Archdiocese trying to protect children
The Dayton Daily News editorial, 'Catholic Church invited victims'anger, outrage,' April 5, refers to the sense of anger and betrayalfelt by those who were abused as children by Catholic priests. TheArchdiocese of Cincinnati is acutely aware of those feelings.
Archbishop Daniel E. Pilarczyk has apologized for the abuse ofchildren by priests and other archdiocesan representatives, and formistakes made in handling the abuse. We cannot change the past,however much we wish we could. But we are trying to change the futureby the way we protect children and deal with abusers.
Among other moves:
- Every priest in the archdiocese who has been the subject of asubstantiated allegation of child abuse has been removed fromministry.
- Since 2003, more than 45,000 clergy, employees and volunteerswho work with children have undergone criminal background checks.
- The archdiocese reaches out to survivors of abuse by paying forcounseling, no matter how long ago the abuse took place, and in somecases by making additional financial settlements.
- We urge anyone who was abused by a priest or otherrepresentative of the archdiocese to report the abuse to secularlegal authorities, as well as to the archdiocese's victim assistancecoordinator, Sister Mary Garke, at (513) 421-3131 or (800) 686-2724.
Dan Andriacco
Cincinnati
Mr. Andriacco is communications director of the Archdiocese ofCincinnati.
Hinduism recognizes 5 major evil forces
I would like to clarify an important point in Pamela Miller'sarticle, 'Satan means different things to different faiths,' March25. In my Hindu upbringing, I was never taught the concept of a Satanwhom some other religious philosophies consider as the antagonist toGod. My Hindu belief has always held that God is supreme and, if Godis the Supreme Being, then there cannot be any other entity that caneven come close to God in its powers, let alone be a competitor.
The very concept of supremacy implies one and only one entity thatoccupies that position. A supreme entity does not have to strugglefor supremacy against any other entity (like Satan) that isconstantly posing a challenge to its supremacy.
Hinduism does recognize greed as one of the evil forces, but it isonly one of five major forces that lead humans astray. These five areKam (lust), Krodh (anger), Lobh (greed), Moh (attachment, i.e. blindattachment to worldly things) and Abhiman (vanity). These are theevils (as I was taught by my parents and religious scholars) that we,as humans, must control. Their control of us turns us into evilbeings.
There are other negative forces that Hinduism recognizes ascorrupting influences, but the concept of a powerful Satan as achallenger to God simply does not exist.
Inder Khera
Piqua
And it's Hal's fault the Reds were losers
The people who complain that American news coverage of the war inIraq is anti-American, and thus demoralizes our troops and encouragesthe insurgents in their dirty work, are correct: The media are atreasonous lot.
At a local level, we saw the same sort of problem in the way inwhich Dayton Daily News sports writer Hal McCoy covered the Reds lastyear.
He persisted in reporting the fact that the Reds were losing moreoften than they were winning. He insisted on writing unpleasantstories: a Reds' pitcher who gave up an inordinate number of homeruns, the Reds' batters striking out at a record pace, the defenseoften failing.
Such treasonous stories demoralized the Reds.
McCoy should have only reported the happy news: Ken Griffeyresurgent at the bat; Adam Dunn and Wily Mo Pena hitting mammoth homeruns, Sean Casey batting over .300. But, alas, instead, he referredreaders to the facts of the standings.
Carl M. Becker
Miamisburg
Web site explains school funds
I just became aware of a very interesting Web site(www.msbgwatch.com) that explains how the Miamisburg school districtreceives and spends our tax dollars.
This information was compiled by taxpayers and was gleaned fromdocuments requested of school officials using Ohio's open-recordslaw.
This Web site is full of valuable information, some of whichschool officials and the school board never talk about or might notwant you to know.
I encourage other citizens in other school districts to researchand post information like this, so that the ordinary taxpayer canunderstand school finances.
Schools are getting so expensive that it is important tounderstand where the money comes from and how it is spent.
Sue Walton
Miamisburg
'Hurricane Miller' actions affect all of us
Re 'Delphi wants to close four local plants,' April 1: Are thecommunities of the Miami Valley ready for the disaster that willsurely come? Are local, state and federal governments prepared toassist the jobless, homeless and families with sick children? Can ourgovernments afford not to be prepared for the dark days ahead?Hurricane Miller (Delphi CEO Steve Miller) will not just affect afew, but all the communities of the Miami Valley. After HurricaneMiller, will the community still be standing or will the footsteps ofKettering, Patterson and Deeds disappear forever?
Dwight Laycox
Spring Valley
GOP leaders aren't helping workers
After 31 years as a Dayton resident, the April 1 headlines ofDelphi possibly closing four plants, including two factories inDayton, terrified me. I am tired of editorial writers and politicianswho care only for the big corporations. Who wants illegal immigrants?Big corporations. Who wanted NAFTA? Who wants to beat up the Delphiworker? GM? So, what are the Republican leaders in our statehouse andCongress going to do? Are we just disposable people because cheaplabor exists in China and India? The first thought in my mind is freeuniversity education for everyone. Americans are creative people, butwe all need to tell our Republican legislators that they are failingus and America and our children. Somehow America has lost its vision.
John D. Poley
Dayton
