Month: July 2009

On
Deacon Greg Gehred, M.D.

Believe it all

“Believe it all.” That was the “very best” preaching advice from our Dominican priest speaker at a clergy day on homiletics back in 2004.

Guest Column

This followed shortly my ordination to the permanent diaconate. “Do not pick and choose” from the Church’s teachings, Father said.

Don’t question it, he said, for to do so is to enter treacherous waters, that spiritual trap which whispers to us that our own personal wisdom is superior to the Church of Christ and its guarantee of doctrinal purity with guidance of the Holy Spirit.

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On
John Huebscher

State budget 2009 — History in the making

Eye on the Capitol by John Huebscher

The state budget is a fixture of every legislative session. It holds “center stage” for the first several months of every odd-numbered year before it becomes law. Once it is adopted, the legislature turns its attention to other matters.

Every budget reflects the fiscal and political reality in which it is debated and enacted. The 2009 budget was shaped first and foremost by Wisconsin’s dire fiscal situation and the obligation of the governor and legislature to deal with a more than six billion-dollar gap between spending commitments and available revenues.

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On
Audrey Mettel Fixmer

Saints alive! And those not so

Grand Mom by Audrey Mettel Fixmer

I was never a Michael Jackson fan. I think my generation caught glimpses of him here and there when our kids watched him on TV. After we marveled at the Jackson Five with this adorable little boy with the big voice, we gradually lost interest in his “Modern Pop” music.

Then his constantly evolving face and color left us shaking our heads. When he built his Neverland, it made us wonder if he was trying to find the childhood he had been deprived of in this fantasy setting.

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On
Ben Weisse, Madison

Likes Fr. Dietzen’s article about ‘authentic’ Catholics

To the editor:

Thanks much for including the excellent article by Fr. John Dietzen titled “Being an ‘authentic’ Catholic” (July 2 edition). In very few words, he expressed well that we have a large Church that is “at its best and most alive when there has been a whole rainbow of ways for people to pray, to think, to live out their faith, and grow in holiness.”

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On
Mary C. Uhler, editor

Encyclical should be required reading

Editor's View by Mary C. Uhler

Pope Benedict XVI has been writing an encyclical on charity for some time. But in releasing the encyclical Caritas in Veritate (“Charity in Truth”) on July 7, it looks as if the Holy Father is responding to our current world economic crisis.

His words are certainly prophetic and inspiring. In fact, they should be assigned reading for not only members of the Catholic Church, but also for leaders of every nation, business executives, workers . . . well, everybody!

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