Are you checking out the obituaries every day like Mark Twain did to see if you are on the list?
Or do you just average the ages to hopefully find some of the deceased are older than you? Either way, it’s a sure sign that you’re aware that you aren’t getting any younger. You are nearing the finish line. Ouch!
Q: I understand the importance of Power of Attorney for both health care and finances, but my mother, aged 82, says, “I have a will and that is good enough!”
I have not been able to successfully convince her that she needs to make more formal arrangements. What can I say to her? (A daughter in Portage).
As we begin October, which is observed as Respect Life Month in the Catholic Church, it is a time for all of us to reflect on the gift of life and how we’re receiving it in our own lives.
The Catholic Church teaches that we must protect all human life from conception to natural death. We know that many people in our society disrespect and ignore the sanctity of life in many ways. This includes abortion, sterilization, embryonic stem-cell research, lack of support for disabled persons, disregard for the needs of the poor, and attempts to legalize assisted suicide.
The legalization of abortion in the United States has tragically led to the death of millions of unborn children. However, it seems as if pro-life efforts and education have brought about decreases in the number of abortions, including in our own state of Wisconsin.
Ideally, we must work and pray for the day when there will be no abortions. Until then, there are many ways we can help mothers to choose life for their unborn babies.
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As a child I idolized my grandfather. One of my fondest memories is of him taking us to a neighborhood restaurant that had a little juke box in each booth. He would give my sisters and me a few quarters and we’d flip to the oldies to play Grandpa’s favorites.
From time to time I still hear those classics playing in my memory from “Moon River” and “Doctor Zhivago” to “Love is a Many Splendored Thing.”
Q: My father is an alcoholic and was never “involved’ in my life as I grew up.
My mother passed away five years ago after a lifetime of enabling him.
Now he is ill and wants help from me, but I don’t feel much like helping since he was never there for me. I feel bad that I have these feelings, it is not very Christian, is it? (From Beloit)
“Don’t you want to be a teacher?” asked my friend Joan just weeks before we were to graduate from Madonna High School in Aurora, Ill.
This was the all-girls’ class of 1945, where we were taught by Franciscans Sisters. We had both been accepted by St. Ben’s in Minnesota, where we would be taught by Benedictines.
I was confused. “What do you mean, a teacher? I don’t want to be a nun, you know.”
St. Luke and St. John the Evangelist Parishes of Plain and Spring Green helped to send 11 students and three chaperones on their first mission trip in June of this year.
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| Esta columna es una comunicación del Obispo con los fieles de la diócesis de Madison. Cualquier otra circulación más amplia va más allá de las intenciones del Obispo. |
Queridos amigos:
La próxima semana, el 11 de octubre, comenzamos el Año de la Fe que ha sido declarado por nuestro Santo Padre, el Papa Benedicto XVI, para invitar a la Iglesia, nuevamente, a través de la puerta de la fe que Dios ha abierto para nosotros. Es una excelente oportunidad para renovar nuestra fe y llegar a aquellos a nuestro alrededor, a invitarlos nuevamente a la vida de fe en la Iglesia. Cada una de vuestras parroquias, así como las oficinas diocesanas, ofrecerán muchas y variadas actividades por el Año de la Fe, y los aliento a tomar parte de ellas, de manera plena y activa, en este año celebra de manera particular el 50 aniversario del inicio del Concilio Vaticano II y el 20 aniversario de la promulgación del Catecismo.
Por mi parte, he estado alentando a los líderes parroquiales de nuestra diócesis a aproximarse a este Año de la Fe con un énfasis extra al impulsar la evangelización a través de la belleza. Permítanme explicar por qué.
