Catholic giving for more than cathedral
In the article about the new cathedral being planned for Knoxville, you implied all Catholics are well off. You're wrong.
Most of us are hard-working, caring people who don't agree with the plans. Yes, we tithe, but most of us do it for the needs of our local parishes and for the people in need in those parishes.
We also give to people of all faiths in need. We do it without fanfare because those in need are too embarrassed to ask for or accept help.
Another fallacy about our faith is that we worship idols. I have been asked by so-called intelligent people why we talk to idols.
I reply, if you have in your home a picture of your mom or dad who are deceased, and you sometimes look at those pictures and say, "Hi, Mom or Dad, I really miss you, but I know you're in a better place."
Our statues represent what we think our saints may have looked like. It is our way of honoring what they did.
So before you presume to know what we believe, or what any other religion believes, ask and we'll explain it.
Ignorance is not bliss, it's just ignorance.
PAT MASICK, Soddy-Daisy
Reader offers tip to aid family research
I have noticed lately that many families are no longer including the date of birth in a family member's obituary.
They need to know that this will make future genealogical research of this person difficult if not impossible and could even result in an entire branch of a family tree getting lost.
CHARLES HYDER, Dalton, Ga.
City suffering from a range of ills
Whoa! The Scenic City has developed a bad case of acne or something.
The "Casey barge" still remains moored on the North Shore while lawyers, judges and politicians flap about what to do. The Delta Queen also remains tied up to the riverfront. Even if it could move, it couldn't go far as our lock is unreliable.
"Rev. Jim" Catanzaro, the man of vision, keeps stepping in goose poop out at Chattanooga State and now seems out of touch with everyone who isn't from Barbados.
Finally, our citizenry keeps assaulting each other with various sorts of weaponry.
It's the Scenic City only if you like bloodshed, dilapidated river craft and do-nothing politicians.
BEN JOHNSTON
Keep West Africa in Ebola prayers
Most of us are not able to say we would be willing to risk our lives to heal others -- especially in the case of Ebola.
We cringe even at the idea of one case being discovered in our nation and stock up on hand sanitizer before boarding any flight. Yet there are health care professionals who are doing the unthinkable.
Some of them, like the many who cared for Ebola survivor Dr. Kent Brantly at Emory University Hospital, were able to heal their patient without being impacted by the disease. Others, like nurse Nina Pham of Texas, became infected but fought off the disease. Not to mention the many health care professionals in and from West Africa who are fighting this battle every day.
It is my prayer that Ebola not only stops spreading across oceans but also that it becomes controlled within West Africa, its epicenter which the media seems to have forsaken for the few cases of it found in the Western world.
NAJIA HUMAYUN, Tunnel Hill, Ga.