There is no justification for murder, let alone one carried out on the territory of an ally. Granted, Iranian general Qassem Soleimani had founded terrorist groups and orchestrated the killing of U.S and European soldiers. 

Iraq’s outrage is palpable, their expulsion of U.S troops justifiable. But our ministers’ declaration that we back any effort to protect our troops overseas is tantamount to supporting assassination if it produces favourable results. 

This is moral cowardice. 

Christopher Mansour,

Barrie, Ont.

Church silence

Re:  Something missing (Letters to the Editor, Dec. 29):

What is currently missing in Catholic journalism and the Church in Canada? In short, its refusal to deal, from a faith perspective, directly with the evils of the day: abortion, contraception, divorce, euthanasia, conscience rights, comprehensive sex “education” in schools, transgenderism and the list continues. 

When these moral evils are not addressed we become a private Church of accommodation, if not irrelevancy. 

People want a Church that morally matters. A Church that is alive in spirit, truth and works. When was the last time you heard a homily on any of these important topics? 

Avoiding these life issues is not the answer. The faithful soon realize that it makes little difference whether one believes or not because the secular world has not been seriously challenged by the faith. 

Lou Iacobelli,

Toronto

Everyone welcome

Re: Good Shepherd hosts family Christmas feast (Dec. 22): 

Thanks for the article about Good Shepherd’s Christmas Wonderland. Michael Swan wrote an excellent description of our celebration. However, we have one concern that we feel misrepresents the inclusiveness of Christmas Wonderland. 

The sentence, “In recent years the Good Shepherd Christmas Dinner has become more of a family affair, chasing away some of the single men who make up the majority of Good Shepherd clients,” does not accurately reflect the fact that the entire community is invited to the event regardless of family or marital status. In fact, we had many single individuals at the event. 

Good Shepherd’s defining value is hospitality, which means we welcome all people with compassion, acceptance and a spirit of generosity. We don’t chase away potential guests, we welcome all of them.

Dave Butler,

Communications Manager,

Good Shepherd, Hamilton

Saintly petition

As a follow up to last year’s 85th anniversary of the apparition of Christ the Divine Mercy to St. Faustina in Poland, throughout 2020 let’s try to be His presence to others so that we can personalize His message and, through each of us, allow His rays of mercy to pass to the world.

Also, please sign the petition to Pope Francis online (divinemercy.org) or download it and send it by mail, asking the Pope to make St. Faustina the fifth female Doctor of the Church, after Sts. Teresa of Avila, Catherine of Siena, Therese of Lisieux and Hildegard of Bingen. She deserves the honour due to her great mystical writings, which were Christ-directed in His apparitions to her beginning in 1934.

Mary Stanko,

St. Catharines, Ont.