Editor’s note: Cathy Lins and Marie Lins will be providing coverage of the visit of Pope Francis for the Catholic Herald (print paper, website (www.madisoncatholicherald.org), Facebook, and Twitter), in addition to coverage provided by Catholic News Service.
Tag: Pope Francis
What God has joined together, no man must separate
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| This column is the bishop’s communication with the faithful of the Diocese of Madison. Any wider circulation reaches beyond the intention of the bishop. |
Dear friends,
Marriage matters. Marriage matters on all levels. Marriage matters to the men and women joined together in it, to children, to families, to communities, to our nation, and to the Church. Marriage is foundational to the stability of humankind, to the health and welfare of nations, and to our future.
All of that can be stated without recourse to theology, Sacred Scripture, or to 2,000 years of Church teaching. The fact that marriage matters has been known by human beings since before Jesus Christ was born.
It’s been known since the very beginning, because it is inscribed on the hearts of rational man and woman. Not only can the natural reproductive function of human anatomy be clearly seen, but the natural benefits of a stable, fundamental unit of society, made up of father, mother, and child, can be immediately realized.
God’s plan for marriage
Beyond that, however, we as Christians believe that, in His love for humanity, God has revealed his plan for marriage time and time again. From the creation of Adam and Eve, through the giving of “the law” as recorded in the Hebrew Scriptures, to the creation of a “new law,” in Jesus’ words to the Pharisees, to the elevation of Holy Matrimony to an inviolable Sacrament, God Himself has made clear in extraordinary ways that marriage matters.
Since the time that there was a Church (and before), marriage has been between one man and one woman, for one lifetime, with openness to children. It is for this reason (particularly in defense of the marriage bond) that St. John the Baptist, St. Thomas More, and so many others spoke truth to power at the expense of their own lives; it is for this reason (particularly in defense of the fruitfulness of marriage) that Blessed Pope Paul VI made clear, in the face of much dissent, that human procreation must not be stymied by artificial means of birth control; and it is for this reason in our own day (particularly in defense of the reality of marriage between one man and one woman), that the Church and her faithful have taken such abuse for saying (with love) that there is no such thing as “gay marriage.”
Putting a human face on the refugee crisis
One of the saddest pictures I’ve seen recently is that of a three-year-old Syrian boy lying on a Turkish beach. He looks like he’s sleeping with his head turned to one side. But he isn’t asleep; he’s dead.
Catholic News Service, to which the Catholic Herald subscribes, ran the picture of the little boy. However, I decided not to use that picture with this article (I felt it was too disturbing). Instead, I have included another sad picture: one of the boy’s father weeping. Abdullah Kurdi, father of three-year old Aylan Kurdi, is shown crying as he leaves a morgue in Turkey September 3.
The family of Aylan, the Syrian toddler whose body washed up on a Turkish beach, had been trying to emigrate to Canada after fleeing the war-torn town of Kobani.
Papal visit and World Meeting of Families blog
Cathy Lins and Marie Lins from the Diocese of Madison report on their trip to the papal visit in the United States and the World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia.
Dynamic Catholics can change the world
Ever since the early days of our country, Catholics have been making a tremendous impact on our society.
We do so much in our communities: feeding the hungry, giving clothing to those in need, educating children and adults, caring for the sick in hospitals and care facilities, and visiting people in prison. The list is endless.
But did you know that most of these things are being done by only about seven percent of Catholics in our country? That’s what Matthew Kelly asserts in his book, The Four Signs of a Dynamic Catholic.
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.
Improve social, physical environment, says pope
To the editor:
I enjoyed the July 2 Catholic Herald articles about Pope Francis’ encyclical, Laudato Si’, on Care for Our Common Home.
Since becoming pope, Francis has continued the concern for the environment that St. Francis of Assisi, St. John Paul II, and Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI shared.
He has connected the physical environment crisis with the social environment crisis. Improving the physical environment begins by improving the social environment.
Pope Francis inspires us to care for prisoners
Since he has been our Holy Father, Pope Francis has been spending time in prisons.
Not only does he visit prisoners in Rome, but he also puts visits to prisons on his itinerary for trips outside of Rome. When he comes to the United States in September, he will stop at a prison in Philadelphia.
When he was the archbishop of Buenos Aires, he made a point of spending time with prisoners. Even as pope, he continues to make a phone call every other Saturday to inmates he used to visit in Buenos Aires.
Pope ties ecological justice to social justice
To the editor:
In reading through Pope Francis’ most recent encyclical, he reminds us that by hurting God’s creation, we are also hurting ourselves. We are causing pain to the poor and most vulnerable among us. We are damaging all life on this planet, including our own.
I was struck by the ways Pope Francis ties ecological justice to social justice, urging us “to hear both the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor.” These cries are inextricably linked, though some try to frame them in opposition to one another.
Will we answer pope’s call to action?
To the editor:
I would like to express my gratitude to Pope Francis for writing his encyclical, Laudato Si’. He inspires us all to act on our calling to care for the gifts of God’s creation.
In 2001, the U.S. Catholic bishops said, “global climate change is not about . . . partisan advantage or interest group pressures. It is about the future of God’s creation and the one human family. . . ” Pope Francis’ encyclical endorses this and moves the climate change conversation beyond politics to the moral realm where it belongs.