January 28, 2022

Letters to the Editor

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Pope’s vaccine message reminds us of moral issue to care for our neighbor

Thank you for publishing on the front page of the Jan. 14 issue of The Criterion the recent words of Pope Francis on the urgent need for a “reality check” against baseless information and for increased efforts so everyone has access to vaccines, medicines and diagnostic tools.

He urged the importance of immunizing as many people as possible to fight the epidemic, which he called “a grave moment in the life of humanity.”

I hope this will be of help to those who have hesitation about vaccines for religious reasons. The moral issue here is care for our neighbor, as each of us has an obligation to help combat the scourge which has resulted in so much suffering and loss of life.

- Ellen Healey | Indianapolis

 

Reader: Don’t let your ‘true north” get knocked off course by selfish motives

I enjoyed Father Eugene Hemrick’s column in the Jan. 14 edition of The Criterion about re-setting our collective moral compass.

He said much of today’s moral malfunctions are a result of our compasses’ “true north” setting being knocked off and replaced by our “true self” and selfish, self-centered, “me first” settings.

In a modern, rich, luxurious and enabled society, truth as a thing, as an absolute, gets replaced by my truth, my version, my opinion.

Nowhere has this been more obvious than in and during the COVID-19 pandemic, as many people have held to the idea that COVID-19 was and is “fake news,” and that they “have the right” to simply ignore it, and that if they do, this ignoring equates with immunity.

A recent Netflix movie about a comet hitting Earth exemplified this same point, as millions worldwide thought an impending, fact-supported comet strike of Earth was a subject of pop opinion and vote. It wasn’t.

I pray we all have the time and willingness to reset our own compasses, and replace opinions, versions, spin jobs and self with truth, facts, science and putting others first: all of which will point to and lead us individually and collectively back to the true north of God.

-Sonny Shanks | Corydon

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