It’s difficult to reconcile the two.
Ms. Ludtkes Your Turn column, Jan. 15, touched on a topic that is very dear to many Cape communities. All of us agree that affordable housing is an urgent need in Cape Town. We also want to preserve the character of our towns and prevent overbuilding.
How can we reconcile our need to live in housing with our desire to preserve our environment? Wellfleet owns nine acres of land. Six are available for development to create affordable housing. This is a worthy undertaking and it seems like a great solution. It involves the destruction of six acres of wood and the construction of 46 housing units, asphalt and street lighting.
Are we overburdening our environment? Are we adding to the environment? It would be better to find smaller dwellings that won’t impact our free spaces. I agree 100% with Ms. Ludtke about the obligation to preserve our heritage.
Edina Kopits (Wellfleet)
The Fall River bishop abused his authority
Bishop Edgar M. da Cunha from the Catholic Diocese in Fall River might have overstepped his authority when he silenced the Rev. Michael Fitzpatrick from St. Francis Xavier Parish Hyannis was censured by Jan. 13, for his criticisms of COVID-19 vaccinations.
It is not within the purview of any Catholic prelate or bishop to determine the “efficacy” of a medical treatment. Its moral legitimacy is not in question. Pope Francis has asked Catholics to accept the vaccine. However, the same Vatican document that says that vaccine reception can be morally licit insists that vaccination must only be voluntary.
This shows that people who have ethical or medical concerns about the vaccine, such as Catholics worried about the use of fetal cells for vaccine production or testing, should not be coerced.
The endorsement of the vaccine by the Pope does not negate Catholic teachings on the exercise of a properly formed mind.
The Catholic Church expects faithful Catholics that they will defend the sanctity and innocence of human life in a hostile public square. It would be reasonable to assume that the hierarchy would be open to the conscience concerns of such Catholics.
This is unfortunately not true. Loyalty is a one-way street when it comes to relations between Catholic people and Catholic bishops.
C. J. Doyle is the executive director of Catholic Action League of Massachusetts
Many workers are at risk of dying from COVID.
Sunday’s Sunday paper contained a lengthy article that explained all the reasons why workers are not available to businesses.
While it is true that many of the dead were older, more retired people, there were likely hundreds of thousands of workers who were not returning to the workforce.
Robin Hubbard, Orleans
