Month: July 2012

On
Tony Magliano

West Africa desperately needs your help

Making a Difference column logo

Imagine being very hungry nearly all the time. Imagine telling your children to wait until the end of the day to eat a very small meal. Imagine eating every other day. Imagine not eating at all.

Very sadly, over 18 million people in West Africa’s Sahel region — an area between the Sahara Desert and the African tropics — do not have to imagine severe hunger; they are either experiencing it, or getting very close to it.

Crises have grown

According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, “Food and nutrition crises in the region have grown in frequency and severity in recent years, mostly driven by sporadic rainfall, insufficient local harvests, high food prices, and insecurity.

Read More
On
Fr. Tad Pacholczyk

Ethical Use of Ventilators

Making Sense out of Bioethics column by Fr. Tad Pacholczyk

The use of ventilators can pose particularly challenging problems during end of life situations for families.

When should we place a loved one on a ventilator? If somebody is on a ventilator, can we ever “pull the plug?”

Understanding our moral duty depends upon whether the use of a ventilator in a particular case can be considered “ordinary” or “extraordinary.”

Ordinary treatment

Ordinary interventions can be understood as those medicines, operations, and treatments that offer a reasonable hope of benefit for the patient and that can be obtained and used without excessive pain, expense, or other significant burden. Use of a ventilator will sometimes satisfy these criteria, and other times it will not, depending on the specifics of the patient’s situation.

Read More
On
Patrick Hardyman

Continue efforts to protect life and defend marriage

To the editor:

Sometimes it is easy to grow weary as we battle for the rights of unborn children, the elderly, the handicapped, and to defend the institution of marriage in a culture that advocates for abortion rights, euthanasia, and same sex marriage.

We need to focus on the words of St. Paul to the Christian community at Galatia, “Let us not grow tired of doing good, for in due time we shall reap our harvest, if we do not give up” (Galatians 6: 9).

Read More
On
Mary C. Uhler, Catholic Herald Staff

Protecting children: In learning from its mistakes, Catholic Church can be role model

Editor's View by Mary C. Uhler

Ten years ago in Dallas, Texas, in June of 2002, the United States Catholic bishops passed their Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People. It was a bold move to deal with the sexual abuse of minors by priests and prevent such abuse from happening again.

As we learn more about the sex abuse scandal at Penn State and reports of incidents involving pornography, rape, and sexual abuse at other colleges and universities, it might be wise for our society to pay attention to how the Catholic bishops have dealt with these issues.

Read More