IN THEORY:

If you could have lunch with President-elect Barack Obama what would you most like to tell him?

I would first congratulate Mr. Obama on his election victory, noting his fine speaking skills and his ability to get people behind him and his vision for our country. I would assure him of my prayers for him and our nation during this pivotal time in our history.

One area I would stress with the President-elect is my grave disagreement with him as regards pro-life issues. I would urge him strongly to rethink his position when it comes to abortion. One problem many of us had and still have is his insistence on signing the Freedom of Choice Act as one of his first executive acts after having been sworn in as president. If this bill passes, any modest restrictions already in place in a given state would be wiped out, essentially allowing abortion on demand. As Chicago Cardinal Francis George recently wrote on behalf of all the bishops of the United States, “Abortion kills not only unborn children; it destroys constitutional order and the common good, which is assured only when the life of every human being is legally protected. Aggressively pro-abortion policies, legislation and executive orders will permanently alienate tens of millions of Americans, and would be seen by many as an attack on the free exercise of their religion.”

May God bless Mr. Obama and our country.

Father Stephen Doktorczyk

St. Joachim Church, Costa Mesa

Good afternoon, Mr. President elect. Thank you for lunch. Here’s what I think you should know.

Be faithful and good in the small things. History changes on the smallest of details.

Watch for the right moment to say the right words. Speak the truth, blended with kindness not expediency, and remembering that words can be for healing or harm.

Keep family close. Family must be as important to you as the welfare of the nation. Make your daughters giggle. Never make them feel like an interruption. Keep on hugging Michelle. Keep in close touch with people who will tell you that you are being stupid. Even the best baseball hitters do not get a hit two-thirds of the time.

Argue with God. Keep a running dialogue with God. Go to church, as much as the Secret Service will let you. Take the words of John Wesley into your heart: “Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, In all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can.”

Be careful. The more you do the right things the more some people will try to harm you. As much as you can, and as much as it depends upon you, be at peace with them. You cannot establish goodness and justice, if the ways you work are not good and just.

Have fun. Please feel free to take advantage of 24-hour room service, and all the ice cream you can eat!

Pastor Mark Wiley

Mesa Verde United Methodist Church

Costa Mesa

I’d like to suggest that federal funding of churches for any religious program is simply wrong. If church organizations want to handle federal charity programs for the poor, they should meet the same requirements for any secular organization doing the same work.

I’d like to request that he get our troops out of Iraq as soon as possible. The Iraqis want us out, and there is nothing being accomplished by our presence there.

We should acknowledge and apologize for the trouble we’ve caused in the Middle East since 1953. If not for the CIA’s overthrowing Mohammad Mossadegh’s government, the area would never have become the powder keg that it is now. I’d ask him to stop having our government bully the rest of the world.

If all the money we have spent to access the world’s oil had been directed to creating other sources of energy, we would be well ahead by now.

I’d also like to suggest that the horrendously expensive war on drugs, which has only made things worse, should be changed so that those who need medical marijuana can get it without Washington politicians making such decisions. Doctors should be allowed to prescribe whatever a person needs in order to properly function in society, and have a decent life.

Jerry Parks

Member, Humanist Assn. of Orange County