To the editor: Bishop Thomas is doing his job
6/13/2018The editorial regarding St. Anthony’s Church portrays Bishop Thomas as a “tough guy,” with brass-knuckled monsignors waiting in the wings, is uncharacteristic of a man dedicated to faithfulness, respect for life, and saving souls (June 7, “Bishop Tough Guy”). It sounds like a case of too much Dan Brown fiction or The Godfather for the editors who do not seem to know the Bishop of Toledo.
The editorial should have been balanced, putting into perspective the past 13 years of a once-magnificent and fading building along with the diocese stated intent six months ago to raze the building. Where were all the interested officials then?
It is sad to see a once-beautiful structure and vibrant parish be razed. My family was a part of this parish. My great-grandparents helped with the original 1882 wooden church. This was followed by four generations in faithful service until the parish closed.
Parishes and churches exist due to viable congregations, allowing for continued costly maintenance and repair. Alas, this was not the fate of St. Anthony’s.
What would St. Anthony say? I think the words faithfulness, respect for life, and saving souls would be his advice. Let’s hope a couple additional weeks of reflection during negotiations can bring our elected officials who mounted this last-minute charge to see their way through several options to end this situation.
DENNIS BURZYNSKI
West Toledo
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Companies that treat their employees well earn more
I found it ironic that Toledo has only about one-third the population of Columbus, but both areas have four Fortune 500 companies (May 24, “Marathon Petroleum leads NW Ohio companies on Fortune 500 list”).
Filtering the Fortune 500 website’s data by state shows Chavez missed the bigger picture: The Buckeye State actually has a total of 25 of the economic behemoths, ranging from Columbus’s Cardinal Health, which came in at number 14 on the list by producing nearly $130 billion in revenue, to Cincinnati’s Cintas, which came in at number 500 with just over $5 billion.
What differentiates more successful companies from less successful ones? LGBT activists and lobbyists claim that companies that base their personnel policies on equality and fairness tend to have more loyal and better-motivated workers. The Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index evaluates that.
Nine of Ohio’s Fortune 500 companies had perfect scores on the index. They averaged nearly $35 billion in revenues. Seven scored under 50 on the index, and their revenues averaged less than one-third of those Ohio companies with with perfect scores.
J. ERIC PETERS
Columbus