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A Prayer for Conversion
Dear Catholic Exchange:
I am sending a donation for my daughter Chris Stane, and myself. She has asked me to do this for her as well because she is unable to give to you because of her husband's negative feelings towards the Catholic Church. She has returned to the Church after 12 years of absence. You have been very instrumental in her return and we pray everyday for her husband Jonathan to be able to open his heart and mind to look at the true teaching of the Church. They have 4 children and attend a Baptist church.
Thank you for all that you are doing.
God Bless you,
Nancy Robinson and Chris Stane
Joint Custody
Dear Catholic Exchange:
I've not written a letter to the editor before, but this article [“A Personal Price”] about Mayor Gulianni and parenting doesn't sit well with me. Having been a single mom with joint custody of my son for the past ten years, I can tell you that Ms. Thompson doesn't “live in the trenches” of a single parent. Having joint custody does little to insure that the other parent contributes spiritually, morally, or financially to raising the children. Many fathers can't be bothered with all that it takes to parent children. For the most part, they can just walk away!
Many fathers, in an effort to control the situation (including the ex-wife or girlfriend), battle for custody more to punish the mother than out of a burning desire to be a parent for their children. Since the parent with primary custody generally suffers a negative financial impact, mothers are generally the ones who do the work of parenting. Satisfying financial obligations means that they are often absent from their child's life. As a result, mothers end up losing the battle in the long run as their children grow up without the love and support of any parent! That is where the crisis comes about with an increase in crime, drugs, and suicide.
The judge doesn't see Mr. Gulianni's value as a role model: a leader who can pull a city/nation together after such a tragedy. Instead, this judge has selectively chosen to focus on his lack of “moral character” (I won't defend him there) which makes him a poor role model for his teenage son. Perhaps in this she sees the true needs of a child: good moral development and example.
I pray that the mother is that example. May every child have good moral training necessary to help them in this world we live in. Only then will justice and freedom ring again in our land.
A Single Mom in So. California
A Website Question
Dear Catholic Exchange:
I've been a part of your community for some time now and was wondering why you did away with the food and cooking channel? It was one of my favorite every other day spots! Is it just on hiatus?
Christina Costain
Dear Christina:
It's good to hear from a long time Catholic Exchange patron. We very much appreciate your support.
Providing Catholics with a comprehensive homepage, who's faith and life content is continually being updated and refreshed, is an expensive and labor intensive undertaking. We feel it is also an important service to the Church, and a labor of love for the few of us who donate our time to do it.
Unfortunately, we are currently too short of staff and funding to maintain all 17 channels. We were forced to eliminate Food & Cooking, Health, and Money. Out of our 110,000 users, only 450 are monthly donors. Hopefully, if we can get more people to support our work, we will bring these features back and many others that we would love to provide. If not, I'm afraid more and more channels and site features will have to be eliminated.
God bless,
Tom Kyd
Viewer Services Manager
Catholic Exchange