SIR – The case made by Robin Aitken (Feature, October 21) for challenging BBC bias on abortion coverage came soon after a piece on the BBC news, in which Reeta Chakrabarti visited Chile and interviewed several opponents of restrictions on abortion provision in this predominantly Catholic country. She also questioned the relevant government minister in an adversarial manner. The combined effect of these interviews left little doubt as to where the BBC stood on the issue and what the purpose of the visit was.
I subsequently complained to the BBC using the established procedures and asked how the expense of sending journalists to South America to investigate and challenge what was an internal domestic matter fell within the Corporation’s Charter responsibilities to “educate, inform and entertain”. This was clearly an attempt to target a country deemed by the BBC to be outside the “liberal norm” so as to expose it to external international pressure. I have yet to receive a reply but I am not holding my breath.
At this rate we can expect Northern Ireland and Poland to be on the BBC’s radar as part of their pro-abortion campaign.
I would urge Catholics to complain at this stance both to the BBC and their MP. If we remain silent we are merely cooperating in this deceit at the licence payers’ expense.
Yours faithfully,
Mark McNally
By email
SIR – I was pleased to read the comments of Piers Paul Read (Charterhouse, November 11) as the American election was about to end. I have followed the election as closely as I could, time and other things allowing, partly because I was convinced that America, and in particular the US Catholic Church, would face a grim future under Hillary Clinton, and also because I have many friends in the US.
I suspect many British Catholics are not aware of the situation of Catholics in the US. I remember some years ago a priest of our diocese (Leeds), who had lived in America for many years and had been a hospital chaplain there, telling me that for many American Catholics the Pope is almost irrelevant. Certainly there are many there who would describe themselves as “pro-choice” – so that, for some, abortion is not a major consideration during any election.
Orthodox Catholics, on the other hand (and this means those who are loyal to the Magisterium), were deeply troubled by the possible outcome. Many of them prayed a rosary novena, urged on by Cardinal Raymond Burke, and some even fasted for three days on bread and water. Pro-life groups were also deeply disturbed at the predicted success of Hillary Clinton.
In a speech given some years ago to the United Nations, Clinton had said that some religious doctrines would have to change. Many Catholics and Evangelicals were in no doubt about what she meant. She and Obama were supporters of Planned Parenthood, the major abortion provider in the US. During the third debate, Clinton said that the pre-born has no congressional rights so that even seconds before birth it is lawful to kill it.
There are other issues, of course, not least the question of religious liberty (think of the problems faced by the Little Sisters under Obamacare).
Whatever people may assume is wrong with Mr Trump, there should be no doubt for those who know something about the real situation in the US that a Clinton presidency would have ushered in a period of persecution both of orthodox Catholics and “conservative” Evangelicals. Indeed, the Evangelicals were very much aware of the danger and came out in force to vote for Trump.
Now that he as won, this is not a time to look back at his faults or to start suggesting that the future looks grim because of him. We should be grateful that Hillary Clinton was not elected, and we should now pray for the new president and the White House, as many in America have already begun to do.
Yours faithfully,
Fr John Abberton
St Anthony of Padua,Bradford, West Yorkshire
SIR – A better title for John Zmirak’s recent piece, “A Catholic defence of capitalism” (Feature, October 28), would have been “Austrian School Economics for Catholic Dummies”. Who but Catholics would put up with this?
Assuming that no Catholic has the intellectual firepower to read an encyclical on his own, Mr Zmirak informs us that popes recognise that “forcibly taking from people the property, fertility and liberty that monks and nuns willingly give up indeed amounts to a diabolical parody of the good”.
Had he read Pope Paul VI’s Populorum Progressio, Mr Zmirak would have come across the following passage: “If certain landed estates impede the general prosperity because they are extensive, unused or poorly used, or because they bring hardship to peoples or are detrimental to the interests of the country, the common good sometimes demands their expropriation.”
How is he going to square that statement with the wisdom of Austrian School economics?
According to his tendentious reading of the principle of subsidiarity, “central governments tend to impose blunt one-size-fits-all programmes that trample on people’s rights”. Yet under the principle of subsidiarity, the only institution powerful enough to rein in the criminals on Wall Street is the central government that Austrian School Catholics love to malign.
By denying that government’s right to act according to Catholic principle, the lackeys of the Austrian School ensure the continuing reign of Mammon in our day.
Yours faithfully,
E Michael Jones
South Bend, Indiana
SIR – It is sad that this year only 25 churches nationwide, most of them Anglican, have responded to the organisation Roadpeace’s request to hold services and Masses in remembrance of those killed on Britain’s roads.
The first of these took place in 1982 and since then many different churches have been involved, although few of them have been Catholic. The events are usually held on the Sunday after Remembrance Sunday. These offer some comfort and companionship to the bereaved but are seldom given any publicity by the media.
Road safety issues remain the largest area of modern life to be ignored by the Christian churches. They are considered less important than issues of gender and sexuality. The churches may pray over tragedies in faraway countries, but they often fail to pray against the carnage on their own doorsteps.
How rare it is to hear a church leader speak out against the frequent deaths of cyclists and pedestrians. Churchgoers ought to be asking a great deal more of our churches.
Yours faithfully,
Antony Porter
London W9
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