Category: Opinion

On
Dan Berns

Misguided values should not control our lives

To the editor:

We are parents of 10 children (nine living), unplanned parenthood if you choose to call it that. We have never owned a new automobile nor have we relied on food stamps or unemployment compensation for which we may have qualified at times.

Our children were taught personal responsibility in the context of strong Catholic education. These children, with our 29 grandchildren, are welcome members in the communities where they reside. The eighth child is a Catholic priest. Collectively, our children hold five master’s degrees and speak 11 languages.

Family size should not be judged numerically, but rather on the ability to care for and guide the children. Two children can be too many, and five too few.

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Mary C. Uhler, Catholic Herald Staff

Pick up the Rosary: Rediscover its power during the Year of Faith

Editor's View by Mary C. Uhler

We are beginning the Year of Faith in the Catholic  Church during October, the month traditionally dedicated to the Rosary.

Pope Benedict XVI formally entrusted the world Synod of Bishops and the Year of Faith to Mary during an October 4 visit to the Shrine of Our Lady of Loreto in Italy.

It is interesting to recall that another pope visited this same Marian shrine 50 years ago.  Blessed John XXIII visited Loreto to entrust the Second Vatican Council to Mary’s care in 1962.

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Timothy Rookey

Election will decide future

To the editor:

The election of 2012 will decide what kind of future our children and grandchildren will have: one based on Christian moral principles or one based on the wholesale discarding of them. The Obama Administration champions no limit on abortions up to nine months of gestation, gay marriage, and limitations on our religious freedom.

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Adam Lewandowski

Sing with joy before God

To the editor:

In the article “Rebuilding Catholic Culture,” Sr. Joan Roccasalvo, C.S.J., argues that much contemporary liturgical music is of lower quality than traditional forms and has a destructive effect on the human spirit. Her complaints against the contemporary liturgical songs are that they are “trite,” “romanticized,” or having “jerky, heavy, frenzied rhythms or dance rhythms.”

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On
John F. Uhler

Support mission efforts

To the editor:

Throughout our lives as Catholics we’ve learned about and supported the Church’s efforts to spread Catholicism to the rest of the world. The Society for the Propagation of the Faith is one of four pontifical mission societies that seeks to inform Catholics of the life and the needs of the Catholic Church in the missions, and to encourage prayer and financial help for those mission churches.

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Mary C. Uhler, Catholic Herald Staff

Welcoming the Year of Faith: Rediscover the faith you received at Baptism. Share it with others.

Editor's View by Mary C. Uhler

Those of us who are “cradle Catholics” — baptized as babies, raised in Catholic homes, educated in Catholic schools — may wonder why we should participate in the Year of Faith declared by Pope Benedict XVI.

We’re already believers, so this Year of Faith must be for other people, right?

Wrong!

Experiencing a new conversion

In announcing the Year of Faith, the Holy Father said it is a “summons to an authentic and renewed conversion to the Lord, the One Savior of the world” (Porta Fidei, 6). In other words, the Year of Faith is an opportunity for all Catholics — even cradle Catholics — to experience a new conversion. It’s an opportunity to turn back to Jesus and enter into a deeper relationship with him.

The pope has described this conversion as opening the “door of faith.” This door was originally opened at our Baptism, but many of us weren’t aware of what was happening at that time.

During the Year of Faith we’re called to open it again, walk through it, and rediscover and renew our relationship with Christ and his Church.

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Fr. Donald Lange

Fostering vocations

To the editor:

During the Year of Faith we recall the Second Vatican Council. I respect the priests who persevered, held things together, and helped to implement the council. Many of these outstanding priests have died. We remember them each year at the Priests Assembly. Others are retired while some are still in active ministry.

The years after the council were challenging, yet graced times. However, priestly and religious vocations gradually decreased. Since 2000 in our diocese, ordinations have increased. In my opinion this happened because the Holy Spirit helped more Catholics to see and respond to the truth that “vocations are everyone’s business.”

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Bill and Joy Exner

Article found ambiguous

To the editor:

We find the “Forming Consciences” article (Catholic Herald, September 27, 2012) to be both ambiguous and confusing. Stating that Catholics are to vote using a well-formed conscience is correct; however, our consciences have not been well-formed for the past 40 years or so. This close to the election it is essential that we speak plainly and clearly about what is at stake and disregard “nice platitudes and political correctness.”

Certain issues trump all other issues. The most significant issues trumping all others have to do with religious freedom, abortion, same-sex marriage, contraception, and other “culture of death” issues.

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