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Letters to the Editor Policy

An Invitation To All Catholics

We have just celebrated the greatest feast of Christendom - Easter. Catholics are obliged to make what is referred to as their Easter Duty sometime between Ash Wednesday and Pentecost Sunday. One's Easter duty is the obligation to confess any mortal sins and to receive communion. I would like to invite anyone who has left the Church to consider coming home for Easter. If you have not been to confession for years and desire anonymity I would recommend a visit to St. Ann's Shrine in Scranton. A quick call to their office (570 342-5166) can get you the times of confession or an appointment for a private confession. Going to confession seems hard if it has been a long time but I promise the Passionist Fathers are very good at hearing such confessions. Do not let being in a marriage not sanctioned by the Church stop you. Often a priest can explain how this can be remedied. If you have forgotten how to go to confession simply tell the priest and he will lead you through it. All too often we think it more difficult than it actually is and we deny ourselves the incredible joy of full participation in the faith. Obviously one does not have to go to Scranton. A call to a local church, speaking to the pastor and explaining you would like to go to confession can result in a time convenient for you both. I have never met a priest who would not welcome such a request. Do not wait until you are facing eternity in terror. God loved you enough to suffer the cross. Do not say no to His love.

Sincerely,

Annette Corrigan

Jackson, PA

On My Mind

We all  have a mute button on our TV remote control. The number of commercials that are presented on broadcasts in this day and age are exorbitant, running between 26 and 30 percent of the show time. This is no laughing matter. I think the mute button will wear out long before the rest of the keys. So I sit at night watching the Evening News, Wheel of Fortune, and Jeopardy working my fool head off pushing the mute key rather than listen to mostly stupid commercials. Sure, I know the commercials pay for the program so let’s charge more for the commercials or pay the performers less money. You know they are not going to do that so why not, with all the modern electronics now available, originate one that will automatically cut the commercials out and play nice music during that 26 to 30 percent of my time.

We buy so much from China. How much do we ship to China? Is there an even balance? This worries me very much! For one thing China is a Communistic Nation. I purchased a set of small speakers from a Mass. concern and when I got them I found out they are made in China. So, I call them and they tell me that they ship the parts over to China and they are assembled in China. I just don’t get it! Our country is in big trouble in regard to this matter. You just can’t buy anything, small or medium that isn’t made in China. You say it’s less expensive than we can produce it for. That is true but you have to look at the big picture. Where do we stand financially with China and other countries? Specifically, our trade balances, our own unemployment, not to mention how it damages our own industries big or small.

Sincerely,

Hayden B. Aldrich

Great Bend, PA

Keep The Checks And Balances

I hope that Senate Republicans will not resort to the "nuclear option" that's being talked about, banning the filibuster so that controversial judicial nominees can be approved by the slenderest majority. The filibuster tactic may not be the best way to ensure that the minority power still has some say in important decisions about our country's future, but it's been in place for 200 years and no viable alternative is being proposed. It doesn't even take a two-thirds majority to break a filibuster, a clear sign that the few judicial appointments that have not been approved are genuinely controversial. President Bush has had 190 of his 200 judicial appointments approved, which gives him a better batting record than Presidents Reagan, Bush, Sr., and Clinton.

Invoking the "nuclear option" to silence the current minority is undemocratic because it removes another of the checks and balances which keep a single party or politician from getting too powerful. It's also short-sighted; when the Republicans are in the minority (the wheel never stops turning!), won't the temporary intoxication of power seem like a poor reason to have sold out an American institution?

Sincerely,

Hilary Caws-Elwitt

Friendsville

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