Category: Guest column

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Emily Seyfert

Finding life in infertility

We were one of those crazy couples. We wanted six or seven children (and still do!) when we were married.

Even though we didn’t have any money, we said “God will provide!” and did not use contraception or Natural Family Planning.

In fact, when we were dating, I remember having a conversation about children. Chris asked me, “How many children do you want? I was thinking six.”

“As many as God will give us!” I responded joyfully.

But, it has been almost 10 years, and we still do not have any children. I certainly did not think that when I said “as many as God will give us,” that that might be none.

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Sr. Ruth Battaglia, CSA

The Pascal Mystery: Death evolving into life

Sr. Ruth Battaglia, CSA

After successful treatment for breast cancer 16 years ago, it returned with a vengeance — 15 small brain tumors and a lung tumor. This time it was stage four cancer.

The diagnosis stunned everyone. The news of Patty Kelbel’s condition spread quickly, especially among the Christian Experience Weekend (CEW) community. CEW is an intense retreat experience, directed mostly by laity, that has been a joint venture between the parishes of St. Ann in Stoughton and Holy Mother of Consolation (HMC) in Oregon for a number of years.

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Susanna Herro and Kathy Wall

Catholic Relief Services: Focus on Haiti

Guest Column

In this fifth week of Lent, Catholic Relief Services (CRS) highlights Haiti, where CRS has been serving since 1954.

Catholic Relief Services is the official international humanitarian agency of the Catholic community in the United States. With almost 70 years of experience, CRS works to alleviate suffering and provide assistance to people in need in nearly 100 countries, without regard to race, religion, or nationality.

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Fr. Frank Pavone

Just a pinch of incense: refusing to compromise on religious principles

Guest Column

In The Offense of the Cross, W. A. Criswell points out, “The Roman Empire was the most tolerant, the most liberal, the most wise, and the most accurate in its handling of the many provinces and religions of its empire of any kingdom that ever existed. Men could worship, have temples, and do as they pleased.

“And yet the Roman Empire and the Caesars persecuted the Christians. Why? For one simple reason: the Christian refused to compromise his faith with any other religion whatsoever.”

That refusal to compromise is seen in the response of the apostles themselves to the command not to teach in the name of Jesus: “We will obey God rather than men!”

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Fr. David Wanish, For the Catholic Herald

Focusing on the plight of immigrants during Lent

“Forty days in the desert” describes Jesus at the start of his ministry and the Christian community during Lent.

For me, henceforth, it will also bring to mind migrants who make a dangerous journey through Mexico to the United States. I learned on a tour with the organization Witness for Peace that the trip for those who start in southern Mexico or Central America can take one to two months and often includes walking through treacherous stretches of desert.

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Elizabeth Durack

Father Mazzuchelli and the New Evangelization: frontier missionary priest’s memoirs provide inspiration for us today

Anyone who has read with interest the recent articles in these pages on the life of Venerable Father Samuel Mazzuchelli, O.P. would do no better than to read his fascinating and edifying Memoirs.

Several readers have met at the Cathedral Parish in Madison weekly to discuss what inspiration we find for the New Evangelization from Father Mazzuchelli’s writing. I share these gleanings.

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Nico Fassino

Vocations then and now: a comparison of the first 10 years and the last 10 years in the Diocese of Madison

Guest ColumnAs many regular readers know well, the Catholic Herald celebrated the recently-concluded Year of Faith by publishing a variety of articles, stories, and information to assist the faithful of the Diocese of Madison in rediscovering and deepening their knowledge and practice of authentic Catholic faith.

One of the periodic features that the Herald offered during the Year of Faith was called “From the Archives,” in which full or partial articles from across the 65-year history of the Madison edition of the paper were reprinted.

In the process of preparing these features, I have spent a good amount of time pouring through the extensive archival records of the paper and have been surprised and fascinated by what I learned about life and activities in the diocese from 1946 to the present day.

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Guest Columnist

How Catholics join together as a community of faith

This is the first of a two-part series on how Catholics join together as a community of faith as expressed in the Church’s law on parishes (part one) and sacred places (part two).

Man is a religious being. Man is a social being. These two fundamental truths of human nature spring from our having been created with an immaterial soul capable of knowing and loving.

As such, we have an innate desire to use these faculties to be in communion with God and with those around us. This aspect of humanity is expressed beautifully in the account of creation in Genesis 2, in which Adam and Eve are established in a state of perfect harmony with God and with each other.

One result of mankind’s dual religious and social nature is the desire to come together in order to worship, a ritual expressed in every civilization in human history. We naturally join with those around us to pray and worship God, and what’s more, we often set aside some space dedicated to this purpose of communal prayer.

In this two-part article I will examine the way in which we, as Catholics, join together as a community of faith as expressed in the Church’s law on parishes (part one) and sacred places (part two).

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Fr. Rick Heilman

Men train to become ‘medics of mercy’

Guest Column

For the first time ever, all of the major Wisconsin apostolates for men’s faith formation are uniting to be trained and to lead the entire state to the burning love of the Sacred Heart of Jesus through the fire of love of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

This includes the Wisconsin Council of the Knights of Columbus, Relevant Radio, and men’s apostolates from all five dioceses: Men of Christ, Knights of Divine Mercy, Esto Vir, and the King’s Men.

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