Why does the Catholic Church have a priest shortage? It’s all about traditional roles | Opinion
Priest realities
A June 23 letter writer expressed concern about the priest shortage in the Catholic Church. (6A) As I learned in my Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults study three years back, a major reason the Catholic Church does not have female priests is that the church believes women have a big job at home: being a wife and raising the family. Men are meant to be priests, representing Jesus.
- Razia Molina, Lenexa
Not an answer
Last winter, I wrote to Sen. Roger Marshall asking him why he did not attend Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s address to Congress. The Kansas City Star printed my letter to the editor about the peculiar response he sent back. Now the senator has written me to say he does not agree with the United States’ handling of the Ukrainian crisis without mentioning why he was not at the speech. This was my response to him:
Dear Sen. Marshall,
Thank you for your letter explaining why you do not support funding for Ukrainians in defending their country and, some would say, all of Europe. However, my question was: Why did you not attend President Zelenskyy’s address to Congress? It seems to me the courteous thing to do would be to attend and listen — even though you do not support his cause. I believe we Kansans do not want to appear rude, as we must have seemed to this important guest.
Senator, please answer my question: Why were you not at President Zelenskyy’s address to Congress?
- Joanne Bodner, Overland Park
Swim safely
As the weather warms up, families are turning on sprinklers and filling up pools for their children. Unfortunately for myself and other local pediatricians, this marks the start of drowning season. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, drowning is the leading cause of accidental death for children ages 1-4.
Most accidents involve a young child with unplanned, unsupervised access to water, but there is a second peak among teenagers.
Fortunately, there are a few simple things parents can do to help prevent tragedy:
- Make sure all temporary pools are drained when not in use. For permanent pools, there should be a surrounding fence with a self-closing, self-latching gate.
- Children should never play in water without adult supervision. Young children should have an adult in the water with them.
- For all ages, pick a “designated adult watcher” whose only job is to watch kids in the water.
- Life vests are musts on boats.
Swim lessons can start early, as soon as 1 year old. However, this does not replace other water safety, because even strong swimmers can drown.
- Erin Bolen, Kansas City
More than sports
Let me begin: It ain’t happening. Kansas City barely supports a baseball team that can’t win and cries because the owner wants a new stadium downtown, where he wants to create an entertainment village. NBA and NHL games are tremendously expensive and thrive only in cities with multiple home offices of the top 1,000 companies in the United States. We have struggling Hallmark and Garmin, and although they are good companies, neither seems interested in pouring profits into local sports teams.
For those who don’t know history, we used to have both leagues: The NBA’s Kings and the NHL’s Scouts were the reason Kemper Arena (now Hy-Vee Arena) was built in the early 1970s. We shared the St Louis Blues for a couple years, getting a few games a year before and after that.
It’s time that the younger generation realizes there is more to life than sports, and that the talking heads of sports radio don’t have any skin (money) in the game and get paid to blabber on with sports stats and sports betting all day and don’t have real lives.
As I said, it ain’t happening.
- Robert Burger, Lenexa