Sound Off!

Here's a sampling of recent comments from Sound Off! Also located at the foot of every news Feature Story and Off the Record, Sound Off! gives every donor the chance to post a small "editorial" regarding any news item.

  • Today 11:39 AM EST Posted by: Phil_Homer7612 | Story: Apostolic visitation of US nuns is making waves

    I wonder if the Vatican had exercised this scrutiny about 30 years ago would the deterioration in these orders have been so extensive. I suspect that many of the sisters who have strayed or deserted did so because the institutions they joined ceased to mean anything in the context of their faith. One aspect of the most cultures today is how quickly things can change. It seems to me that if the church wants to fulfill the stated goal Vatican II to be more effective in bringing the Word to the modern world, they need to stand firm in our established doctrines and act quickly and decisively when thing start to go astray. To move at the traditional snails pace, it seems, has made the damage much more severe.

  • Jul. 02, 2009 8:44 PM EST Posted by: John J Plick | Story: Apostolic visitation of US nuns is making waves

    What is such a notewothy event about the Vatican doing its job? It should do its job more often.

    If most of us did our job as often as the Vatican did her's, we would be fired.

  • Jul. 02, 2009 8:13 PM EST Posted by: Sophia | Story: hit me again... please!

    These rituals seemed mad when I saw them performed by self-identified wiccan nuns in the 1980s. To see them performed AND PUBLISHED by Christian Brothers now would make Edmund Rice weep.

  • Jul. 02, 2009 6:23 PM EST Posted by: normnuke | Story: hit me again... please!

    The power exercised by the Christian Brothers in Ireland in those halcyon days was let to fester in the shadows of secrecy. Maybe not mental illness is contagious, but corruption is. Lord Acton is a great source of wisdom in which to view the disgrace of the Irish Church of that time. "There is no worse heresy than that the office sanctifies the holder of it"

  • Jul. 02, 2009 5:44 PM EST Posted by: rpp | Story: Apostolic visitation of US nuns is making waves

    I am glad for this visitation and earnestly pray that it will bring about a conversion of heart in a least some of these sisters who may have fallen away. I would rather they come back than to let pride be their guide and resist and leave the Church.

  • Jul. 02, 2009 3:26 PM EST Posted by: Chestertonian | Story: Apostolic visitation of US nuns is making waves

    It is interesting to look at the average age of the orders that have become radical, as compared to those who profess obedience to the Magisterium. Those who have 'left the building' are not recruiting new blood, and will quite literally die out if left to their own devices. No great loss, I would say. We have not left them; they have left us. Let them go.

  • Jul. 02, 2009 12:51 PM EST Posted by: Hal | Story: Apostolic visitation of US nuns is making waves

    Wondered when someone was going to question the feminist heresy that infects many of the orders. Or notice that many of the Catholic orders are now, actually, protestant.

  • Jul. 02, 2009 12:28 PM EST Posted by: patriot6908 | Story: hit me again... please!

    There are those who claim that mental illness is not contagious. But when one looks at what is occurring especially among our "progressive" Catholic brethren, one is amazed that the epidemic of madness can spread so rapidly through some groups. But I understand that kneeling for long periods with a rosary can offer significant relief.

  • Jul. 01, 2009 5:43 PM EST Posted by: TheJournalist64 | Story: the unborn baby and the bath water

    We as a culture continue to create moral problems and then demand a technology to defeat the illnesses caused by the immoral behavior. The obvious solution is to end the immoral behavior. Now it appears that the technologies are causing more problems, other than the obvious baby death. Where is Werner Heisenberg when we need him?

  • Jul. 01, 2009 5:35 PM EST Posted by: Chestertonian | Story: the unborn baby and the bath water

    An underlying problem in all of this is the belief that everyone who wants to be a parent has the right to be a parent, treating the child as property, to possess or dispose of as the mood strikes. As this was the attitude toward slaves, so it is the attitude toward unborn children; we can abort because they are not fully human persons. The same attitude makes it likely infanticide will soon be promoted as "mercy killing" of imperfect new borns as well.

