Category: Editorial

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Mary C. Uhler, Catholic Herald Staff

Keep family-based immigration system

When my ancestors settled in Wisconsin from Ireland, Germany, and Belgium, many of them came to this state because other family members had arrived previously.

Today, this would be called family-based immigration. Some of the reasons why my relatives came to the U.S. were the same as they are today.

They were seeking freedom of religion, since most of them were of the Catholic faith. They left their home countries, where they may have had low wages and poor living conditions. They hoped to create a better life for themselves and their families. Some came to escape war and conflicts in their countries.

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Mary C. Uhler, Catholic Herald Staff

Welcoming young adults back to church

Young adults today are less likely than older generations to join a church, but there are signs that more young adults are coming back to churches.

A report from the Hartford Institute for Religion Research examined church membership of young adults ages 18 to 34. While some findings were discouraging, researchers also found that some churches have increased young adult participation. The report drew conclusions that any church can use to draw young members, according to a post on boxcast.com (https://www.boxcast. com/blog/what-can-your-church-do-to-attract-young-adults)

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Mary C. Uhler, Catholic Herald Staff

Family traditions are vital

As we prepare to celebrate Mother’s Day on May 12, I’ve been thinking of the mothers in my family and how they continue to impact us.

One of the ways we remember our mothers is through the family traditions they carried on or started. For example, my mother-in-law, Ruth, had a number of favorite recipes which we still use today. Her recipes for pasta salad, lasagna, and dill dip are still popular in our family. One of our granddaughters often asks us to make dill dip, which she enjoys eating with potato chips.

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Mary C. Uhler, Catholic Herald Staff

Let’s pray for and welcome Bishop Hying

As Madison’s new bishop, Bishop Donald J. Hying says he feels “very much at home here.”

In fact, he noted that about half of his relatives live in the Diocese of Madison, most of them in the southwestern Counties of Grant and Iowa.

“It’s great to come home to the state,” he repeated in a press conference, at a meeting with diocesan staff, at a 12 noon Mass, and in an interview with this writer and Tim Hein of Relevant Radio.

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Mary C. Uhler, Catholic Herald Staff

We know what it’s like to lose a cathedral

On the morning of March 14, 2005, I was awakened with news that smoke was billowing out of the roof, spire, and bell tower of St. Raphael Cathedral in downtown Madison.

Our reporter then, Julianne Nornberg, traveled quickly to the scene of the fire, which had started at 5:31 a.m. Firefighters were on the scene at 5:39 a.m., and they worked to control the fire caused — we found out later — by an arsonist.

Destruction of cathedral

Unfortunately, the fire destroyed the roof of St. Raphael Cathedral, which collapsed into the church. The 150-year-old church was destroyed. A new spire, which had been raised to the top of the cathedral’s spire in 2014, was saved.

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