Category: Columns

On
Fr. Robert Barron

Woody Allen’s bleak vision

I was chagrined, but not entirely surprised, when I read Woody Allen’s recent ruminations on ultimate things.

To state it bluntly, Woody could not be any bleaker in regard to the issue of meaning in the universe.

Godless, purposeless world

We live, he said, in a godless and purposeless world. The earth came into existence through mere chance, and one day it, along with every work of art and cultural accomplishment, will be incinerated. The universe as a whole will expand and cool until there is nothing left but the void.

Every hundred years or so, he continued, a coterie of human beings will be “flushed away” and another will replace it until it is similarly eliminated.

So why does he bother making films — roughly one every year? Well, he explained, in order to distract us from the awful truth about the meaninglessness of everything, we need diversions, and this is the service that artists provide.

Read More
On
Lillian Quinones

POLST: A Catholic moral dilemma (part one)

Author’s note: “Love — caritas — is an extraordinary force which leads people to opt for courageous and generous engagement in the field of justice and peace. To defend the truth, to articulate it with humility and conviction, and to bear witness to it in life are therefore exacting and indispensable forms of charity. All people feel the interior impulse to love authentically: love and truth never abandon them completely, because these are the vocation planted by God in the heart and mind of every human person” (Pope Benedict XVI, Caritas in Veritate).

These words from Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI capture so well the weight of the pro-life mission. Working as a dining room server at a retirement home in high school, I formed friendships with the elderly community there. This experience was formative and heightened my awareness of the love that must infuse end-of-life care. In my research, I came across the controversial POLST form, an advance directive becoming commonly used in hospitals, hospices, and nursing homes.

Read More
On
Fr. Robert Barron

Hercules, N.T. Wright, and the modern meta-narrative

On the first day of my recent vacation, I perused N.T. Wright’s latest book, a collection of essays on contemporary issues in light of the Bible.

A point that Wright makes in a number of the articles is that modernity and Christianity propose fundamentally different meta-narratives in regard to the meaning and trajectory of history.

The emergence of modernity

Modernity — at least in its Western form– is predicated on the assumption that history came to its climax in the mid- to late-18th century, with the definitive victory of empirical science in the epistemological arena and liberal democracy in the political arena.

Basic to this telling of the story is that modernity emerged victorious after a long twilight struggle against the forces of obscurantism and tyranny. The matrix for these negative states of affairs was none other than the Christian religion, which enforced a blind dogmatism on the one hand and an oppressive political arrangement on the other.

Read More
On
Fr. Tad Pacholczyk

Clearing the air around marijuana use

A June 2014 article in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), written by researchers from the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the National Institutes of Health, points out that marijuana is not the harmless drug that many imagine.

Rather, it is associated with “substantial adverse effects, some of which have been determined with a high level of confidence.”

Negative outcomes

These negative outcomes include the risk of addiction, symptoms of chronic bronchitis, an elevated incidence of fatal and non-fatal motor vehicle accidents, and diminished lifetime achievement and school performance in cases of long-term use, especially beginning in adolescence.

 

Read More
On
John Huebscher

Children at borders provide opportunity for pro-life witness

Eye on the Capitol by John Huebscher

The plight of over 60,000 unaccompanied children from Central America who are at our borders seeking refuge from the unspeakable horrors afflicting their homelands has stirred controversy, outrage, and no end of political posturing in our country.

But this situation, tragic as it is, provides an opportunity to witness what it means to be pro-life. The Catholic Church in the United States and here in Wisconsin is rising to that challenge.

The children arriving at our southern borders with Mexico are fleeing lives of danger and privation in search of something better, a life of peace and hope that is the birthright of every child.

Read More
On
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.

Read More
On
Fr. Robert Barron

Superman, General Zod, and God

I didn’t really care for the latest cinematic iteration of the Superman myth. Like way too many movies today, it was made for the generation that came of age with video games and MTV and their constant, irritatingly frenetic action.

When the CGI whiz-bang stuff kicks in, I just check out, and Man of Steel is about three-quarters whiz-bang.

Freedom vs. tyranny

However, there is a theme in this film that is worthy of some reflection, namely the tension between individual autonomy and a state-controlled society.

Man of Steel commences with a lengthy segment dealing with the closing days of the planet Krypton. We learn that a fiercely totalitarian regime, led by a General Zod, is seeking the arrest of a scientist called Jor-El.

Read More
On
Fr. Tad Pacholczyk

Renegade researchers should trigger drawing long overdue ethical lines

Producing human embryos in the laboratory for research purposes makes most people uneasy.

Even those who tolerate the creation of embryos in test tubes so that infertile couples might have children will often have reservations about the creation of embryos to serve as experimental research material or to destroy them for their cellular parts.

Creation of embryos for research

Twenty years ago, when a deeply divided government panel recommended allowing such research experiments on human embryos for the first time, even Bill Clinton summarily rejected the idea.

Two years later, Representative Nancy Pelosi concurred in the Congressional Record: “We should not be involved in the creation of embryos for research. I completely agree with my colleagues on that score.”

The proposal to engender human embryos by cloning has similarly drawn strong opposition from Americans for many years.

Read More
On
Audrey Mettel Fixmer

Making life pleasant with an attitude of gratitude

I recently lived vicariously through a friend’s miserable experience caring for an elderly aunt.

Although my friend traveled more than 2,000 miles to care for her aunt following a surgery, she was treated like a servant by this grumpy old lady, who showed no gratitude for her niece’s sacrifice, even though back home those of us who know her well are aware of her outstanding homemaking and nursing skills.

We couldn’t wait for the two weeks to end and have her back home to her family where she is appreciated.

Caring for the elderly

This was an experience that touched my heart and made me think about the whole situation of the elderly and the caregiver.

Read More
On
Fr. Robert Barron

Finding meaning in life and death

John Green’s novel The Fault in Our Stars has proven to be wildly popular among young adults in the English speaking world, and the recently released film adaptation of the book has garnered both impressive reviews and a massive audience.

A one-time divinity school student and Christian minister, Green is not reluctant to explore the “big” questions, though he doesn’t claim to provide definitive answers. He both reflects and helps to shape the inchoate, eclectic spirituality that holds sway in the teen and 20-something set today.

Read More