Editorial

The church in every age continues the work begun on the day of Pentecost. On that day, the Apostles - empowered by the Holy Spirit - went forth into the streets of Jerusalem to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ in many tongues.

Since then, Christians have taken the message of the Gospel to the far corners of the earth. Missionaries learned to speak in diverse languages as they preached the Gospel to every nation.

The Gospel message was spread by word and on hand-written parchment. With the invention of the printing press, the Gospels reached even more people. Then came radio and television.

Internet is new forum. More recently the Internet is a new "forum," understood in the ancient Roman sense of that public space. Pope John Paul II discussed the "Internet: A New Forum for Proclaiming the Gospel" in his World Communications Day message in 2002.

He called cyberspace a "new frontier opening up at the beginning of this new millennium." Like the new frontiers of other times, this one, too, is full of both danger and promise, the Holy Father pointed out. There is certainly a sense of adventure as we explore the Internet.

For the Catholic Church, the new world of cyberspace is a summons to use its potential to proclaim the Gospel message. "The church approaches this new medium with realism and confidence," said Pope John Paul II. "Like other communications media, it is a means, not an end in itself."

The Internet can offer magnificent opportunities for evangelization if used with competence and a clear awareness of its strengths and weaknesses, he cautioned. By providing information and stirring interest, it makes possible an initial encounter with the Christian message, especially among the young. It is important that the church community think of very practical ways of providing solid information, education, and catechesis for those "surfing the Net" for spiritual enrichment.

Catholic Herald on the Web. The Catholic Herald here in the Diocese of Madison has taken Pope John Paul II's words to heart. With the able assistance of our Webmaster, Chris Lee, we started our Web site (www.madisoncatholicherald.org) in October of 2001. Since then we have continued to provide new features on our Web site to complement the print edition of our paper.

Last year we launched a local Youth Page on our Web site. In addition, we began carrying Faith Alive! on our online Spirituality Page. This provides articles on faith topics of interest to Catholics today.

Last week we started a new National/International news page on our Web site. Readers of the Catholic Herald online can now obtain the latest national and international headlines, stories, and news briefs from Catholic News Service all day, everyday, directly on our Web site.

Each day a new story, headlines, and news briefs will be added to the Catholic Herald Web site. To view the latest news, go to www.madisoncatholicherald.org and click on the National/World button on the left side of the Web page.

Catholic News Service - operated by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops - is the oldest and largest religious news service in the world. It is a leading source of news for Catholic print and electronic media across the globe.

Of course, we will continue to publish the most important national and international news articles in our print edition. But we invite our readers to keep up on the breaking news by going to our Web site. You will get solid Catholic teaching and news to help you proclaim the Gospel in the 21st Century.

Mary C. Uhler, editor

Mailbag

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There was court filibuster in 1968

To the editor:

In the July 28 Herald, Fr. Frank Pavone of Priests for Life made an impassioned plea for Catholics to support John Roberts for the U.S. Supreme Court.

While Father Pavone is to be commended for his pro-life zeal, his grasp of the facts is less commendable. In particular, it is simply not the case that this would be "the first time in history" that a minority of senators has prevented an up-or-down vote on a Supreme Court nominee.

That distinction goes to a 1968 filibuster by Senate Republicans against Abe Fortas, who had been nominated as chief justice by Lyndon Johnson. There will only be a "Constitutional crisis" over the issue if the Republicans turn it into one (as the Democrats of 1968, to their credit, did not) by crushing the rights of the minority party in violation of the Senate's own rules.

Father Pavone is also jumping to an unwarranted conclusion if he believes that Judge Roberts will vote to overturn Roe once he is on the Supreme Court. Roberts has stated quite clearly that he considers Roe to be "the settled law of the land." I take Judge Roberts at his word on this. Father Pavone should, too.

James Roger Black, Madison