School choice silence

A quote from your article on the American bishops’ pastoral letter against racism struck a chord with me (“Racism is a struggle in law and the human heart,” Sept. 24). Lannette Turicchi states that “lack of education is the systematic racism of today.” I am not one who believes our country is systematically racist. While individual racists exist, I don’t see these supposed racist systems in 2020 America. If one such system does exist, however, it would be in education. Parents living in poor minority neighborhoods are usually forced to send their children to underperforming schools. This greatly reduces the odds these children will receive the quality education needed to break the cycle of poverty. An effective antidote for this problem is school choice, which gives economically underprivileged children a better opportunity to succeed. Why then are Catholic social justice advocates so silent on this issue? Is the reason for this silence political? If so, their cry for social justice rings hollow.

Michael Barg
St. Edward, Bloomington

Building a culture of life

Abortions will decline only to the degree to which our religious and civil leaders embrace all the Catholic social teaching from womb to tomb, replacing the culture of death with the antidote of a culture of life. This is not a single partisan issue, rather, we need to build a solid foundation of a multicultural democracy where all can participate in local and global governmental policies for the common good. We need to be stewards of God’s creation, ensuring that people have fair wages, so that basic needs are met for all — including and especially the poor. This economic justice could eventually lead to the disarmament of the weapons of war. When the fundamental needs of all are met, we will then have a culture of life. Vote your conscience for a culture of life from womb to natural death.

Jeremiah Blume
St. Cecilia, St. Paul

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