I thank Colleen Roy for mentioning Michael O’Brien’s A Landscape with Dragons in her June 22 article. This 70–pager is a gem, packed with gentle but clear guidance such as: “A simple rule of thumb is to ask the following questions when assessing a book, video, or film: Does the story reinforce my child’s understanding of the moral order of the universe? Or does it undermine it? What precisely is the author saying about the nature of evil? What does he tell the reader (or viewer) about the nature of the war between good and evil?”

Reading this helped my family discern and eventually purge several books we had previously considered to be appropriate simply because we had grown up with them. For us, they were mostly Korean–language children’s fables that evoked nostalgia for our own childhood but always left us feeling disconcerted. It was immensely satisfying to learn that our misgivings were justified in light of our Catholic faith.

What saddens me is that there seems to be a dearth of good books for my children on how to reconcile their Catholic faith and their Korean heritage. Herein lies my personal struggle that coexists with my unreserved enthusiasm for Mr. O’Brien’s work. Is non – Judaeo – Christian culture and Catholic faith compatible? Take the dragon, for example. Dragons are seldom portrayed as evil in Korean culture.* Growing up in Korea, neither my husband nor I had been exposed to the traditional Christian symbols that O’Brien alludes to, page after page. Instead, we had been raised on a steady diet of Korean culture that is, more often than not, at odds with the Christian worldview. I wonder if my Korean identity is perhaps an obstacle that I need to overcome in order to live a more authentic Christian life.

For those who read Korean, I found on maria.catholic.or.kr a short analysis by Rev. Mattias Hur Young Yup that contrasts how dragons are portrayed in Korean culture compared with the Catholic Church.

Sophia Lee
 Vancouver

(A link to the article can be found on the B.C. Catholic website at bccatholic.ca/letters – Editor)

Ida Gazzola’s June 19 article “Searching for simple truth in a time of complex lies and Paul Schratz’ June 26 editorial on the erosion of religious rights make me think of C.S. Lewis’ book The Abolition of Man. It’s a complex book that’s pretty deep in philosophy, but he suggests how the public education system is beginning the process of conditioning the emotions of children, leading to a disconnect from their normal natural emotions with what could lead to the ultimate objective of programming and controlling their minds.

Interestingly in Lewis’ writings I recall reading how the power that be might use climate change to exercise control over the world population, much like Nazism controlled the German population. This book was written around the time of World War II, so the comparison is interesting as is his insight about the future of our world.

Combined with the criminally insane practise of encouraging and promoting abortion and euthanasia I don’t think I’m being a conspiracy theorist surmising that championing transgenderism and discouraging Christianity is just more of our leadership’s and followers’ ungodly attempts to reduce population. 

In his editorial Paul Schratz points out that suppression of religious freedom, particularly Christianity, is growing all over the world including Canada. In a recent column in the Western Standard, Brian Giesbrecht writes about all the lies that are nothing short of hate crimes being thrown at the Catholic Church. I find myself asking why we Catholics are just nodding and apologizing. Priests and nuns sacrificed their lives for needy children in schools and lived in very difficult and challenging conditions. We should be apologizing to them for how we and society are treating their sacrifices. 

God help us and especially our young children.

Bert Podruzny
Surrey


Every day children are lured, kidnapped, or sold into the sex trade. This industry is growing faster than the illegal drug trade. There has been a 5,000 per cent increase in the past few years, which will pass the sale of illicit drugs as North America is the largest market for pedophilia.

Our teachers are no longer able to forbid explicit clothing in schools. If as adults we try to tell our young daughters to dress modestly, we are chastized and told “Don’t body shame her.”

The Sound of Freedom, about the sex trade of children, tells the true story of a young brother and sister taken by the sex trade in Honduras, and Homeland Security Agent Tim Ballard’s determination to risk everything, from his pension to his life, to rescue them. There was no media hype and no major movie producer promoting it.

It is our duty to tell our politicians, civic leaders, educators, retailers, and school boards to put an end to the sex trade. There are 2 million children a year being cast into this living hell. Wake up, people!

Rita Luterbach
 Coquitlam


Re Jenna’s McDonald’s June 26 column To Veil or Not to Veil:

I have seen women wearing veils who will only receive Communion from a priest and not an extraordinary minister of the Eucharistic minister. When my wife and I went to Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York there were some veiled women who were determined to only receive Communion from the Cardinal while prostrate on the floor of the church.

 While everyone should be free to dress as they like, I find dressing to one extreme or the other in church (dressing down too much as well) to be a distraction from the Mass itself.

Martin Sollanych
Port Moody

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