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No letters were printed this week; here is the letter from last week:

President’s actions show a leader hostile to the Catholic faith, reader says

This letter is in response to the reader who wrote that President Barack Obama’s “sense of social justice and compassion for the suffering among the living has extraordinarily much in common with that of Pope Francis” (The Criterion, April 25 issue). Compassion for the suffering? I feel these are empty words.

After all, who does not have sympathy for the unfortunate? The president’s words are hardly unique.

In contrast, the Catholic Church backs up their words with action. It is out there working every day, throughout the world, to relieve suffering.

Further, it’s a bit of a red herring to say, as the letter writer did, that the president is president of all the people. While theoretically true, this president has taken sides and made it clear that he is using and will use his office to promote abortion policies, including forcing Catholic institutions to do the same or battle it out in court. Pope Francis and the Catholic Church value the life of every individual.

Consider that:

A. President Obama, when he was in the state legislature of Illinois, voted to make it a crime to give aid to babies who survived abortion. This means that infants who were not killed due to a botched abortion were left to die alone and unaided.

B. While president, he has unwaveringly supported abortion, including lending the considerable clout of his office by speaking at Planned Parenthood events.

C. President Obama is hostile to the Catholic faith. He is suing the Little Sisters of the Poor. The provision in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to provide contraceptives, abortifacents and sterilization is contrary to Catholic teaching. One has to question why a requirement in the ACA is deemed to be so important to every citizen that it is required to be provided. This, of course, defies fact because not everyone wants coverage for contraceptives and abortifacents.

D. Catholic agencies that had worked with the international community in combatting human trafficking had long been recognized for their excellent success rate. However, the president’s administration has had those agencies removed because they do not provide contraceptives and abortions.

When one considers empty words as well as hostile actions, one cannot blithely make the statement this letter writer did because the facts deny it.

- Judith Hartley | Fishers, IN