Editorial

Having visited New Orleans several times, I was deeply saddened by the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina in that lovely historic city.

It is such a tragedy! It will take years to rebuild New Orleans. It will never be the same again. The longterm effects of Hurricane Katrina will be seen far into the future.

	More on Hurricane Katrina: • National/World News page • Prayer for victims of Hurricane Katrina • St. Vincent de Paul to aid those impacted by hurricane • Bishop Morlino authorizes special collection for Hurricane Katrina victims (posted 9/1/2005; updated 9/6/2005)

Dane County felt the impact of a destructive tornado recently, especially in the Stoughton area. Bad as that was, we were fortunate to have only one life lost in Stoughton.

There have been news reports of looting and crime in the New Orleans area. I can understand people's need for food and water, but stealing things like televisions and guitars is totally unacceptable. The looters should be ashamed of their behavior at a time when so many people need help.

Many reaching out to help. The good news - and I hope the media report more of this - is that many, many people are coming to the aid of people in need. In Stoughton, many volunteers have come forward to help the tornado victims.

As Catholic Herald reporter Julianne Nornberg reveals in her story on Page 2 of this week's paper [online here], the members of St. Ann Parish in Stoughton have jumped in to help their neighbors. The parish has set up an "adopt-a-family" system with families paired up with a tornado victim family. Volunteers are helping their adopted family find housing, clean up their property, and obtain meals.

"It's just amazing how people are helping each other," said Karin Yelk, a parishioner whose home was damaged by the tornado. "Everyone is working together." Parish secretary Connie Weiss commented, "To me this is what being God's hands and feet on earth are about."

Amen to that. We are indeed our brothers' and sisters' keepers and should help each other in times of crisis.

Perhaps our federal government could learn some lessons from the people of Stoughton. How about cities adopting other cities in the disaster areas and providing help? We have "sister city" arrangements with cities in foreign countries. Perhaps we should organize the same system right here in our own country.

Providing financial assistance. Of course, all of us can help provide financial assistance to people suffering from the effects of the tornado and hurricane. Bishop Robert C. Morlino authorized a collection that was taken up in Catholic parishes last weekend. Our parishes are still accepting donations, which will be sent to Catholic Charities USA. The Society of St. Vincent de Paul is also working with victims of the local tornado.

Besides our help and donations, all of us can offer prayers for the victims of these disasters. As Bishop Morlino said, "Please keep the tornado and hurricane victims, and the relief workers at Catholic Charities in your prayers as they work to relieve the suffering of men, women, and especially the children who have lost and suffered so much."

It is difficult to understand how such tragedies can occur. Perhaps we must do more to prepare for disasters - that is a discussion for the future.

But for now, we must reach out to help those in need in our own communities, in our country, and in other parts of the world. We are indeed brothers and sisters with God as our Father. Let us show our love for our human family in concrete ways.

Mary C. Uhler

Mailbag

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Solidarity is not promoted

To the editor:

While I affirm the notion that "solidarity" (humans being bound by a common concern for one another's welfare) is socially virtuous, I don't share John Huebscher's view that our Social Security program exemplifies this principle. On the contrary, I consider this program a particularly poor example of solidarity and many other civic virtues.

Huebscher states that nearly all workers, regardless of their wealth, contribute to Social Security. The program is indeed effective at taking money from all workers, including those with modest incomes. The regressive 12.4 percent payroll tax paid (not including Medicaid taxes) is a sum that exceeds all other federal taxation for many lower paid workers. Although Huebscher points out that many recipients of social security payments are poor, the fact remains that many more are not. Social Security may reduce poverty among the elderly but only by increasing poverty among groups that, as an age cohort, have less wealth and are performing the indispensable societal task of raising children.

Supporters will be quick to counter that Social Security isn't meant to be an anti-poverty program. Because everyone participates, they counter, we get greater "buy-in" than we would if the program's benefits were limited to the poor. Perhaps this is the "solidarity" to which Huebscher alludes.

A glimpse at the current debate about Social Security should prompt skepticism. As a result of the steep decline in the ratio of workers to retirees (16:1 in 1960 to around 3:1 today), the program faces critical funding shortages in providing its current benefits to future generations. In order to keep the program fiscally secure for those who are supporting it now, wouldn't solidarity demand not only raising payroll taxes but also reducing benefits based on wealth and life expectancy? Instead, the dominant response to these suggestions is to "leave the program alone because it's not currently in crisis."

Translation: Let some future generations who will outlive me worry about this shortfall but keep my benefits intact. So much for solidarity.

Roger A. Chylla, Verona

On Natural Family Planning

To the editor:

In reference to the article on Natural Family Planning published on page 7A in your insert on Catholic marriage [print edition only]: Thank you for publishing an informative introductory article on Natural Family Planning (NFP). It is my sincere hope that an increasing number of American Catholic married couples will turn away from abortifacient forms of contraception like "the pill," which are so regrettably common today. NFP offers a unique method to couples interested in regulating their family size while preserving the unitive and conjugal aspects of their marriage.

However, I must take issue with the statement in the article that NFP is "not a contraceptive," and that is does "nothing" to prevent conception. According to Webster's dictionary, a "contraceptive" is anything which "deliberately interferes with conception or impregnation." Anyone with common sense can readily see that NFP is used most often to quite deliberately interfere with the likelihood of conception.

According to the 1994 Catechism, NFP offers couples methods that "respect the bodies of the spouses, encourage tenderness between them, and favor the education of an authentic freedom" (2370). The more open and honest we are in referring to NFP as what it is (a morally acceptable form of contraception), the higher the chance that more married couples will be moved to alter their reproductive choices in accordance with church teaching.

Dan Knauss, Madison