Over the years, a number of unjust laws have come to be replaced by more just ones. Laws overturning the practice of slavery, for example, were a significant step forward in promoting justice and basic human rights in society.
Yet in recent times, unjust and immoral laws have, with increasing frequency, come to replace sound and reasonable ones, particularly in the area of sexual morality, bioethics, and the protection of human life.
Dear Friends,
We once again find ourselves in the holy season of Lent. And each year, we are all reminded of our need for increased prayer, fasting, and almsgiving during this penitential time. We will, no doubt, make the Sacrament of Confession a priority and avail ourselves of Lenten activities in our parishes. Fish fries, simpler meals, giving as a family to Operation Rice Bowl, and other sacrifices will become part of our routine for the next 40 days.
Lent presents us with an opportunity if we choose to take it. Just like God has given us people in our lives to help us if we take the opportunity and let them: family, parish, community, among others. However, to ask others for help can be humbling. Yet, knowing that we all need help can teach us compassion for others.
Lenten fasting, prayer, and almsgiving remind us of this. It is a special time and opportunity for us to ask for help and to ask out loud. When God hears our prayers, sees our fasting, and almsgiving, that’s one thing. But when we hear and see one another praying, fasting and giving to others in our families, parishes, and communities, it amplifies the impact. All of a sudden we can be moved by the example of those who recognize not only their need for help, but also their need to help others.
Too old to travel? Who? Me? Don’t even suggest it. I’ll find a way to get to that grandson’s wedding or that resort in a warmer climate no matter what. Of course, we must listen to our aging bodies and adapt to new ways to get around.
We were in our mid 60s and newly retired when we first became aware of that. My husband and I were boarding a flight to Puerto Rico when the older lady in front of us asked Bob if he would hoist her bag into the overhead compartment. As he reached up to do so, his pants fell down. That’s when we realized he had to start wearing suspenders.
MADISON — Pro-life groups have denounced the unanimous vote by the Madison Surgery Center board of directors on February 6 to begin performing second-trimester abortions at the clinic’s 1 S. Park St. location.
MADISON — The UW Hospitals and Clinics (UWHC) Authority Board approved a proposal February 4 to begin performing abortions at the Madison Surgery Center (MSC).
Parish signing campaigns against the proposed Freedom of Choice Act are ongoing in our diocese. These campaigns also are allowing the people of the Diocese of Madison to voice their concerns related to second-trimester abortions performed at the Madison Surgery Center.
Finding the following comments from Mr. Joseph Collison, director of the pro-life office for the Diocese of Norwich, Conn., to be helpful, I want to share them with you by means of this column because the numbers are frightening.
Mr. Collison states that every fourth baby conceived in the United States is deliberately destroyed in our nation’s busy abortion businesses. Every day 3,500 developing babies are killed. Almost 1.5 million are killed every year. Our nation has the highest abortion rate in the Western world, and half of the American mothers seeking abortions have already aborted at least one child before.
Various medical conditions can affect a woman’s ability to carry a pregnancy and, at times, even threaten her and her child’s life.
Some of these conditions include pulmonary hypertension, Marfan’s syndrome, and certain congenital problems with the aorta. When a doctor informs a woman that she cannot become pregnant in the future without serious consequences to herself and her baby, having her tubes tied might seem to be the most appropriate response. Some would further argue that since the sterilization would be for “medical reasons,” it would be an “indirect sterilization” and therefore morally acceptable.
Dear Friends,
Like many of you, I’m certain, I’ve watched, with interest, the events which occurred just over one week ago. Our country has witnessed a tremendously historic event with the inauguration of President Barack Obama — an event which speaks to the tremendous strides our country has made, even in my lifetime, in terms of racial equality. Though it has become cliché to say over recent weeks, there were times when no one in my generation could have dreamed that we would “see the day.”
To know, love, and serve him in this life and to be happy with him forever in the next is why God made us. Family provides the environment in which knowing, loving, and serving God is made real.
As a matter of fact, the root meaning of the word family is servant. It is in the family where we are to learn how to be a servant. Our success has a direct relationship to finding meaning and purpose in life, to finding peace and happiness.
