Tag: history

On
George Weigel

Issues beneath issues at synod 2015

Editor’s note: George Weigel is in Rome reporting on the General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on the Family.

Since Pope Francis announced that two synods would examine the contemporary crisis of marriage and the family and work to devise more evangelically dynamic responses to that crisis, a lot of attention has focused on issues of Catholic discipline.

How does the Church determine that a marriage never existed and thus grant a decree of nullity? What is to be done about the sacramental situation of divorced and civilly remarried Catholics? How does the Church best prepare its sons and daughters for marriage?

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Mary C. Uhler, Catholic Herald Staff

Learn lessons from history

We’ve all heard the saying that if we don’t learn lessons from history, we are in danger of repeating it.

This is especially true for the bad things we’ve experienced. And it seems especially true about our history of violence and war.

This year in August the world marked the 70th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan. The United States dropped bombs on these cities during World War II.

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Kevin Wondrash

Events at Schoenstatt Heights

The following events are coming up at Schoenstatt Heights, 5901 Cottage Grove Rd., Madison.

Saturday, Feb. 7, and Saturday, March 7: Open House

All are welcome to come and learn about the Schoenstatt Shrine, history, and movement from 10:30 to 11:45 a.m.

In this Year of Consecrated Life, come and meet the Schoenstatt Sisters of Mary who reside at Schoenstatt Heights.

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Mary C. Uhler, Catholic Herald Staff

Remembering the past: It is important to celebrate and to learn from history

Several articles in this week’s Catholic Herald made me think about the importance of history and why we should pay attention to it.

Many people today take life one day at a time. They don’t want to look back at the past or even think about the future. The here-and-now is all that counts.

The 18th century Anglo-Irish statesman Edmund Burke said,  “Those who don’t know history are doomed to repeat it.” By learning about previous mistakes, we can try to avoid them.

However, I’m not sure I totally agree with Edmund Burke. Not all history is bad. There are many good things that happened in the past that are worth remembering and celebrating.

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Fr. Robert Barron

Hercules, N.T. Wright, and the modern meta-narrative

On the first day of my recent vacation, I perused N.T. Wright’s latest book, a collection of essays on contemporary issues in light of the Bible.

A point that Wright makes in a number of the articles is that modernity and Christianity propose fundamentally different meta-narratives in regard to the meaning and trajectory of history.

The emergence of modernity

Modernity — at least in its Western form– is predicated on the assumption that history came to its climax in the mid- to late-18th century, with the definitive victory of empirical science in the epistemological arena and liberal democracy in the political arena.

Basic to this telling of the story is that modernity emerged victorious after a long twilight struggle against the forces of obscurantism and tyranny. The matrix for these negative states of affairs was none other than the Christian religion, which enforced a blind dogmatism on the one hand and an oppressive political arrangement on the other.

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Tom Grenchik

The high cost of conscience

At the end of the liturgical year, the Mass readings tell dramatic stories from the Books of Maccabees of simple folks standing courageously for their faith in the face of torture and death. Their exemplary witness can strengthen us as we defend our conscience rights and religious liberty which are under attack today.

In second century B.C., a conquering king was intent on suppressing Judaism in Palestine. He issued a decree that his whole kingdom should all be one people, each abandoning his particular customs and religious laws and observances. Whoever refused to comply would be killed.

Though large numbers did comply, we’re told that many in Israel “preferred to die rather than be defiled with unclean food or to profane the holy covenant; and they did die. Terrible affliction was upon Israel” (Maccabees 1:63).

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Audrey Mettel Fixmer

Tracing ancestors makes history come alive

grand mom

Must we live through a lot of history before we love history? Must we be an antique before we appreciate antiques?

My fascination with ancestors just took off this year when Janine, my daughter-in-law, discovered a Luxembourg Museum in her Wisconsin territory. For Christmas she and my son John bought me a year’s membership and took me for a visit soon after. What an exciting adventure!

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