The Editor,
Re: Battle of the church bells continues in PoCo? (The Tri-City News, July 18)
I am disappointed that some citizens equate a church bell with noise pollution. About 20 years ago at Our Lady of Perpetual Help parish in Vancouver, a bell was installed in the church and removed in short order for similar reasons. Back then I thought short-sightedness had got the best of us. Now I see this exact scenario playing out again.
I was born and raised in the Lower Mainland and I am a patriotic Canadian. Both my parents emigrated to Canada from Europe and I spent nine years living there as an adult. This has given me a broader perspective.
Vancouver and Canada are often voted as the top places to live in the world; I couldn't agree more. Having said that, because Canada is much younger, our traditions and history are not as rich as they are in Europe, Asia and Africa, for example. During my nine years in Europe, I was never far from a church and they all chimed every quarter hour.I didn't need the chiming to tell me what time it was. I surmised that this was a tradition that harkened back to the days when citizens didn't have their own time pieces. I felt immersed in something that was bigger than just my little life. It enhanced my experience of living in another culture.
Downtown Vancouver has the daily 12 p.m. playing of the first four notes of our national anthem. This tradition is not centuries old but I like it nonetheless; it is unique to Vancouver and livens up our existence in this city. Would opponents to church bells like to ban this as well?
Too often we are forced to reduce our existence to the lowest common denominator, often in the name of political correctness. Must we really remove the word 'God?' from our national anthem?Nowadays, Christians are often told that it is insensitive to wish everyone Merry Christmas and Jews might be accused of the same if they were to wish everyone a Happy Hanukkah. Are we really that fragile that such well-wishings can cause us to become offended?
I don't think this debate has to do with being secular or religious. It is broader than that. For example, not everyone who attends a wedding or funeral that takes place in a Christian church is Christian.
A wedding is a celebration and deserves to be acclaimed by church bells if the couple so chooses. At a funeral, the grieving family should be allowed to mark such a momentous occasion with the knelling of church bells. We are not talking about a barking dog that keeps us awake through the night; this is not noise for the sake of noise.Isn't it appropriate to acknowledge that people are going through critical points in their lives and allow them to express themselves? Is it really asking too much of us to pay our respects during such events by allowing this tradition to continue?
I would like to think that we are a tolerant nation. I agree that church bells should not be too loud but I strongly disagree that we have to go to the extreme of removing them. The complaints of a few neighbours notwithstanding, there are larger issues involved in this debate that go beyond the few seconds a day that church bells chime. I believe they serve the greater good of our cities and that they should remain!
Philip von Stefenelli
Coquitlam
