Editorial

Our culture today emphasizes youth, beauty, and wellness. We try to put off aging as long as possible by diet, exercise, drugs, and plastic surgery. We want to look as young as possible as long as possible.

And we do not want to talk about aging, let alone suffering and death. Many of us shy away from conversations about illness. We don't want to hear about it, just like we don't like to visit people in the hospital or go to funerals.

Yet, all of us must face our own death. Most of us will deal with the death of parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, even children and friends. Death is a reality of life which we can't avoid, no matter how hard we try.

Catholic beliefs. For Catholic believers, death is not the end of all life. It is the beginning of a new life. In this new life, we hope to see God face-to-face and perhaps be reunited with those who went before us.

So, for us Catholics, death and dying should not be something to fear. While most of us will not welcome it with open arms, we must be ready to accept it when it enters our lives or the lives of our loved ones.

At this time of year, we think about those who have died as we observe All Souls Day on Nov. 2, which falls on Cemetery Sunday this year. This is a day when Catholics are encouraged to visit cemeteries and pray for the dead.

Preparing for death. Perhaps one of the best ways to deal with the dying process is to prepare for it. This might include prayer and reflection, as well as reading on the subject. Of interest to Catholics are such church documents as the Wisconsin Catholic Conference's pastoral letter, Now and at the Hour of Our Death (issued in 2002) and Bishop William H. Bullock's pastoral letter, Health Care, Death, and Dying (reissued in 2000).

These documents recognize that advances in medical technology have created both opportunities and moral challenges for people today. They provide guidance for those facing serious illnesses and those seeking to prepare in advance for medical care.

The Catholic Church's consistent life ethic affirms the right to life for all persons from the moment of conception to the moment of natural death. Everyone has a duty to care for his or her own life and health and to seek necessary medical care, but this does not mean that all possible remedies must be used in all circumstances. The Catholic Church has long cautioned against the use of "extraordinary" or "disproportionate" means to prolong life when there is no reasonable hope of benefit to the terminally ill.

Respect life. Recent media coverage of Terri Schiavo, the disabled Florida woman whose feeding tube was ordered removed by a Florida court - and later reconnected by action of the state legislature and governor - should have prompted us to realize the importance of passing laws to protect the vulnerable. But it also underscores the need to have clear advance directives in health care so that family members know what to do when we are seriously ill.

I hope society will learn from the wisdom of Catholic teaching to value human life at all stages and treat the dying with dignity and respect. We can do our part by caring for those who are dying and remembering them after death in prayer, not only on All Souls Day but throughout the year.

Mary C. Uhler, editor

Mailbag

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To the editor:

I vividly recall a young girl who during a tour of our seminary's science lab discovered a fetus in a lab container. Joyfully she shouted to classmates, "Quick! Come, see the baby!" I marvel that this child recognized the fetus was a baby while some more educated persons cannot.

In a June issue of the Evangelist, the Albany, N.Y., diocesan newspaper, an editorial author's commented on Newsweek's June 9, 2003 issue whose cover story asks, "Should a Fetus Have Rights?" Then it notes, "How Science is Changing the Debate!" These headlines are accompanied by a photo of an unborn child and articles.

The editor writes that the cover story indicates abortion is losing ground. Because of scientific advances, as the unborn child is photographed in the womb, as surgeons operate on unborn babies, and as DNA reveals our uniqueness, it becomes difficult to support abortion. When they post their unborn's picture on the refrigerator, more parents realize they cannot abort their baby whom they have named.

During October's Respect Life Month, may science help more parents echo the girl's words, "It's a baby!" and choose life for their unborn boy or girl who can't yet choose.

Fr. Don Lange, Ridgeway

Free trade brings suffering to poor

To the editor:

The self sacrifice of South Korean farmer Lee Kyung Hae brought World Trade Organization talks in Cancun to the attention of many. His last words, that WTO-driven economic globalization is inhumane, undemocratic, and environmentally distorting, are of great import. Since NAFTA began in 1994, thousands of Americans have lost their jobs, just as thousands have fled hopeless conditions in their homeland to enter the U.S. as immigrants. The WTO tightens its control over the world economy by dismantling democracy, sovereignty, and sustainability as trade barriers. Similarly, the upcoming Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) will impose more hardship on the poor of Latin America.

The U.S. Bishops in their 1986 pastoral letter, Economic Justice for All (EJFA), provide a Christian vision for a just economy. The conviction that God has destined creation for a kingdom of love gives hope. The poor of the world are crying out for reform of an unbalanced system. American Catholics are encouraged to play a large role in that reform.

Fr. David Wanish, Madison

Abortion is a backward step

To the editor:

When Pope John Paul I was Archbishop Luciani of Venice, he wrote in a letter to Carlo Goldoni, a statement that is very appropriate for pro-life during October: "In many cases abortion, rather than liberating the woman, actually liberates her partner, whether her husband or not, from annoyance and inconvenience, allowing him to give free rein to his sexual desires, without assuming the duties that go along with them. It is a backward step, rather than a forward one, for women in regard to men."

Abortion liberates the man, not the woman. He walks free, she lives with memories, wanted or not.

Magdalene Sippel, Waterloo

Awaiting correction of sex abuse

To the editor:

I quote a statement, third paragraph under headline, "Protecting children: Diocese of Madison implements sex abuse prevention" in the Catholic Herald, Oct. 16 issue: "In the last year and a half the church has been dealing with the terrible revelation of sexual abuse of minors by clergy." In this statement is the essence of the scandal and which has not been completely addressed. To the past authorities, and to some extent present authorities, the problem as stated is terrible revelation, not terrible abuse. We are awaiting acknowledgement, recognition, and correction of the problem.

Karl Anderson, Lake Mills