Dear Friends,
Bishop Walker Nickless of Sioux City, Iowa, has expressed very clearly our Church’s teaching on health care reform — his observations are offered below. It is urgent that you read this, remembering that no single proposed Bill from the U.S. Congress exists as yet.
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| St. Lawrence Church in Jefferson is the site of one of the rural life listening sessions. (Catholic Herald photo/Kat Wagner) |
MADISON — Catholic Charities’ new Rural Life Office will be holding listening sessions throughout the 11 counties of the Diocese of Madison.
“It will be an opportunity to help address the needs with rural pastors and work shoulder-to-shoulder with the farm community,” said Brian Cain, executive director of Catholic Charities (CC).
Tom Nelson, coordinator of the CC Rural Life Office, said there is a great need “to listen across the 11 counties to the many concerns and challenges of farmers and farm families and all those who are impacted by the financial crisis across all segments of agriculture in our area.”
With an ever-increasing worldwide need for food, Nelson said “it is alarming to watch the continuous eroding of our farming base across the bread/corn basket of our nation as farmers lose their family farms to financial failure, all the while being more productive than ever before.
MADISON — A group of concerned citizens in the Diocese of Madison is urging prayer and action to assure that national health care reform legislation respects the dignity of human life from conception to natural death.
“For the sake of babies, the chronically ill, the developmentally disabled, the frail elderly, and the American people if life-ending measures are included in governmental policies, we are urging people to pray for the Precious Blood of Jesus to pour over our nation and this effort,” said Deacon Jack Fernan of Madison, one of the organizers of the effort.
The Seat of Wisdom Diocesan Institute is a new program of Catechetical Certification and Adult Faith Formation in the Diocese of Madison.
Human beings naturally recoil at the prospect of pain and suffering. When a sharp object pokes us, we instinctively pull away. When the unpleasant neighbor comes up on caller ID, we recoil from answering the phone. Our initial response is to avoid noxious stimuli and pain, similar to most animals.
Yet when dealing with painful or unpleasant situations, we can also respond deliberately and in ways that radically differentiate us from the rest of the animal kingdom.
I remember when my wife and I became engaged what great fun it was to go to the department stores and put together our gift registry. In fact, the greatest gifts I received (I mean, we!) were three different grills! I ended up returning them all and getting the daddy of all grills – what a gift!
Now that we just passed our 16th wedding anniversary, and the gas grill rusts on the back porch, I realize that there were other gifts far more important than the grills. In fact, perhaps the most meaningful gift was attending a weekend retreat for engaged couples before our wedding.
My wife and I had talked about many, many things during our dating relationship — I didn’t think there could be much more to discuss. But the opportunity to focus only on us — for a full weekend led by married couples sharing their own experiences and the wisdom of the Church — would have a far greater impact on our marriage than I realized at the time. In fact, I credit that experience for the ongoing success of our marriage.
Vicki Thorn invites people to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Project Rachel on Friday, Sept. 18, at St. Margaret Mary Parish, 92nd and Capitol Dr. in Milwaukee.
St. Aloysius School in Sauk City was considering a proposal to expand to grades six, seven, and eight for the fall of 2009, but after a feasibility study conducted this year Bishop Robert C. Morlino has recommended that the grades not be added for the coming school year.
To the editor:
As long as homilists in all religions avoid instructing the laity on the evils and horrors of abortion, the pro-abortion forces will dominate and control pro-life forces.
To the editor:
I believe John Huebscher’s State Budget 2009 article was politically motivated and does not belong on the pages of the Catholic Herald. The positive attitude this article bestows on the Democrats who control the governor’s office and legislature I also believe is unwarranted.
