Editorial

Overall, 56 percent of Americans say they are praying more following the Sept. 11th terrorist attacks (the Pew Research Center, December 2001).

On Sept. 11, I was in Dublin, Ireland. We American tourists were stunned to hear the news of the World Trade Center disaster. Numb with shock and grief, we turned to the media for answers first -- but almost immediately we also began to pray.

We prayed publicly in restaurants, stores, and churches. We prayed privately on our bus and in our hotel room. We prayed for the victims, family members, rescue workers, and even for the terrorists. Prayer seemed to be the only answer in our mixed-up world.

Hunger for spirituality. There is a powerful hunger today for spirituality in our lives, for guidance on how to cope with the increasingly more complex ethical and moral issues of our times: stem-cell research, cloning, crime and punishment, the death penalty, how to help the poor in an era of economic uncertainty, dealing with racial and cultural diversity.

In February we take time to celebrate Catholic Press Month across the United States and Canada. This year's theme is "Strengthening our Spirituality, Diversity, and Community."

Catholic magazines, books and newspapers, such as our own Catholic Herald, strive to fulfill these purposes by offering spiritual insights and providing readers with the information they need to deal with these complex issues.

Now on the Internet. Besides the Catholic Herald print edition, last October we launched the on-line version of our paper at www.madisoncatholicherald.org. It's amazing how many people have looked at our Web site from all over the world! (See Bishop William H. Bullock's column on page 3 for details.)

What are they seeking? Spirituality is the most popular page on our site. It features Fr. John Stillmank's column, "Word of God, Word of Life," a listing of daily Mass readings, and selected prayers from Pope John Paul II and Bishop Bullock.

Just as we receive "junk mail" at home, there is a lot of questionable material on the Internet. Our readers can trust the Catholic press to provide sound spirituality and solid Catholic teaching.

Continue reading The Catholic Herald cover to cover each week. Let us know what you would like to see in the paper -- both print and on-line versions -- to help strengthen your spirituality.

Mary C. Uhler, editor

Mailbag

To the editor:

	Mailbag policy We reserve the right to edit or reject letters. Limit letters to 200 words or less. All letters must be signed. Send letters to: Mailbag The Catholic Herald P.O. Box 44985 Madison, WI 53744-4985 Fax: 608-821-3071 E-mail: info@madisoncatholicherald.org

This letter is in response to the letter printed in the Feb. 14 Catholic Herald by Amy Rottier.

My husband and I have had five children and while they were young we attended separate Masses. When they were the ages of her children, we felt they would not understand what the Mass was all about. Also, as Amy is finding out, we would be so distracted we would not get the full value of attending Mass.

It's not fair of her and her husband to expect a two-year-old to sit still for that length of time and it is not fair to the people around them who have come to worship to have such distractions.

Judy Wightman, Beloit

Eleanor Roosevelt carried gun

To the editor:

I found Antoinette Bosco's article appearing in The Catholic Herald of Dec. 6, 2001, most interesting in her admiration of former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. With Antoinette's constant bias against gun ownership, she may not be aware that Mrs. Roosevelt always carried a revolver in her purse. Could it be possible our former first lady was a champion of our precious Second Amendment after all?

F.B.I. statistics tell us approximately two million times per year the "mere presence" of a firearm "prevented" a tragedy. One can assume few of those weapons were in a locked mode. Weigh those figures versus "isolated" tragedies we hear about.

F. Dormid, Madison