Category: Opinion

On
Dick Rydecki

Other Knights of Columbus councils formed since 2000

To the editor:

I congratulate my brother knights in Cambridge for how quickly you formed a new Knights of Columbus council. Your church, council, and community will benefit greatly from your commitment to the Robert C. Timmerman Council of St. Pius X Parish. You will be proud of the results of your efforts in the coming years.

The article appearing in a recent issue of the Catholic Herald contained an excellent review of the history of the Knights of Columbus and the projects the knights get involved in. It must have been a thrill for Fr. David Timmerman to have the council named after his father.

Read More
On
Mary C. Uhler

Make your voice heard to protect the poor and vulnerable at state, federal levels

editor's view by Mary C. Uhler

We have been hearing so much about the fiscal challenges facing our state and national governments. Sometimes we may feel so frustrated that we don’t do anything.

But now is not the time to stand back. It is time to make your voice heard with your elected representatives at the state and federal levels. In this week’s Catholic Herald, we have published some suggestions on how to contact your legislators effectively. Many of these suggestions come from the Wisconsin Catholic Conference (WCC), the public policy arm of our state’s Catholic bishops.

Read More
On
James Finkel

Catholic War Veterans of USA look for new members

To the editor:

The Catholic War Veterans of the USA is looking for new members to continue our work for God, country, and home. Would you allow some space in the Catholic Herald to publish our letter to parish pastors to locate Catholic veterans to start posts in your diocese? You can learn more about us through our Web site www.cwv.org

Here’s the letter and God bless you!

Dear Reverend Father:

Our Bishop Protector, Rev. Richard B. Higgins, of the Archdiocese of the Military Services, recently told us the Catholic War Veterans of the USA must continue our work for God, country, and home to face the challenges of this new century.

Read More
On
Beatrice Peyer

Hardline politics doesn’t work, may affect charities

To the editor:
I can understand Bishop Morlino’s neutral position on the issues now facing the state of Wisconsin, but there are many repercussions should the governor’s budget bill pass.

Mr. McCluskey (Catholic Herald Mailbag, March 10) touched briefly on a decline in healthcare. To add to that, nurses and other hospital staff can be forced to work double shifts even though they have family at home to attend to or if they have plane reservations for the same time-frame.

My daughter faced this situation at UW Hospital. If she hadn’t been protected by the union, she would have been out the money for her plane ticket and if she refused to work another shift, she would have faced the possible loss of her job.

Read More
On
Mary C. Uhler

Victory for freedom of speech, religion: Supreme Court lets ruling stand on funding of Catholic student group

editor's view by Mary C. Uhler

As a graduate student in the 1970s, I attended Mass and was involved in activities at St. Paul University Catholic Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

For many Catholic students like me, St. Paul’s was a “home away from home” in the spiritual sense. It kept students tethered to their faith amid the challenges of life on campus.

St. Paul’s is the oldest Newman Center established on a secular university in the United States. The first chapel was completed in 1909 on State St. in the heart of the UW campus. Over the years, St. Paul’s has continued to provide Catholic students — who number over 25 percent of the student body by some estimates — with the opportunity for growth in their faith in an increasingly secular culture.

Read More
On
Mary C. Uhler

Pray, fast, learn, give: Operation Rice Bowl provides focus for Lent

editor's view by Mary C. Uhler

The 2010 movie Eat, Pray, Love starring Julia Roberts told the story of a woman’s search for enlightenment and self-fulfillment.

I never saw the movie, partly because a Catholic reviewer called it “spiritually barren.” This story — like so many in our culture today — seems to emphasize that we will find happiness by fulfilling our own needs, rather than by reaching out to others.

Pope’s Lenten message

In his 2011 Lenten message, Pope Benedict XVI alludes to that problem in our culture. He encourages people to let go of all traces of selfishness and self-centeredness by embracing the traditional Lenten practices of fasting, almsgiving, and prayer.

The Holy Father says, “For Christians, fasting, far from being depressing, opens us ever more to God and to the needs of others, thus allowing love of God to become also love of our neighbor.”

Operation Rice Bowl

One way to carry out his message is by participating in Operation Rice Bowl, the annual Lenten program sponsored by Catholic Relief Services (CRS).

Read More
On
John Ronzani

Guest column offered fair and balanced contribution

To the editor:

I would like to congratulate Dr. Constance Nielsen on her fair and balanced contribution to the guest column that was published in the Catholic Herald on March 3.

A couple of weeks ago, referring to Pope John Paul II’s Laborem Exercens 20, Archbishop Listecki partially and one-sidedly commented on the rights and value of unions. Nielsen dared to go beyond the archbishop’s blind spot by quoting the precarious aspect that John Paul II emphasized in LE 20.

Read More
On
Mark Herman

Disappointed that author undermined sanctity of labor

To the editor:

I read the guest article in the Catholic Herald regarding the current labor situation in Wisconsin with deep disappointment.

The author clearly sought to undermine the Catholic moral principle of regard for the sanctity of labor and the right to form unions by selective use of quotations. The author suggests that Church doctrine does not encompass unions representing public workers, or unions that are politically active. This is simply not true.

Read More
On
John Knox

The paradox of democracy

To the editor:

On the topic of democracy, 50 years ago the Rev. John Courtney Murray, in his book We Hold These Truths, described majoritarianism as a kind of democratic tool shed in which the weapons of tyranny may be forged. We see this in the American political system, where you get both war and abortion, or usury and the normalization of sodomy no matter who you vote for.

Read More