Category: Editorial

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Mary C. Uhler, Catholic Herald Staff

Recall rules: Issues involved in Wisconsin’s first statewide recall primary

Editor's View by Mary C. Uhler

On Tuesday, May 8, Wisconsin will be experiencing its first statewide recall primary. No matter where you stand on the political spectrum, the recall election is happening and state citizens should be paying attention.

Faithful citizenship resources

The Wisconsin Catholic Conference (WCC) encourages  Catholic voters to visit its Faithful Citizenship voter education page for resources on Catholic teaching (www.wisconsincatholic.org/faithful_citizenship.cfm).

There you will find  a letter from the bishops of Wisconsin written prior to the 2010 elections. In that letter, the bishops admit that “being a faithful citizen is never easy.” Yet, they encourage Catholics to “remain engaged, not just politically but also culturally,” since there is “so much good that we will contribute to our nation and to our world.”

The WCC Web site also includes the latest edition of its Guidelines for Church Involvement in Electoral Politics as well as a question card voters can use when questioning candidates running for state office.

Information for state voters

Also helpful is information provided by the state’s Government Accountability Board (GAB), which issued a press release with information for state voters about the primary recall rules (http://gab.wi.gov/elections-voting/recall).

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Mary C. Uhler, Catholic Herald Staff

Remember the poor: Catholic bishops call for ‘circle of protection’

Editor's View by Mary C. Uhler

An elderly woman lives on a very tight fixed income. She depends on food stamps to provide enough food so that she can pay for her rent and medical expenses.

A married man with four children loses his job. His unemployment compensation has run out and he relies on receiving government help for rental assistance and buying food for his family.

These are real situations facing real people. In fact, recent statistics show that one in two Americans are living at or near the poverty level. That means up to 50 million Americans are poor, the highest number since the Census Bureau began tracking poverty rates in 1959.

But despite the growing numbers of poor people — many of them formerly considered “middle class” — we aren’t hearing much about poverty in the current political campaign. It seems to be an issue that everyone is avoiding like the plague.

Everyone except the U.S. Catholic bishops, that is.

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Mary C. Uhler, Catholic Herald Staff

Growing relationships: Farmers and consumers are finding new ways to connect

Editor's View by Mary C. Uhler

When I was growing up, my dad (a teacher who had summers off) always planted a large vegetable garden.

As his tomatoes, beets, carrots, and other vegetables multiplied, he would often take pails of produce around the neighborhood as gifts to other families. I helped with planting and weeding, although my main role was taking care of the flowers decorating the garden.

Enjoyment of gardening

Ever since then, I’ve always enjoyed gardening. Being outdoors with the smell of dirt (to me it smells good) and the bees buzzing gives me a sense of calm and peace.

When our children were young, we, too, had a vegetable garden. However, it got to be too much work to keep up with the weeding and harvesting — plus two of our neighbors had gardens and liked to share their produce with us. We decided to give up the vegetables, but we still have flowers and maintain our fairly large yard.

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Mary C. Uhler, Catholic Herald Staff

Following Jesus: Holy Week reminds us to protect the Holy Land

Editor's View by Mary C. Uhler

Starting with Palm Sunday, Catholics are following in the footsteps of Jesus during the liturgies of Holy Week and Easter with the wonderful Scripture readings recounting the Passion, death, and Resurrection.

We read in all four Gospels that Jesus experienced a triumphal entry into Jerusalem. He rode on a donkey, which traditionally meant he arrived in peace (those with more war-like purposes were said to ride on a horse).

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Mary C. Uhler, Catholic Herald Staff

How to combat violence: Holy Father has suggestions for building a better society

Editor's View by Mary C. Uhler

Violence seems to dominate the news recently in our state, nation, and world. A man shoots a young intruder hiding on his porch. A neighborhood watch vigilante kills a young man who is walking down the street. An American soldier kills civilians — including children — in Afghanistan.

What are we to make of this senseless violence? What is the world coming to and what — if anything — can we do about the violence that pervades our society?

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Mary C. Uhler, Catholic Herald Staff

United for religious freedom: Let’s join our bishops in standing up and praying for religious liberty

Editor's View by Mary C. Uhler

The Catholic bishops of the United States have called on all Catholics to unite in opposition to various threats to religious freedom in our country.

At a meeting of the bishops’ leaders in Washington, D.C., the bishops issued a statement on March 14 called “United for Religious Freedom.” The bishops said they are concerned not only with protecting the Church’s own institutions, but also with the care of individuals and the common good.

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Mary C. Uhler, Catholic Herald Staff

Bringing ‘drop-outs’ back: Everyone in the Church can make a difference

Editor's View by Mary C. Uhler

We hear these days that more people — especially young adults — are “dropping out” of organized religion. They say they are still “spiritual,” but they don’t want to belong to a particular church.

In the past, young people sometimes took time off from regular church attendance. There were those who shopped around at different churches to see what they were all about, but many of them ended up returning to the denomination of their youth.

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Mary C. Uhler, Catholic Herald Staff

Can’t have one without the other: Faith and good works are both essential

Editor's View by Mary C. Uhler

Over the years, Christians have had discussions — sometimes very heated arguments — about the primacy of faith or good works.

For Catholics, it’s really not one or the other that takes precedence. It’s both. In fact, according to Scripture and Church teaching, you can’t have one without the other.

As we begin the season of Lent, it seems an appropriate time to reflect on the connection between faith and good works. Traditionally Lent is a time when prayer, fasting, and almsgiving take centerstage.

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