Are you just so angry some student debt is being forgiven? Do you follow Jesus, too?
More than money
Jesus paid your debts to God even though you didn’t deserve it. Now you want to complain when some student debt is forgiven?
You want mercy, but you do not want your neighbors to have it. Money is not more important than your eternal soul.
- Thomas Krause, Kansas City
Help from afar
I made a mistake and had my daughter’s school laptop delivered to the wrong address in Kansas City. Sam on Brooklyn Avenue called me to tell me he had the computer. I had him contact my daughter and he promised all would be OK. Sam went out of his way to help this concerned mom who is five hours away take care of her daughter.
I was born and raised in the Kansas City area, getting all my schooling through my doctorate there. I always have felt safe about my daughter living in the city. People like Sam affirm my decision so many years ago to settle her there. He is a hero for being good and kind and honest. Thank you.
- Lynette Iles, Washington, Iowa
Catholic support
Clay Marcusen’s Aug. 18 guest commentary criticized the Catholic Church’s support for Kansas’ Value Them Both Amendment. (8A, “Will the Catholic Church listen to the people of Kansas?”) Contributions by the archdiocese to VTB came from donations expressly designated to our Respect Life Fund that supports education, crisis pregnancy ministries, post-abortion healing ministries and foster care. Advocacy and support for the disenfranchised unborn and their mothers is not political, but the essence of Christ’s ministry.
Science proves every pregnancy involves two distinct human lives. Though situations exist when only the mother’s life can be preserved, authentic health care does not destroy human life. Elective abortion intentionally destroys human life and is not health care, no matter what euphemisms are employed.
In 10 years of priestly ministry in economically poor, spiritually rich African American communities in St. Louis, I did not encounter any greater suffering than that of parents mourning their child’s death. More painful was the burden of those who chose that death. Mothers, pressured to abort, felt they had no alternative. The greatest obstacle to post-abortive healing was their inability to forgive themselves. Healing came through the incredible, merciful love of Jesus.
For help with an unplanned pregnancy, see helpingkansaswomen.org or contact a pro-life ministry or Catholic parish near you.
- Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann, Kansas City, Kansas
Stop card fees
At the Retail Grocers Association of Kansas and Missouri, our 400 grocery and convenience store members work hard to deliver quality food at a competitive price.
Credit card fees keep driving up the cost of groceries, and it must stop.
When customers swipe credit cards, the banks, Visa and Mastercard skim between 2% and 5% off each transaction, leaving merchants with less than 98 cents on the dollar. The card companies make more on groceries than the grocery owners.
The Wall Street Journal recently published a video that shows how it works.
Credit and debit card swipe fees are the highest operating cost for grocery stores after labor, and they drive up prices for their customers. They have been rising for years and soared 25% last year to a record $137.8 billion — costing the average family about $900.
We need competition to drive down the high cost of swipe fees. We thank Sen. Roger Marshall for standing up for local merchants and consumers over Wall Street and look forward to seeing the bipartisan Credit Card Competition Act signed into law. (Aug. 5, 6A, “Fight Wall Street banks with credit card competition”)
- Jon McCormick, President and CEO, Retail Grocers Association of Kansas and Missouri, Westwood