He is with us:

		Notes from the  Vicar General  Msgr. Paul J. Swain

We live in troubled times. As a result, many of us have become a little grumpy.

The nation remains at war without boundaries and the worry of the unknown lingers. Moral relativism, which places self above the common good, has infected corporations, legislative bodies, the media, and some in the church.

The tragedy of sexual abuse of minors by a few priests, and its handling, casts a shadow and weighs on priests who serve sacrificially and well.

Walk with the Lord

Walking with our Lord during Holy Week liturgies can help bring perspective.

Pope Paul VI wrote, "If we are really Christians we must share in the Lord's passion, and we must bear our cross daily in the footsteps of Jesus. The crucified Christ is the example.

"Jesus suffers for us. He pays a price for us. He is victim. He shares the physical evils of man to cure him from moral evil, to cancel in Himself our sins. Sorrow which in the natural world is an isolated thing, for Jesus is a point of encounter, a communion.

"Will you think on it, brothers? You may lack all things, but not Jesus on the Cross. He is with you. He is with you." Will we think on it this Holy Week?

We begin with Passion Sunday when palms are blessed, signifying Jesus' triumphant arrival in Jerusalem. Then the Passion is read, this year from the Gospel of Mark, which reminds us that some of those singing his praise on Sunday would call for his crucifixion on Friday. How steady is our faith, especially in a culture that often mocks our beliefs?

Thursday evening we celebrate the Mass of the Lord's Supper. The priest may wash the feet of some, just as Jesus washed the feet of the Apostles. By his words and his actions, he gave us the example of servant discipleship. He instituted the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist which can sustain us.

The Blessed Sacrament is carried in procession and set in a prominent place for adoration. How well do we receive Christ in the Eucharist. How willing are we to serve?

This Holy Week

On Good Friday, we celebrate the Lord's Passion by reading from the Gospel of John. We pray in intercession for the world in all its diversity. One by one those present come forward to venerate the cross by a kiss or other reverent action, acknowledging "by your holy cross you have redeemed the world." How often do we pray for others and acknowledge the sacrifice of Christ on the cross?

Saturday evening liturgy begins in darkness. The service of light moves us from the sadness of the cross to the joy of the resurrection. The Church welcomes new members.

It culminates in the Liturgy of the Eucharist prepared for us through the cross and resurrection. After this week, we might ask: is Easter one day on our calendar or an on going joy in our hearts?

There is much about which to be troubled. We yearn to be people of hope. Holy Week liturgies remind us that He is with us. Will you think on it?

Rethinking Supermax:

		Eye on the  Capitol  M. Colleen Wilson

During the heyday of tough on crime politics, the Wisconsin Legislature, at the behest of then-Governor Tommy Thompson, authorized the construction of the Supermax Correctional Institution.

Governor Thompson liked to say, and some legislators still do, that the state built Supermax to house the "worst of the worst," and to ensure that no inmate would receive any "perk" while behind bars.

Isolation policies

Built at a cost of almost $44 million, Supermax is designed to take the most violent and difficult offenders and separate them from the general prison population. The goal is changing unacceptable and inappropriate behaviors through the use of severe behavior controls, including extreme isolation.

The isolation policies at the institution engendered criticism from inmate advocates, mental health professionals, and some public policy makers. And now, those criticisms have resulted in significant responses from federal court, the Department of Corrections, and a powerful legislative committee.

Making changes

Federal Judge Barbara Crabb ruled late last year that the Department of Corrections had to move five seriously mentally ill inmates out of Supermax and ordered the state to stop housing mentally ill inmates there.

The Department of Corrections and attorneys for the inmate-plaintiffs housed at Supermax reached an agreement to settle the plaintiffs' lawsuit alleging that assignment to Supermax violated the U.S. Constitution guarantee against cruel and unusual punishment.

Judge Crabb accepted the settlement agreement on March 8 and several changes are underway at Supermax. Under the settlement agreement, inmates will spend more time out of their cell and will have access to a soon-to-be constructed outdoor recreation area and additional reading and religious material.

Prison officials will try to maintain cell temperatures of 68-72 degrees in the winter and fall and 80-84 degrees during summer months. Officials will install lower wattage cell lights that remain lit at night as a security measure.

Legislative attitudes

Perhaps the most interesting development in the Supermax story is an evolution in legislative attitudes about the institution. During budget adjustment deliberations, on a vote of 15-1, the Joint Committee on Finance approved inclusion of a proposal in their budget recommendation that directs the Department of Corrections and the Department of Administration to study the prospect of converting Supermax into a correctional facility that has supermax security-level beds and maximum-security level beds.

The action of the Joint Committee on Finance reflects a slow shift in perception about Supermax. There remains a sentiment in the Legislature that the isolation policies used at Supermax are necessary for some inmates.

