During the second half of the 20th century, we experienced many positive changes in our society in the United States, including greater respect for minorities and the expansion of opportunities for women, along with advances in technology, communications, and medical care.
Category: Opinion
Insurance mandate is clear violation of the Constitution
To the editor:
The struggle over the national government’s mandated financing of “reproductive health services” has, up to now, been mostly carried out under the religious liberty clause in the Bill of Rights. This is a sound, but somewhat limited, defense.
It should be remembered that the Bill of Rights was an afterthought to the original Constitution, only consented to after it looked like the adoption of the new Constitution would meet strong opposition.
Church, not government, commanded to feed hungry
To the editor:
I am writing in response to the letter from John Murphy in the February 9 edition of the Catholic Herald regarding President Obama being called “the food stamp President.”
Mr. Murphy needs to know the command to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and visit the sick was given to the Church, not the government.
Can’t have one without the other: Faith and good works are both essential
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.
Think about what it means to be true disciple of Christ
To the editor:
Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, wrote a series of meditations that became the book On The Way To Jesus Christ. In a chapter titled “Communication and Culture,” our future pope talked about what the Church faces in today’s society. “Ever since the Enlightenment, Western culture has been moving away from its Christian foundations with increasing rapidity. The disintegration of the family and marriage, the escalating attacks on human life and its dignity, the confinement of faith to the realm of the subjective, and the consequent secularization of public awareness, as well as the fragmentation and relativizing of ethical values demonstrate this all too clearly.”
Cardinal Ratzinger was talking to the bishops of Italy but certainly his remarks were intended for all of the Western world, including the United States.
Candidate’s comments did not demean those in need
To the editor:
This is a needed response to John Murphy’s false assertion about Newt Gingrich’s “food stamp president” commentary in the February 9, 2012, Mailbag. First of all, I’ll be voting for another in the Republican primary, so this is not an endorsement of Newt.
Mr. Gingrich’s comments had absolutely nothing to do with demeaning any person from any race or economic situation. His very salient point addresses the fact that the policies of our current president are creating a great wall to prosperity.
God and truth matter most
To the editor: […]
Love of Christ shines through him: Cardinal Dolan offers us insights into why he smiles so much
When I think of Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan, I picture him smiling. Of course, Cardinal Dolan can be as serious as any priest, bishop, or cardinal can be, but it’s his smile that most people remember.
Why does he smile so much? Obviously he is a happy person and he loves people. But there’s more to it than that.
My encounters with the new cardinal date back to his time in Milwaukee. I met him soon after he started his ministry as archbishop there at a meeting of the staffs of the three Catholic Herald diocesan newspapers. I noticed right away that the new archbishop’s smile lit up the room.
Letter writer answers pope’s call for public moral witness
To the editor:
In the January 26 issue of the Catholic Herald, there was an article from the Catholic News Service, “Pope warns of U.S. threat to freedom, conscience.” The pope called on the Church in America, including lay people, to render “public moral witness on crucial social issues.”
He spoke of Catholic politicians’ “personal responsibility to offer public witness to their faith, especially with regard to the great moral issues of our time,” which he identified as: “respect for God’s gift of life, the protection of human dignity, and the promotion of authentic human rights.”
We must protect religious freedom and live our faith
To the editor:
Thank you for publishing Bishop Morlino’s letter concerning the January 20 HHS mandates which violate freedom of religion. Thank you, Bishop Morlino!
As far as I am concerned, this is a wake-up call to Humanae Vitae.