Author: Kevin Wondrash

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Kevin Wondrash

Dangers of human stockpiling

A recent news report chronicled a Chinese woman named Huang Yijun. Sixty years ago, her unborn child died, but the pregnancy was never expelled from her body. Instead, her baby’s body slowly began to calcify inside her, becoming a crystallized, stone-like mass.

Such stone babies (known as lithopedions) are extremely rare. When Mrs. Huang was 92 years old, the baby was discovered in her abdomen and surgically removed.

This rare medical event prompts us to consider a thought experiment. Imagine a drug that could be injected into a child to crystallize him, but without killing him. The process would turn the child into a static mass for as many years as the parents wanted; another injection would reverse the process, and allow the child to wake up and continue growing.

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Kevin Wondrash

Overcoming evil with the power of mercy

Under the Gospel Book by Bishop Robert C. Morlino
This column is the bishop’s communication with the faithful of the Diocese of Madison. Any wider circulation reaches beyond the intention of the bishop.

Dear Friends:

On Sunday, so many of us were united in prayer for the victims and the survivors, and for the families of 9/11, in a special way. The men and women who were affected by this event have all been invited to participate in the suffering of Jesus, which guarantees the Resurrection. But it is an invitation to suffering and, in that sense, it was a somber day of remembrance and we cannot cover it over or white-wash it, because, simply, it was a day that changed the way we live, day-in and day-out, forever.

Of course we were bombarded with information and reflection on 9/11 on the television and internet. There was no escaping it unless you simply avoided most of the major channels all day. The media talked a lot about attitudes of revenge. Asking, was our retaliation sufficient? Will our retaliation ever be complete?

But, beyond praying for the victims, survivors, and their families, the real focus of 9/11 should be two-fold for all of us. Our first focus should be the opening phrase of last Sunday’s First Reading, “Anger and wrath are terrible things” (Sir 27:30). And our second focus should be how such terrible things might be overcome.

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Kevin Wondrash

Staying young through laughter

grand mom

I learned about God’s humor from Sister Gregory, a delightful Franciscan nun who was staff advisor for my high school newspaper.

As editor, I had to “put the paper to bed,” meaning write the last headlines, cross all the t’s, and dot the i’s before going to press.

One night we had to work right through dinner time and both confessed we were hungry.

Sister excused herself and returned after a moment with a heaping, fragrant bowl of popcorn.

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Kevin Wondrash

Sexual attractions and the call to chastity

Making Sense out of Bioethics column by Fr. Tad Pacholczyk

People often surmise that same-sex attraction is inborn, and that homosexuals are “naturally gay” or “born that way.” They suppose that if God made them that way, then it must not be a sin to act on their sexual desires.

The possibility of a “gay gene” is sometimes offered as a further defense, suggesting that the condition, and its associated behavior, are inevitable and inescapable.

One commentator summarized it this way: “Asking someone to stop being homosexual would therefore be equivalent to asking an Asian person to stop being Asian or a left-handed person to stop being left-handed.”

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