Year: 2014

On
John Huebscher

Polarization: Can Catholics narrow the divide?

Eye on the Capitol by John Huebscher

One doesn’t have to try very hard these days to read or hear media accounts of how polarized our politics have become. The topic has been studied and commented upon at length in recent months.

Some of this commentary notes that Wisconsin is among the most polarized places in the country, where the chasm between liberals and conservatives and Democrats and Republicans is especially wide.

Why is our politics so divisive?

For one thing, as was noted recently in a Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel story on the topic, voters are more ideological. That is, they rarely blend conservative and liberal positions. Instead, they are more likely to embrace either a liberal or a conservative view across the board.

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On
Kevin Wondrash

New Hannah’s Hope infertility support group

VERONA — Infertility is a tough cross to carry, and many women feel very isolated and without support in this area.

Infertility is often something we are unwilling or unable to share with others. As women, especially Catholic women, bringing new life into this world is at the very core of who we are. Not being able to do so is very painful.

And, unfortunately, while infertility certainly affects men, it affects them very differently than it does women. No matter how caring and supportive her husband is, many women suffering from infertility feel very alone.

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On
Mary C. Uhler, Catholic Herald Staff

Get rid of buffer zone: City of Madison should listen to the Supreme Court

Editor's View by Mary C. Uhler

On February 25 of this year, the Madison city council passed a new ordinance requiring a 160-foot “buffer zone” around any healthcare clinic in the city.

A modified version of the ordinance was passed in March, narrowing the zone to 100 feet from a medical facility’s entrance and 30 feet from its driveway.

This ordinance was proposed primarily in response to the presence of pro-life “sidewalk counselors” who have kept up a regular presence outside the Planned Parenthood Clinic on Madison’s east side for 10 years.

Supreme Court rules against buffer zones

The Madison ordinance could now be in jeopardy after the U.S. Supreme Court’s unanimous ruling on June 26 that struck down buffer zones at abortion clinics. The Supreme Court decision reversed an appellate court decision upholding a 2007 Massachusetts law that made it a crime for anyone other than clinic workers to stand within 35 feet from the entrances of Planned Parenthood clinics in Boston, Springfield, and Worcester, Mass.

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On
Kevin Wondrash

Totus Tuus summer youth program

MADISON — Totus Tuus is a new summer Catholic youth program in the Diocese of Madison dedicated to sharing the Gospel and promoting the Catholic faith through evangelization, catechesis, Christian witness, and Eucharistic worship.

The week-long parish summer catechetical program and summer camps assist parents and parishes in the evangelizing and catechizing of their youth by supplementing the work they are already doing.

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On
Kevin Wondrash

Love Begins Here 2014 sessions

MADISON — Love Begins Here (LBH), an apostolate of the Catholic Diocese of Madison’s Office of Evangelization and Catechesis, works to provide the youth with an opportunity to encounter Jesus Christ in a life changing way through weeklong, local mission trips where they live in Catholic community and continue His work on earth.

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On
Kevin Wondrash, For the Catholic Herald

Pray the Rosary during Fortnight for Freedom

MADISON — The third annual Fortnight for Freedom: Freedom to Serve, sponsored by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), will take place from June 21 to July 4.

According to the USCCB, it’s “a time when our liturgical calendar celebrates a series of great martyrs who remained faithful in the face of persecution by political power: St. Thomas More and St. John Fisher, St. John the Baptist, SS. Peter and Paul, and the first martyrs of the Church of Rome.”

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On
Jane Lepeska Grinde, For the Catholic Herald

Diocesan Council of Catholic Women celebrates 60 years

BARABOO — More than 100 women gathered for the 60th annual convention of the Madison Diocesan Council of Catholic Women (MDCCW) held May 20 to 21 at the Clarion Hotel and Conference Center here to conduct the business of the council and to pray, learn, and socialize.

Speakers focused on the theme of “Finding Grace through Faith, Trust, and Patience.”

Coreen Marklein presided over the two-day convention and passed on the presidential gavel to Rosa Ropers, Waunakee, who will serve the next two years.

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