Author: Mary C. Uhler

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Mary C. Uhler

What’s in a license plate? This one can help save lives

The Respect Life Program begins anew each year in the Catholic Church on Respect Life Sunday, the first Sunday in October.

During the month of October, I like to devote my “Editor’s View” space to various aspects of respect for life. Something I have always supported are pregnancy care centers, which especially offer help to pregnant women and encourage them to choose life for their unborn babies.

‘Choose Life’ license plates

The state Legislature is considering a bill which would provide a new source of funding for these pregnancy care centers: a “Choose Life” license plate, which features a baby’s footprint along with the “Choose Life” message.

Representative Andre Jacque (R-De Pere) and Senator Mary Lazich (R-New Berlin) have introduced companion legislation (Assembly 206/Senate Bill 176) to establish the  “Choose Life” specialty license plate. The plates would be available for $15 and those who purchase them would also be charged an annual $25 fee.

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Mary C. Uhler

Church as ‘field hospital’: Pope Francis encourages Church to heal wounds, proclaim God’s love

People everywhere are talking about the interview with Pope Francis published in the Italian Jesuit journal, La Civiltà Cattolica, and reprinted in other Jesuit publications.

Rather than relying on media reports about the article, I printed a copy of the article from America magazine and read it myself. It is a wonderful article and gave me much more insight into Pope Francis — not only as our Holy Father, but as a person.

Pope’s humility and the need for God’s mercy

What struck me most was his humility. Here he is, the worldwide leader of the  Catholic Church, the successor of St. Peter. Yet at the beginning of the article, Fr. Antonio Spadaro, S.J., who conducted the interview, asks Pope Francis, “Who is Jorge Mario Bergoglio?” His answer is, “I am a sinner.”

The pope goes on to say, “I am a sinner whom the Lord has looked upon.” Pope Francis then talks about his motto, Miserando atque Eligendo (By Having Mercy and By Choosing Him). This motto refers to the Gospel story when Jesus called St. Matthew, a tax collector, to follow him.

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Mary C. Uhler

Destroyers of peace: Connection between abortion and other kinds of violence

Mother Teresa of Calcutta said, “I feel that the greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion, because it is a war against the child — a direct killing of the innocent child — murder by the mother herself. And if we accept that a mother can kill even her own child, how can we tell other people not to kill one another?”

The world was shocked to learn that hundreds of people — many of them women and children — were killed in Syria on August 21 reportedly by the use of sarin gas. In the past two years, it has been reported that over 70,000 people have been killed in Syria’s civil war — and that might be an underestimate.

Millions of babies aborted

However, in comparison, there have been over 56 million unborn babies killed in the United States by induced abortions since 1973, when the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision legalized abortion in this country.

So far in 2013, there have been over 828,000 abortions performed in the U.S., including almost 44,000 after 16 weeks of gestation (www.numberofabortions.com). According to the Guttmacher Institute’s report as of July 2013, about four in 10 pregnancies have been terminated by abortion in our country.

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Mary C. Uhler

Haven’t we learned? Pursue negotiations before taking military action in Syria

In the September 12, 2002, issue of the Catholic Herald, I wrote an editorial called “Iraq war: President has not made the case.” At that time, I didn’t think President George W. Bush had succeeded in mounting a convincing argument in favor of invading Iraq.

I agreed that Saddam Hussein was a dangerous dictator who had sacrificed his own people’s well-being to become a military power. However, it wasn’t proven that Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. Later, we learned here weren’t any such weapons in Iraq.

Committed to two wars for over 10 years

Yet on March 20, 2003, the United States led an invasion into Iraq. At the same time we were also committed to a war in Afghanistan.

It has been more than 10 years, and we’re still involved in both of those countries. Fortunately U.S. involvement is lessening, but we’ve spent a great deal of money and resources — and most importantly lost many lives — in these past 10 years.

Now we’re contemplating military action in Syria. Haven’t we learned our lesson yet?

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Mary C. Uhler

Forgiving Ryan Braun: Brewers’ fans should accept him for both his successes and his failures

Many children and adults in Wisconsin (myself included) have admired Ryan Braun during his years playing with the Milwaukee Brewers.

Whenever I went to a Brewers’ game, I saw plenty of fans wearing T-shirts with Braun’s name and the number eight. The fans applauded when Braun came up to bat, knowing that he would do his best to get a hit (his career batting average through July was .312).

Braun also seemed to be a nice guy. He accepted his many baseball awards modestly, including the National League’s Most Valuable Player award for the 2011 season.

Taking performance enhancing drugs

It was therefore painful for me and other Brewers’ fans to accept the news that Braun might have taken performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs). At first we thought it must be a mistake. However, this summer Major League Baseball suspended Braun for the rest of the season and the postseason due to his involvement with the Biogenesis clinic in Florida.

Now we know that Braun lied to us. We wonder why he and other successful athletes took PEDs. Were they greedy for more money and fame? Were they worried about sustaining their athletic prowess? Did they think they would never get caught?

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Mary C. Uhler

Living the dream: We still have a ways to go in our country

Editor's View by Mary C. Uhler

Today, most of us take for granted that people of all races will worship in church together, eat in the same parts of restaurants, and use the same public restrooms.

But that wasn’t true in many parts of our country just 50 years ago. People of color didn’t have the freedom to do many of the things white people did.

Progress in 50 years?

As we observe the 50th anniversary of the famous March on Washington, D.C., on August 28, it gives us an opportunity to reflect on how much progress we’ve made in guaranteeing civil rights for all people who live in our country.

In Wisconsin, I think that the rights of people of all races have been respected better than in some other parts of the country. Our churches, restaurants, and schools have been integrated ever since I can remember.

However, statistics show that non-white people are put in jails and prisons in our state at a higher number than white people. It seems as if minorities have higher rates of unemployment and have a greater chance of living in poverty.

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Mary C. Uhler

Healthy marriages:They need to be nurtured before and after the wedding day

Editor's View by Mary C. Uhler

It doesn’t seem possible that 40 years have passed so quickly. It was on July 21, 1973, that my husband John and I were married in the chapel of the Roncalli Newman Center at UW-La Crosse.

We both came from Catholic parishes in La Crosse, but during our college years we were active at the Newman Center parish. It kept us connected to our faith and helped us make friends with other young adults with similar values.

Preparing for marriage

At the time we were married, there were no marriage preparation programs done as a couple. Instead, individuals could complete a pre-cana course. John — always the planner — had his certificate in hand, ready to be married. He just had to find his future spouse! It happened to be me.

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