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	News Briefs: Oregon Lenten speaker series OREGON -- The Adult Faith Formation Committee of Holy Mother of Consolation Parish is offering a series of free Lenten speakers. The lectures will be held from 6 to 7 p.m. and repeated from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. on Wednesdays, Feb. 13 through March 12, in the Rasmussen Room at Holy Mother of Consolation Parish, 651 N. Main St. • Wednesday, Feb. 13 - