not they choose to sign the application attestation.”

This is a reasonable approach to an unreasonable Liberal policy. If the Liberals are truly trying to simply take money away from activist groups, then they should have no problem voting for the Opposition motion to clarify the issue.

In order to protect the organizations that do good work with this funding, it is important that MPs do the right thing and stand up for their communities. Please contact your local MP’s office and encourage them to vote in favour of the Opposition motion on March 19.

MP Garnett Genuis
Sherwood Park - Fort Saskatchewan

 

I wish and pray that your Jan. 15 headline “Jewish care home death troubles Catholics” were true. To be accurate, it should have said “some Catholics;” most of us take it in without reaction.

The article did not ask why so many are asking for assisted suicide. One reason is a decline of faith. The second is a decline of care in geriatric wards, and maybe in affordable care homes too.

More such homes are “closed shop” (unionized), and union rules encourage sub-standard conditions in our care facilities, especially hospitals.

Clergy should educate their flock that union rules sometimes require evil actions or inactions in job descriptions, and that believers in God should not follow.

The remedy: Get rid of unjust closed shop facilities and make doctors responsible for what is going on in their ward, not the care management department, which is also unionized.

W. (Trudy) Hombrebueno
Vancouver

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