MADISON — Pope Francis and the Holy See have given permission for St. Maria Goretti’s casket containing her remains to come to the United States this fall, ahead of the Year of Mercy — which starts December 8.
Msgr. Mike Burke, pastor of St. Maria Goretti (SMG) Parish in Madison, confirmed her remains will be at the church on Friday, Oct. 16 — the 125th anniversary of the saint’s birth.
To the editor:
The Children’s Organ Transplant Association (COTA) was founded in 1986 when residents of Bloomington, Ind., rallied around a toddler who needed a life-saving liver transplant. In less than eight weeks, the community raised $100,000 to place the boy on the organ waiting list.
But the child died before an organ became available. Those community volunteers, along with his parents, turned tragedy into triumph by using the funds they raised to help other transplant families. That was the beginning of COTA.
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| Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz of Louisville, Ky., president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, talks with Jeff and Alice Heinzen of Menomonie, Wis., as they leave the morning session of the extraordinary Synod of Bishops on the family at the Vatican October 13. The couple are auditors at the synod. (CNS photo/Paul Haring) |
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Catholic couples who ignore Church teaching on contraception “don’t know what they are missing,” said a U.S. couple invited to address the extraordinary Synod of Bishops on the family.
Alice and Jeff Heinzen, family life leaders in the Diocese of La Crosse, spoke at the synod October 7, urging efforts to find new ways to share its teaching about the beauty of family life.
Although the couple has practiced Natural Family Planning (NFP) for 27 years and taught NFP — Alice is a member of the NFP advisory board for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops — they did not speak specifically about family planning in their presentation to the synod.
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When I taught religion at Beloit Catholic High, I invited pro-life speakers to give talks. I especially remember a pro-life doctor who described the tragedy of aborted babies. During his talk, he wept. Each tear convinced us that he truly believed that unborn babies were persons. Aborting them was destroying human lives.
Tears flowed from the eyes and hearts of committed pro-lifers when on January 22, 1973 in the Roe v. Wade decision the Supreme Court legalized abortion. Their ruling made it legal for mothers to abort their unborn baby.
In no. 2270 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church it says, “From the first moment of existence, a human being must be recognized as having the rights of a person . . . among which is the inviolable right of every innocent being to life.” The Church’s position, which recognizes the individual as human from conception until death, is supported by natural law.
DANE — On […]
Many years ago, I received a phone call from someone who complained that a priest had been removed from her parish because of an allegation of sexual abuse of a child. (We have had very few such cases in our diocese, thanks be to God and the vigilance of our bishops and diocesan leaders.)
The caller said to me, “He was such a wonderful priest. I can’t imagine that he would harm a child.”
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Time Magazine’s cover story “The Childfree Life” has generated a good deal of controversy and commentary.
The photo that graced the cover of the edition sums up the argument: a young, fit couple lounge languidly on a beach and gaze up at the camera with blissful smiles — and no child anywhere in sight.
What the editors want us to accept is that this scenario is not just increasingly a fact in our country, but that it is morally acceptable as well, a lifestyle choice that some people legitimately make.
Whereas in one phase of the feminist movement, “having it all” meant that a woman should be able to both pursue a career and raise a family, now it apparently means a relationship and a career without the crushing encumbrance of annoying, expensive, and demanding children.
Childlessness is on the rise in the United States. Our birthrate is the lowest in recorded history, surpassing even the crash in reproduction that followed the economic crash of the 1930s.
MADISON — Students from throughout the southern half of Wisconsin, including St. Joseph Catholic School in Baraboo, worked on nature-based art “messages” that will be sent to Cuba through the Children Are The Hope (CATH) program.
Students from 14 Wisconsin and Cuban schools took part in the environmental and cultural education program and international art exchange during the 2013 to 2014 school year.
From May 26 to 31, the Common Wealth Gallery in Madison will host a collection of nature-based artwork created by the fourth and fifth grade students and similar-aged students from northcentral Cuba.
MADISON — Our Lady of Hope Clinic and the Women’s Care Center are partnering to hold “A Celebration of Life” with a benefit dinner for both organizations to be held on Saturday, May 10, at the Alliant Energy Center.
Members of the community are welcome to attend. The benefit will begin with cocktails at 6:30 p.m., followed by dinner and a program detailing how both organizations have worked to build a culture of life in Dane County.
To the editor:
“Thou shalt not kill.”
“What you have done to the least of my brothers you have done unto me.”
“Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you.”
“Let the children come to me and do not stop them, because the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these.”
So ask not what we can do just to save animals, but what can we do to save our own offspring, babies.
