Missing Prayer
Dear Editor: Now that the month of November is here, let us never forget to have Masses, pray for, and fast for the suffering souls in purgatory.
When there is a funeral Mass, you rarely hear that you should pr ay for the deceased. Instead, sadly, practically all we hear is that the soul is already in heaven.
Years ago, my son Michael went to the Purgatorial Museum in Italy. It is definitely a wake up call for what you see there.
God Bless you!
Wanda Lucci
Gravesend
Eroding Our Christian Values
Dear Editor: I was saddened to read in last week’s column by George Weigel on how deeply our decadent culture has tried to erode traditional Christianity in the name of inclusivity (“The Synod and The Hartford Appeal,” Oct. 14).
The synod in Rome has this issue on its agenda as put forth in part by the Hartford Appeal.
What struck me were these troubling thoughts that we are superior to early Christians because we have more knowledge and more skills.
As a result, institutions ha ve become oppressive and inimical to being truly human. The world must set the agenda for the Church in the social, political, and economic sphere.
In a nutshell, we are trying to become our own sa viors.
Religion is a matter of personal preference or lifestyle.
To achieve perfection, our life’s aim is to become mini-gods. Jesus was not mistaken.
He knew the human hear t and its inclination towards self-interest and resulting destruction of true happiness.
May the outcome of this synod validate Christian orthodoxy.
Helen Mel
Whitestone
Massacre in Maine
Dear Editor: It has brought me a great deal of sadness with the massacre in Maine.
The alleged suspect named Robert Card killed 18 and injured 13.
The suspect volunteered to enter a mental health hospital for hearing voices and repor tedly as an Army reservist threatened to shoot up a military base in Saco, Maine. But he was able to leave the hospital after two weeks.
He also was able to obtain a rifle. Now my question is why was this rifle not taken away from him?
There ought to be stricter mental health laws preventing those with mental health issues from obtaining guns.
The innocent people in this country are at risk. As such my heartfelt prayers go out to those families who lost loved ones in this massacre in Maine.
You see this should not have happened. There have been too many killings in this country and this has to stop.
Frederick Robert Bedell Jr.
Bellerose
No Tattoo Taboo
Dear Editor: Jean H. Charles would like to see a movement to stop children of God getting tattoos, “starting with the parish priest denouncing this habit,” (“Tatto Taboo,” Oct. 28).
I, too, would like to hear the parish priests denouncing many things.
Astute readers will know exactly what I mean.
So, Karen, I mean Jean, if you don’t like tattoos? Don’t. Get. One.
“God will be very happy” when you mind your business.
Kris Tapper
Greenpoint
The Exorcist 50th Anniversary
Dear Editor: I was stunned by coincidence when I read The Tablet last week and came across an article about a local documentarian making a film about the 50th anniversary of the movie “The Exorcist,” (“The Exorcist 50th Anniversary: The Power of Faith Revisited,” Oct 28).
The reason I was stunned was I had just finished another book that was written by the same author who wrote “The Exorcist,” William Peter Blatty.
In that book, “ Finding Peter,” Blatty writes about how his faith helped him truly believe in the afterlife.
The movie that made Blatty famous is not about spinning heads; but about how a Catholic priest, who thought he lost his faith, never did.
The priest ultimately gave his life for the sake of a young girl. I encourage Catholics to read “Finding Peter.”
It not only has Brooklyn in it, but has the story of a man trying t o stay true to his Catholic faith.
Joseph J. Puntino
Flushing