We have been observing October as Respect Life Month, and our focus as Catholics has been on protecting life from “womb to tomb.”
But it seems as if we often put more emphasis on the beginning of life rather than on the end of it. We must be vigilant to make sure that our society respects all human life at every stage.
Increasingly, there have been efforts to promote physician-assisted suicide or what is now being called “medical aid in dying.”
We are hearing a lot in the news these days about the issue of vaccination of children, primarily because of a nationwide measles outbreak that began in a Disney park in California.
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) report that the current outbreak has resulted in 121 cases of measles in 17 states and the District of Columbia, according to Catholic News Service.
The outbreak has raised concerns about parents who won’t immunize their children for a variety of reasons.
I agree that parents should make the final decision about their children’s health and well-being. There are some reasons why parents might not want their children to be vaccinated. However, parents may have fears that are not based on scientific fact.
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| Bishop Robert C. Morlino receives the Offertory gifts from Dr. Elizabeth and Peter Larson and their children Anthony, Gianna, and Alexander (not shown), during the Diocesan White Mass, held September 19 at St. Paul’s University Catholic Center in Madison. (Catholic Herald photo/Kat Wagner) |
MADISON — When Jesus gave Pontius Pilate the testimony of the “noble confession,” that he is the Christ and son of God, Pontius Pilate gave us the symbol for how to reject truth: “What is Truth?”
“That’s our world — it’s a world very hostile to the noble profession Jesus made and very hostile to the noble confession you and I are going to make,” Bishop Robert C. Morlino said during his homily at the White Mass September 19 at St. Paul’s University Catholic Center in Madison.
But those in the health care profession should remember that the human person is a mind/body unity, he said, “and as you work to heal the body, with God’s help and those around you, you have to work to heal the spirit — the mind, the soul.”