  • Jun. 30, 2009 11:03 PM EST Posted by: extremeCatholic | Story: US Catholic hierarchy shows support for legislation requiring massive tax hike

    Opponents of Waxmen-Markey do not disagree with the ends that the Bp Hubbard and Mr Hackett seek. Who is for the spoliation of the planet? Bp Hubbard writing as chairman of CIJP shows no special competence on energy or tax policy and no concern for the loss of liberty and property beyond that of the poor. He appears to endorse the statist assumption that it is all the federal government's money to allocate as it wills.

  • Jun. 30, 2009 10:53 PM EST Posted by: Thomas429 | Story: US Catholic hierarchy shows support for legislation requiring massive tax hike

    I was very disappointed in the Bishops supporting this legislation. It going to be very hard on the poor here and abroad. It is also likely to increase the number of poor people everwhere. It is an economic disaster. I would not be suprized to see the los of a couple of million jobs in the U.S. alone. The world will suffer as well. We will be unable to buy their products. It also increases the size and scope of governmental authority which is anathematic to the survival of the Church

  • Jun. 30, 2009 7:59 PM EST Posted by: ben.fischer2340 | Story: sorry for the distraction

    mcomstoc6740, my understanding is that they are a health care provider in that network, so people covered by that plan can use their services. They will not be providing abortion or contraception. The scandal in the earlier arrangement is that they would have been part of the insurance operation, meaning they'd indirectly benefit economically for such services, whether they provided them or not. In the current arrangement, they are simply one health care provider available to the poor.

  • Jun. 30, 2009 7:34 PM EST Posted by: Thomas429 | Story: call a grownup

    It has been time for awhile. There needs to be an understanding not only of the American political sensitivities, but what the increase in governmental power and decrease of personal responsibility is leading to. A powerful government will overwhelm the influence of the church. Notice what is happenning to the church in South America and much of Europe.

  • Jun. 30, 2009 7:17 PM EST Posted by: hartwood | Story: call a grownup

    The L'OR is beginning to sound like it belongs with the other rags at the supermarket checkout! What an embarrassing paper.

  • Jun. 30, 2009 5:25 PM EST Posted by: JJF | Story: US Catholic hierarchy shows support for legislation requiring massive tax hike

    The earth has been warming, though not monotonically, since the last glaciation about 18,000 years ago. If man has an effect it is small and not easily measured over a short time. CO2 is not a pollutant, and the only signifcant effect of warming is the gradual rise of sea level. The great benefit of warming is reduced energy usage, and that benefit is ignored. The bishops should avoid issues they do not understand.

  • Jun. 29, 2009 5:56 PM EST Posted by: mcomstoc6740 | Story: sorry for the distraction

    But what is meant by "provider" in the statement, "This is the right way to move the distraction of the debate of ownership and allow us to be a provider." Has Caritas Christi merely given up partial ownership in the business, but will still continue to provide all services, including abortion, etc.? Such a strange statement .....

  • Jun. 29, 2009 12:10 AM EST Posted by: Dragonslayer | Story: US Catholic hierarchy shows support for legislation requiring massive tax hike

    Just another example of some Bishops playing politics while the souls are lost. Maybe they can use the Governments tuition programs to go get a religious education. Then we would not have the scandals in the Church while they meddle in secular affairs.

  • Jun. 28, 2009 2:27 PM EST Posted by: Linus682 | Story: US Catholic hierarchy shows support for legislation requiring massive tax hike

    Since no one in congress had time to read the bill, I wonder how the a bishop and the head of Catholic Relief Services managed that trick.

  • Jun. 27, 2009 11:46 PM EST Posted by: ben.fischer2340 | Story: sorry for the distraction

    Thank God they came to their senses before this took effect. At this point, I'm just happy to see a Catholic Hospital behave properly, and I'm less concerned about the back story.

