Letter: What is there to celebrate?

Dear Editor, Thomas Tarurongo Wynne’s opinion piece in Saturday’s newspaper brings us all face to face with what some might say is the total failure of this society to embrace the Christianity that we are about to celebrate the 200th anniversary of (Ten years of abuse and no one knew? Cook Islands News, March 25).

Ten years of the most depraved sexual abuse of a child, unreported by family, unreported by the church, and then, if that was not evidence enough that we have not the slightest inkling of who Jesus Christ was and what he was sent to teach, more than two-dozen supporters of the baby-rapist, all Christians good and true, tell the Court what a wonderful man he is after all.
Puaikura is busy raising $500,000 for celebrations to mark that 200-year anniversary. In the face of this neglected Cook Islands child/now woman, what is there to celebrate?
Want to celebrate Christianity? Take that $500,000 and set up a trust fund for this Cook Islander who we all let down. We can’t give her back her youth, but we can soften her future. We can say, “We’ve missed out on the message of Jesus, but it’s never too late to start following the example He set for us”.
Half a million dollars gone in a few days of celebration, or half a million dollars to show we can actually live our daily lives Christ-like?(Name and address supplied)