Year: 2012

On
Patrick Hardyman

Consider ‘intrinsic evil’ of abortion in voting

To the editor:

In June 1963, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the great civil rights leader, wrote a letter to eight white clergymen explaining why he was in Birmingham, Ala., fighting racial discrimination. Dr. King wrote this letter from his jail cell, thus it has been famously known as the “Letter from Birmingham Jail.”

In the letter Dr. King talked about just and unjust laws. “A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law . . . an unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and natural law.”

Since 1973, almost 55 million surgical abortions have taken place in this country because seven unelected men serving for life decided they were above God’s eternal law. Of course, I am speaking of the seven men on the nine-member body of the United States Supreme Court who voted to strike down the abortion laws in all 50 states with its 1973 decisions in Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton.

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On
Patrick Hardyman

Consider ‘intrinsic evil’ of abortion in voting

To the editor:

In June 1963, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the great civil rights leader, wrote a letter to eight white clergymen explaining why he was in Birmingham, Ala., fighting racial discrimination. Dr. King wrote this letter from his jail cell, thus it has been famously known as the “Letter from Birmingham Jail.”

In the letter Dr. King talked about just and unjust laws. “A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law . . . an unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and natural law.”

Since 1973, almost 55 million surgical abortions have taken place in this country because seven unelected men serving for life decided they were above God’s eternal law. Of course, I am speaking of the seven men on the nine-member body of the United States Supreme Court who voted to strike down the abortion laws in all 50 states with its 1973 decisions in Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton.

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On
Bishop Robert C. Morlino, Bishop of Madison

Open our eyes, Lord

Dear Friends,

In the Gospel of this past Sunday we heard about Bartimaeus (Mk 10:46-52). Bartimaeus was not blind from birth, unlike the man in the fourth chapter of the Gospel according to John. Bartimaeus had his sight for many years and then lost it; so he knew what he didn’t have. And on top of his losing his sight, he was reduced by his blindness and disability to begging, so that he was treated as one lacking in human dignity.

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On
Bishop Robert C. Morlino, Bishop of Madison

Open our eyes, Lord

Dear Friends,

In the Gospel of this past Sunday we heard about Bartimaeus (Mk 10:46-52). Bartimaeus was not blind from birth, unlike the man in the fourth chapter of the Gospel according to John. Bartimaeus had his sight for many years and then lost it; so he knew what he didn’t have. And on top of his losing his sight, he was reduced by his blindness and disability to begging, so that he was treated as one lacking in human dignity.

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On
Fr. Rick Heilman, For the Catholic Herald

New book offers a way all can be ‘God strong’

PINE BLUFF — “As Christians we must love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us,” Bishop Daniel Jenky of Peoria, Ill., boldly stated, “but as Christians we must also stand up for what we believe and always be ready to fight for the Faith. The days in which we live now require heroic Catholicism, not casual Catholicism. We can no longer be Catholics by accident, but instead be Catholics by conviction.”

The Church Militant Field Manual was written to help all of us in the trenches of the Church Militant to understand, train for, and respond to this call for heroic faith in these critical times. Pope Benedict XVI stated that, “Members of the Church on earth are aptly described as ‘Ecclesia Militans’, the Church Militant, since it is necessary to enter into battle with evil.”

Receiving power from the holy Spirit

As Jesus ascended to his Father in heaven, he assured his disciples, “You will receive POWER when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and you will be my witnesses” (Acts 1:8). God wants us — the Ecclesia Militans — engaged in this mission, but He wants us strong in His supernatural power.

What is this power? That is precisely what we explore in the Church Militant Field Manual. St. Paul wrote: “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Eph 6:10-12).

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On
Bishop Robert C. Morlino, Bishop of Madison

Caring for the body — and the soul

Dear Friends,

I don’t know if it’s been your experience, but, of late, I’ve noticed a marked increase in the number of people who are very obvious for their display of unhappiness. I’ve been taken aback on a number of occasions by total strangers who, by way of their rude behavior, and shortness with others, indicate a real lack of joy in their lives.

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On
Obispo Robert C. Morlino

Cuidando el cuerpo – y el alma

Esta columna es la comunicación del Obispo con los fieles de la diócesis de Madison. Cualquier divulgación más amplia va más allá de la intención del Obispo.

Queridos amigos:

No sé si han tenido la experiencia, pero últimamente, me he dado cuenta de un marcado incremento en el número de personas que son muy obvias al mostrar su infelicidad. En varias ocasiones lo he podido constatar con completos desconocidos que, con su conducta ruda y su poca empatía con otros, muestran una verdadera falta de alegría en sus vidas.

Hay varios factores que pueden crear esta infelicidad general a nuestro alrededor, y ciertamente hay varias formas en las que podemos reaccionar a esta tendencia. Una de las cosas más importantes que podemos hacer, inmediatamente, es rezar. Necesitamos rezar por nuestro prójimo, especialmente por aquellos que permiten que su infelicidad quede manifiesta y nos agreda. Necesitamos rezar por el crecimiento en aquellas tres virtudes cristianas de la fe, la esperanza y el amor: en nuestras propias vidas y en las vidas de quienes nos rodean.

Pero también necesitamos actuar. Necesitamos ser testigos visibles de fe, de esperanza y de la caridad en nuestras propias vidas. Viviendo como hermosos testigos de la fe, de la esperanza que tenemos y de la caridad cristiana, no nos queda sino vivir vidas llena de alegría y, al hacerlo, darle a la gente una alternativa a la tristeza que experimentan ahora, un camino hacia la felicidad auténtica y duradera, una vida en Jesucristo.

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