  • Jun. 26, 2009 10:39 PM EST Posted by: Athelstan | Story: US Catholic hierarchy shows support for legislation requiring massive tax hike

    One thing geology tells us is that the earth undergoes cycles of ice-ages interspersed with periods of global warming--without any help from humankind. To think that we can do anything to affect these cycles significantly is nonsense. We have to learn to live with the cycles, not try to stop them; we may as well try to stop sun spots.

  • Jun. 26, 2009 10:29 PM EST Posted by: annemarie | Story: US Catholic hierarchy shows support for legislation requiring massive tax hike

    This is a prime example of how out-of-touch with reality the U.S. bishops are. The Cap and Trade Bill is a massive tax hike, another step toward socialism, and a major scam. There are certainly many, many scientists who don't buy into the climate change myth perpetrated by the radical left. Don't the bishops know that God causes climate change? That's really not too hard to figure out because the Earth has had both periods of warming and ice ages since God created it.

  • Jun. 26, 2009 9:40 PM EST Posted by: Thomas429 | Story: US Catholic hierarchy shows support for legislation requiring massive tax hike

    Anthropogenic global warming is a hoax. It just doesn't make sense to say that man is capable of changing the climate by anything short of a nuclear war. Only our father in heaven is responsible for our climate. The "science" behind global warming does not work. It fails to explain other periods of warming and cooling that have occurred in the time of written history.

  • Jun. 26, 2009 9:02 PM EST Posted by: apdir3024 | Story: US Catholic hierarchy shows support for legislation requiring massive tax hike

    The bishops should be enthusiastically criticized for supporting huge tax increases which will eventually cause more damage to the poor than global warming, if it happens, will.

    The bishops should be reminded that it is quite possible that global warming, should it occur, will be due to solar activity, not human agency.

  • Jun. 26, 2009 9:02 PM EST Posted by: Alcuin | Story: US Catholic hierarchy shows support for legislation requiring massive tax hike

    CO2 emissions really do destroy wealth. Either we pay for the costs up front, or we close our eyes and hope that somehow someone else will pick up the tab.

  • Jun. 26, 2009 8:37 PM EST Posted by: sarsok8679 | Story: US Catholic hierarchy shows support for legislation requiring massive tax hike

    First, I think the hot air emitting from these bishops is not carbon dioxide but rather methane. This bill is the most stupid and ill-conceived legislation ever dreamed up by the radical communists democrats to destroy our economic vitality thus rendering us neutered in face of oppression. China is winning with the help of this current administration.

  • Jun. 26, 2009 8:04 PM EST Posted by: Gil125 | Story: US Catholic hierarchy shows support for legislation requiring massive tax hike

    Is this really something the bishops should be lobbying on? Or is it yet another case of their ignoring the valuable maxim, When it is not necessary to say anything it is necessary to say nothing?

  • Jun. 26, 2009 7:43 PM EST Posted by: Japoly | Story: US Catholic hierarchy shows support for legislation requiring massive tax hike

    Since when was Bishop Hubbard taken on the role of being an expert on so called climate change. He should consult with the Heritage Organization for a more balanced analysis, rather than promoting such a Bill.

  • Jun. 26, 2009 6:43 PM EST Posted by: jere3812 | Story: US Catholic hierarchy shows support for legislation requiring massive tax hike

    And the bishops wonder sometimes why Catholics leave the faith. All they have to do to find out why is look at some of their stupid pronouncements. The Heritage Foundation studies the impact of legislation on all segments of society. The whole purpose of this piece of expensive baloney is to redirect money to the feds where it will be doled out to pay back environmental groups for their support last November. The legislation will have minimum impact on the environment.

  • Jun. 25, 2009 10:32 PM EST Posted by: mrschips19308196 | Story: ADL injects new tension in Catholic-Jewish dialogue

    Why are they so afraid of Catholicism as it is believed and lived by Catholics? Could it be because they fear their own prophecies of the Messiah as fulfilled by Our Lord Jesus Christ? What do they really believe of their own faith these days? It would be interesting to know.