But the Department of Corrections has not come close to filling the beds at Supermax and has been criticized for transferring inmates to Supermax simply to fill its 500 beds. There is a growing recognition that incarcerating inmates is not the most fiscally responsible response to crime.

Legislators from both parties seem frustrated with the amount of money that is needed to fund the Department of Corrections budget, money that is oftentimes seen as poorly spent when recidivism rates in the state are so high.

Locking inmates up and throwing away the key was a popular philosophy in Wisconsin for many years. Recent actions in the three branches of Wisconsin government acknowledge that the popular thing to do is not always the most responsible thing to do.

M. Colleen Wilson is associate director of the Wisconsin Catholic Conference.

Good old days?:

		Grand Mom  Audrey  Mettel Fixmer

Watching the Winter Olympics of 2002 triggered the memories of Margaret Stortz, a parishioner friend from St. Joseph Parish.

She recently shared with me her written account of some precious memories. She recalls her childhood in the 30s and 40s when her parish of St. John's in Jefferson became a social center of sorts with their ice-skating rink.

"In 1937," she writes, "A young local boy, Terrance Elgas, went through the ice and drowned while skating in Rock River. After that tragedy, the parish priest, Fr. Andrew Zingen from St. John's, and five area men conceived the idea of a skating rink on the church's dirt parking lot.

Birth of an ice rink

"Those five men: Eddie Lenz, Nippy Guttenburg, Frank Beck, and Joe Kemmeter, and my dad, Joe Peichl, all pulled together and made this a reality. The electric company put up a street light for night skating. The water utility put in a water hydrant for the water source, and the firemen loaned them an unused cloth fire hose."

Margaret enclosed a couple of yellowed photographs of these bold pioneers, laughing in their skates in one and nattily dressed in business suits in another, looking for all the world like they could take on the utility companies without any fears.

Doesn't this story sound like it could have been "Bells of St. Mary's Part II"? Can't you just see the young handsome Bing Crosby persuading the old pastor to give his permission and then talking the rest of the town into pitching in?

The upshot of all this would be the lovely young teenager (played by Sonja Henie, of course) becoming an Olympic figure skater, all because she got her start right there in Jefferson, Wis.

The twist would be that she would turn down the chance for fame in order to follow her true vocation . . . joining the convent. An ending that would have brought tears in the 40s, but jeers in the 21st century, I fear.

Age of lost innocence

Growing up, I always swore I would not be one of those old ladies that rhapsodized over "the good old days." Yet reading that account of the Jefferson ice rink gave me the overwhelming feeling of a lost innocence and purity of life.

It was a simpler time before television, before computers and cell phones and microwaves and mothers working outside the home. So Margaret Stortz could say with feeling, "The Petit Center it wasn't! However, growing up in the small town of Jefferson in the 30s and 40s, the ice rink was the place to be."

Above all, her story signaled another revolution in our times. Gone are the days we knew in our youth where the pastor was the benevolent shepherd of the flock, assisted by two or three vibrant young priests who coached the basketball teams, directed the choirs, took the kids on camping trips, taught religion classes in the parochial school, and showed up at all the ladies' meetings.

Today we are lucky to have one priest per parish and three Masses on weekends.

Unspoken, unknown

The recent Boston Archdiocese scandals have saddened Catholics everywhere. We cringe every time we hear another disclosure of a sick priest and weep for his victims. We find ourselves wishing we were back to those days when such things were unspoken, therefore unknown. Were we better off harboring secrets?

Recently one of my students writing her life story revealed the tragic experience she had as a victim of rape in the early '50s. She was 16, an only child of a prominent physician, whose mother always reminded her as she left the house, "Remember who you are."

When she found herself pregnant, she was hidden away, confined to her room, lonely and frightened, as her parents wove a web of lies about her. Then she was shipped off to another town to have her baby, and the baby whisked away from her without a glance.

All of this, as well as the adoption, was choreographed by a friend of her mother's, and the girl was made to swear that she would always deny the birth and never, ever ask about the child.

Eventually she found a loving husband and had two beautiful children. But never could she fill the void in her heart. Until . . . until her good husband set about to find the child, now a 46-year-old woman and grandmother. The reunion between my student and her long-lost daughter took place three years ago, and they have established a loving relationship at last.

Facing reality

Would we ever want to go back to those days? Would we want the victims of rape to feel ashamed and helpless and punished like that? I think not.

We are an enlightened world, still a sinful one, but with understanding of the fragile nature of our psyches. Hopefully, we will have compassion for victims and for those who suffer from the diseases of perversion as well.

They say, "The truth will set you free," but at a price . . . at a price.

"Grandmom" likes hearing from other senior citizens who enjoy aging at P.O. Box 216, Fort Atkinson, WI 53538.