President Joe Bidden is a Roman Catholic commander-in-chief

President Joe Biden's Catholicism echo opinion letter published in the Rhode Island Providence Journal.

President Joe Biden departs the Saint Joseph on the Brandywine Catholic Church in Wilmington Delaware

Response to: "Catholics should not let Oval Office set the standard on their faith," A commentary, Rev. John A. Kiley is ecumenical and inter-faith officer of the Diocese of Providence.*

Letter to the editor:

I am Black, raised Catholic, and once seriously considered becoming a priest. But I was drafted and went to the Vietnam War.

I look to the new President Biden not only as the moral marker of the country but also as commander-in-chief. But I don’t idol worship any man like those who stormed the Capitol, including the priest who professed to apply an exorcism on Congress. Why can’t this writer extend the right to life to the fight for life lost by thousands in this pandemic. Or even mention the Black and brown disparity in that grim toll.

My goodness, the Nazis banned abortion for their white supporters although they had no problem with allowing the practice for Jews. By that litmus do you judge Hitler a great leader?

In fact, Catholics occupy six of the nine seats for the Supreme Court. Indeed, thirty percent of the Congress. And yes, now command the White House. Yet I confess to you that I will judge President Joe Biden not by how many Masses he attends but how many funerals he avoids.

Cecil Hickman, Providence, R.I.

*Catholics in the United States were awarded a new patron saint. No, it's not Father Michael McGivney, the founder of the Knights of Columbus, nor is it the heroic World War II chaplain, Father Emil Kapaun.

*America’s new patron saint will be President Joseph Biden. Mr. Biden has made no attempt to obscure his Catholic heritage. There are news clips of him coming out of his parish church after Sunday Mass. He is said to carry Rosary beads in his pants’ pocket. Mr. and Mrs. Biden were married by a Catholic priest at the chapel of the United Nations in New York.

Whether Mr. Biden is a good Catholic is only the Lord’s to know, but he is, indeed, a practicing Catholic, as the media made abundantly clear. Certainly there are going to be times when Mr. Biden’s executive conduct is in great accord with much Catholic teaching. Mr. Biden’s attitude toward the environment and toward immigration seems to be in great agreement with the thinking of Pope Francis on these contemporary issues. Mr. Biden’s post-election call for national unity was almost simultaneous with Pope Francis’ issuance of Tutti Fratelli, a Papal plea for international fraternity.

So Mr. Biden’s church attendance and Mr. Biden’s liberal bent on social issues will no doubt endear him to many Catholics and to a number of socially conscious people in general. He will no doubt set a fine Catholic example in certain worthy areas. People will be influenced by his example. He will be a Catholic role model, a new patron saint, as it were.

Alas, Mr. Biden’s views and Mr. Biden’s conduct in a number of other areas have departed greatly from traditional Catholic values. On Jan. 22, the 48th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s decision to legalize abortion, Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris heralded the ruling, saying they were “committed to codifying Roe v. Wade.”

(Maine Writer supports this directive about abortion and women's health, because rich women will always have access to legal abortions but the poor are somehow not permitted the same access.)

The White House has announced that Mr. Biden will issue an executive order rescinding the Mexico City Policy that bars U.S. aid to international organizations that provide abortions and abortion counseling

Donald Trump uses Nazi Storm Trooper tactics to squelsh peaceful protests

Donald Trump is incompetent but rather than demonstrate leadership he is misusing military as his storm troopers police force

Echo opinion letter to the editor published in the Providence Journal, in Rhode Island.

When governors, during the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic, looked to Washington for a coordinated federal response and assistance with securing necessary medical equipment, President Donald Trump said they were on their own. When protesters showed up on the steps of several state house capital buildings brandishing automatic weapons, Donald Trump incited violence by encouraging them to liberate their states. 

Now, when protesters are demanding that our country look at issues of racial and social justice, matters that are of little importance to the president, he sends in unidentifiable federal militia in the name of law and order. He also threatens other cities with similar military intervention, despite the mayors and governors of these cities and states demanding that they do not want this to happen. These are the actions of an authoritarian regime, not those of a duly elected president of a democratic republic. As always, it is not America First, but Trump First.

Norman Fortin, in North Kingstown, Rhode Island

Donald Trump and superficial Evangelical following

Opinion echo letter published in the Rhode Island Providence Journal:  

In asserting that “God’s hand was at work” in Donald Trump’s election vividly reflects the dangerous superficiality of conservative theology.

Un-Christian Evangelicals employ childish anthropomorphism*;  they presume a malevolent deity, and prove “evangelists” are not the “bearers of good news”; rather, they are blasphemers (mock religion) of the spiritual entity they pretend to represent.

Tom Hall from Foster Rhode Island

*anthropomorphism - the attribution of human characteristics or behavior to a god, animal, or object.

Rhode Island opinion letter ~ Republican rescue plan

This Rhode Island letter writer makes a case to help Republicans become Republican again! 

Rescue plan for Republicans

Michele Verduchi wrote in the Providence Journal, "I never thought I would be writing to help Republicans win." 

But I have advice for helping them win over the long term while staying loyal to their core beliefs (MaineWriter~ or whatever is left of them!), rather than merely exist in survival mode.

Here goes: Many (or at least  some) Republicans can be intellectual people, who believe persuasively about any number of important issues facing America today. I hope to find a time and place in our lifetimes where we can engage in spirited, intelligent, respectful debate on issues of importance to our nation once again.

Please understand that will never be possible until you leave the fold of those who think Donald Trump — his choices for leadership roles, his behavior and his glaring lack of competence to be the president — is in any way acceptable.

Republicans have options! You have choices: John Huntsman, Nikki Haley, Jeff Flake, John Kasich or many other conservatives who have brains and care about America. Be brave! Care more about America than this regime.

The president does not deserve your support. He is the opposite of many things you believe in. Be brave!

Michele Verduchi, Cranston Rhode Island

Rhode Island echo letter ~ Protect immigrant children

Innocent immigrant children separated from their adult parents who cross the US border remains at a staggering number, as the Donald Trump administration continues to ignore the significant traumatic consequences that many child welfare professionals spoke about, when we learned about the accelerated parental separation policy.

The traumatic impact experienced by separated children and families has been documented via numerous videotaped reunification meetings.

Detained children and youth are reportedly experiencing depression, suicidal thoughts and other troubling symptoms and behaviors. The federal government is reportedly increasing its youth detention center capacity by 20 percent while the length of stay has doubled in four years. There is no clear, actionable plan to keep the close to 500 separated children from becoming permanently orphaned.

We must keep up the pressure to address the needs of these children with compassionate, trauma-informed and child-focused approaches and interventions to this humanitarian crisis.

Darlene Allen, Providence, Rhode Island