Bishop ignores pain of sex-abuse victims

Hawaii's Catholic Bishop Francis X. DiLorenzo "tries to boost (the) morale" of island priests in an article by Mary Adamski (Star-Bulletin, April 6). His words are too little, too late, too shallow. Where was he in 1994 when another clergy sex-abuse case hit the Hawaii courts?

The victims, friends and families of this case and others were never addressed. All were left to suffer in silence.

The ethics of other professions say in part, "Do no harm." Yet DiLorenzo prefers to fault the state of Hawaii for not following up on 1,300 nonchurch-related incest and abuse cases. Is this another form of the shell game that worked so well for so long with the Catholic Church here and around the world? A good offense may be a good defense, but where does this fit with Jesus's words, "Love one another. As I have loved you"?

DiLorenzo ignores the pain and suffering of the children from being abused by far too many Catholic clergy. His statement gives new meaning to, "Permit the children to come to me: do not hinder them."

Carolyn Martinez Golojuch
Social worker
Makakilo

Would you pay $50,000 for a dog?

If you went to a pet store and the price tag on each dog was $50,000, would you buy one? What if the store said you could fork over the money and then they'd flip a coin to decide if you got the dog, but they'd keep the money either way? How long do you think that pet store would stay in business?

Well, the federal government and the Hawaiian Humane Society just "sold" us that deal with their botched attempt to rescue a dog stranded on a ship.

You'd think that with April 15 approaching, the feds would shy away from such a conspicuous, egregious waste of our money.

Jim Henshaw
Kailua

Responsibility isn't the same as commitment

Honolulu Mayor Jeremy Harris has a strange view of personal responsibility.

It only took him 93 days after being elected mayor to declare his candidacy for governor.

Yet he claims it would be irresponsible to resign to focus on his campaign for governor because issues such as the city budget, mass transit and vision team projects are at critical stages. One can only surmise that, if elected governor, he would at least wait his magical 93 days before announcing his candidacy for U. S. Senate. Harris's irresponsibility should not be confused with any commitment he makes to his constituents.

Joanne Ralston
Kapaau, Hawaii

With Waihee, wasn't once enough?

According to television news out of Honolulu, there is a rumor that John Waihee is being urged to run for governor once again.

Is this the same John Waihee elected in 1986, who somehow fell heir to an approximate $250 million surplus from his, predecessor, George Ariyoshi, then immediately started to let the air out of the balloon?

Following the election of 1994, a flickering torch was passed to Ben Cayetano, who continued with the downward spiral to where we are today. We've run out of money.

Is this the same Democratic Party that has been in control of Hawaii's politics and economy for almost 50 years, that has given us the only public education system in the United States controlled at the state level and that has given us ever-increasing budgets and taxes?

Every election year, the party faithful -- at the county, state and national levels -- wring their hands and cry, "Oh, woe is us, something must be done to correct these problems," and then nothing happens.

Is this really the same John Waihee?

J.B. Stoddard
Kapaa

Elderly need security of long-term care

I take my 95-year-old father to his doctor for regular check ups. He is reasonably healthy for his age.

Until about a year ago, he was able to catch the bus from his home in Kalihi to Chinatown almost every day to purchase vegetables and fish. But because he has fallen several times and his legs are not strong anymore, he is now only allowed to walk to the neighborhood grocery store.

A few times on those doctor's visits, his physician has told me quietly and caringly, "We hope he will continue to be able to do all the things he likes to do."

That hope is certainly what we wish for all our elderly as well as for ourselves. If that were the future for everybody, we would not have to worry about long-term care services. Unfortunately, in real life, many people are dealing with long-term care services for their aging parents or in-laws. It is certainly a difficult task.

We are constantly reminded in reports in the newspaper about our aging population, especially in Hawaii. We must pay attention to the red flags and take action now to care for our old people by supporting the long-term care issue.

Ethel Taketa

U.S. was founded on religious principles

In his letter to the editor ("U.S. founding fathers don't mention God," April 5), Mitchell Kahle says that because he finds not a single mention of God in this country's founding documents, religious principles are inappropriate to inform our reasonable government. Kahle is wrong.

The Declaration of Independence relies on the laws of nature's God for the power to dissolve the British authority. It states that all men are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights. The signers of the Declaration of Independence expressly appealed to "the Supreme Judge of the world" in declaring the United Colonies independent states.

Finally, the signers stated that "for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the Protection of Divine Providence," they bound themselves together.

It is clear that reliance on the Creator, Supreme Judge of the world, and Divine Providence constitute the very backbone of the creation of this country in 1776. The U.S. Constitution was not adopted for another 12 years, and the First Amendment 15 years, after the creation of the free and independent United States. The subsequent documents must be read in light of the Declaration and therefore, the Constitution and its amendments must be read as consistent with the backbone of the creation of the country.

Kahle himself enjoys the first amendment he so vigorously exercises because it is read in light of the power the founders had from nature's God, the Supreme Judge of the world and Divine Providence. It is certainly ironic that Kahle cannot appreciate that his exercising of the First Amendment is made possible by the very God he seems to disdain. Imagine if he lived in a country where people did not possess political power from God. I doubt we would ever hear from him.

Jim Hochberg

Palestinians are living their own holocaust

G. Wong makes a strange suggestion (Letters, Star-Bulletin, April 9) that the Jewish people are facing another holocaust while ignoring that in the last 18 months three to four Palestinians have been killed for every Israeli, and in the last couple of weeks more like 10 to 1.

More Palestinians will soon die from starvation, lack of water and denial of medicine. Wong also seems to forget that Israel, by its own claim, has the third-most powerful armed force in the world, backed by $3 billion in U.S. aid every year, commanded by a prime minister who is quite willing to pursue his butchery while defying both the United Nations and the U.S. president.

If there is a holocaust today it is the one being inflicted by Israel on Palestinians. Thankfully there are many Israeli Jews who recognize this sad irony, but their views do not appear in the U.S. press.

David Wurfel

Special education teachers deserve more

If special education teachers are so critical and important to the Department of Education ("Superintendent locks in special education teachers," Star-Bulletin, April 7) because of the Felix consent decree, and if some of those teachers are being forced to remain in a very high-stress field, why are they not receiving added compensation?

Doesn't it seem fair that added compensation be given to teachers who are required to obtain additional academic training and pass another national test? Many of them work in nonconventional classroom environments, have additional reporting functions (required of them under the terms of the Felix decree), and hold before- or afterschool individual educational program (IEP) meetings with parents and other DOE personnel.

Bernard Judson

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