To the editor:
While not yet Catholic, I attended many Latin Masses before Vatican II. The formal beauty and solemnity of the processions, the cross, the priest’s vestments — all inspired reverence.
I followed the spoken Latin, although not all of it was audible. Many parishioners not understanding Latin prayed the Rosary, following which they received Communion on the tongue, kneeling at a rail.
It doesn’t seem possible that it has been 20 years since the death of St. Mother Teresa.
She died on September 5, 1997. I remember that year well, because Princess Diana died on August 31, just a few days before Mother Teresa.
The two were connected by more than the proximity of their deaths. They had met and Princess Diana had said that Mother Teresa inspired her to help the poor.
Perhaps one of the hardest things Jesus told us as his followers was to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us (Matthew 5:44).
It’s pretty tough to tolerate people we don’t like, let alone love them. But that’s what Jesus told us to do, and he certainly practiced what he preached. He even forgave those who crucified him!
Our country — and indeed our whole world — seems to be filled with racism, hatred, and violence. We all wonder how we should respond.
The official name for individuals who meet the general requirements of the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act is DREAMers.
However, I think we could call them dreamers in the regular sense, because they are young people who dream of staying in the United States and becoming citizens of this country.
In 2012, a policy called the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program — popularly known as DACA — was implemented under the Obama administration. It gave young people — mostly 15 to 30 years of age — a temporary reprieve from deportation and the authorization to be employed in our country.
To the editor:
R. Jared Staudt’s article (July 27 issue of Catholic Herald) suggesting the Church use both the Extraordinary Form (with priest facing ad orientem) and Novus Ordo rites was interesting.
The Extraordinary Form offers much rich music, protocol, vestments, rubrical gestures, and the ranking and roles of the celebrants. God is adored and worshiped, and this worship is strictly conducted. Much attention is given to well-defined ritualistic human behaviors and postures which are meant to indicate the pious devotion of each worshiper.
The Novus Ordo offers a simpler worship . . . a community called by Christ nourished and fed in Word and sacred sacrament, and gathered around the living and active Christ who is present in the celebrant, the Word, His holy body and blood . . . and His people.
To the editor:
The commentary by Boyd Cathey, “The triumph of lunacy,” in the July 13 Catholic Herald, illustrates how far we can stray from the words of Jesus in Matthew 5-7 in our zeal to protect our Church.
I spent 42 years among students at what he characterized as a supposed center of higher education. Gullible, soul-less students? Hardly. They were too ethical and asked too many questions. And when they studied the Greek philosophers, they found men who engaged in discourse with and entertained the views of those with whom they differed.
To the editor:
Fr. Bevil Bramwell’s article in the July 27 issue of the Catholic Herald entitled, “The Church and the New Left,” is a brilliantly expressed commentary on America’s societal ills.
One of my favorite expressions is that you cannot serve two masters. When people react politically due to ill conceived and wrongful “handouts” and ignore the Church truths, they are “denying their integrity as human beings.”
To the editor:
Kudos to Bishop Robert Morlino and Mary Uhler for demonstrating the courage, character, and integrity to publish Fr. Bevil Bramwell’s article revealing the truth about the “new left.”
The National Alliance to End Homelessness states that there are 564,708 people experiencing homelessness on any given night in the U.S.: 36,907 (6.38 percent) are children, 47,725 (8.33 percent) are veterans, and 269,991 (47.6 percent) are disabled and unable to work.
Many factors can contribute to a person becoming homeless. These factors include (but are not limited to):
• Poverty
• Lack of affordable housing
• Job loss
• Lack of health care
• Mental illness
• Substance abuse
• Domestic violence
At the recent Catholics at the Capitol in Madison, we heard about the dangers of human trafficking in our state and nation.
We need to invest more of our resources to fight against labor and sex trafficking, which sadly targets many young victims.
The U.S. House of Representatives took a step in the right direction on July 12. It passed an anti-trafficking bill which would put more than $500 million over the next four years into efforts to fight labor and sex trafficking both in the U.S. and abroad.
