Letters to the Editor

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No letters were printed this week; here are the letters from two weeks ago:

When it comes to religious freedom, we must stand with our Church and faith

I find it saddening and somewhat frightening that so many of my fellow Catholics seem to be so wrapped up in politics. They seem to be unaware of what is going on in this country. A country of religious freedom?

They do not understand that “war” is being waged against the Catholic Church.

Are they aware that Catholic Charities in several states have had to close their doors recently rather than comply with government-mandated adoption guidelines that go against Church teaching?

Do they realize that next year, Catholic hospitals, under the new health care law partially funded by our Medicare contributions, will be forced to furnish or fund abortion-inducing drugs, contraception and sterilization or face monumental fines? Our bishops are suing to overturn this mandate.

If we are staunch Catholics, we should stand on the side of our Church and not support anyone who fosters this infringement on our religious freedom—regardless of political persuasion.

It is well and good to be proud of your faith and parish. However, it seems to me it must be mandatory to defend your Church and not support anyone, be it Congress or the administration that foster such mandates.

It is not “mean-spirited” to stand on the side of your Church.

- Patricia Uberta | Cumberland

We must completely know ourselves and strive to know God, reader says

Everyone carries a “shadow.” Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung identifies the shadow prototype as “the thing a person has no wish to be.”

It consists of all those characteristics of ourselves that we would rather not face—our own evil (“that enemy in-a-me”).

We often hide from our own evil, “our sins,” behind a mask.

In life, we all assume roles—on the job, at home and in social situations—where we allow others to see only our good side, our best mask.

The “shadow,” our unconstructive side, remains hidden in the dark of the unconscious. It is often allowed expression only when there is no one around to see it or when there are present others who share our “shadow.”

When we come to accept the presence of our shadow as a reality in our consciousness, it is thought that we can learn to understand it by two methods—conscious awareness of shadow projection and interpretation of dreams.

Projections change the world into the facsimile of one’s own “unknown face.” In order to know and understand our “unknown face,” our shadow, we must develop an acute awareness of our opinions of other people, religions, races, countries and institutions.

When we accept and integrate our shadow, we free ourselves to see others as they really are as well as ourselves, thereby, growing in self-knowledge.

St. Teresa of Avila said, “Let’s strive to make more progress in self-knowledge. In my opinion, we shall never completely know ourselves if we don’t strive to know God.”

We must befriend our “shadow” and allow its rightful presence in our consciousness. Like Shakespeare’s Prospero said, “This thing of darkness I acknowledge mine.”

Many people hide from their shadow, either behind their persona or their projections. They see the splinter in their neighbor’s eye, but rarely the plank in their own.

- Kirth N. Roach | Order of Carmelite Discalced Secular, Indianapolis