The Catholic Church: a moral voice

I take offense to the article ``UN Population Conference Meets Religious Resistance,'' Sept. 6. The article reports concerns that the Roman Catholic Church is afraid ``that the moral and political power of the institutional church could be threatened by placing individuals - especially women - at the center of a moral decisionmaking process.'' Nothing could be further from the truth.

The Catholic Church, as a religious organization, has the duty to tell the faithful how to live a moral life. Many of the teachings of the church seem to be impossible to live by, but they are there to be followed, and many see these as goals to aim for. The church recognizes that all individuals must ultimately make their own moral decisions, but that does not mean that the church must remain silent when these individuals disagree with it and accept the disagreement without raising its voice to ensure that the moral teachings of the church are heard. The church recognizes that ultimately all will face God alone, but the hierarchy and other faithful also know that if they remain silent, they will have to answer for their silence. Judy Garton-Zavesky, Raleigh, N.C.

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