Dear Editor: I would like to respond to Denis Sugrue and Roseanne Cleary regarding my letter of July 13. I am a practicing Catholic with 16 years of Catholic education. I served as a B-52 pilot with two Vietnam tours.

Catholic teaching does not “trump” (pardon the expression) quotes from ISIS which are not cable talking points.

Denis mocks my concern for the country…. how soon you forget 9-11, or Nice. The Gospel does not suggest national suicide by allowing entry of people whom we know nothing about, waiting to cut off your head, burn you alive, rape your daughter, throw gays off rooftops or dunk you and 50 of your best friends in a cage into the ocean at the local beach resort. A plague of rapes in Europe has resulted from open borders.

Roseanne asks whether our collective resources are up to the task of helping 60 million refugees? With the country $19 trillion in debt, the answer is NO.

TOM HACKERT

Whitestone