Tag: war

On
Fr. Donald Lange

Christmas peace: A gift for Jesus and the world

A few years ago playwright/director Peter Rothstein created a theatrical concert and musical radio drama entitled, All is Calm: The Christmas Truce of 1914. This theatrical concert dramatizes a remarkable incident of peace that happened during an unplanned truce during World War I, which some called the war to end all wars.

A Christmas truce

On Christmas Eve, at certain places along the front, German and British soldiers spontaneously sang Christmas carols. On Christmas day unarmed enemy soldiers met in no man’s land, and exchanged gifts of tobacco, rum, chocolate, and even family photographs. In one section they buried each other’s dead and played soccer.

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On
Sr. Margie Lavonis

Redemptive suffering is part of being a Christian

Cutting Edge by Sr. Margie Lavonis

It is not easy to block out the multiple cries of pain and suffering that permeate the world. It is almost deafening.

All one has to do is turn on the radio, read the newspaper, watch television, or go online. We are bombarded with news of pain and suffering, almost to the saturation point. I think of the people in Libya, Haiti, Japan, and others affected by war and natural disasters. It gives me an overwhelming feeling.

Good people suffer

A couple of years ago I attended several lectures on the martyrs of El Salvador who were killed during a civil war that took place there in the 1970’s and ’80s. Archbishop Oscar Romero, four women missionaries, and several Jesuits — only to name a few of hundreds of people — were brutally murdered because they spoke out against the intense suffering of the Salvadoran people and a system of government that perpetuated it.

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On
Msgr. Delbert Schmelzer

An ‘angel’ for the missions every day: Work and witness of Religious Sisters in the Developing World

Propagation of Faith by Msgr. Delbert Schmelzer

In our world today —perhaps in our own lives — there are times it seems that not too much “good news” exists.

We hear of war and natural disasters around the globe. At home, we may be afraid as we face a loved one’s illness, or financial difficulties.

In those moments, we call to mind the angel’s announcement that first Christmas, taking comfort in the message of God’s love, as it supports us every day through life’s challenges.

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On
Christopher Seyfert

Teaching condemns indiscriminate acts of war

To the editor:

I write in response to Don Skarda’s letter of September 16 and Ray McCool’s letter of October 7, both in support of the decision to use atomic weapons on Japan in World War II. During this Respect Life month of October, I feel I cannot let these sentiments pass unchallenged as they fly in the face of Catholic teaching.

Both letters make appeals to emotion but refuse to consider the issues of morality involved. I would like to make two points:

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On
Kat Wagner, Catholic Herald staff

Fr. Jason Hesseling reports on his experience as Army chaplain in Afghanistan

MADISON — The day Fr. Jason Hesseling, United States Army Chaplain, left Alaska for his posting in Afghanistan, he prayed the Liturgy of the Hours and read the passage: “When O Lord, will I come to the end of my pilgrimage and enter the presence of God!”

“Kind of funny to read that on that day,” he wrote in his newsletter to friends back home. “Not sure I would term my time in Alaska as a pilgrimage, and I certainly wouldn’t say that Afghanistan is the presence of God. But it did kind of put a good spin on the flight and the next 12 months of my life.”

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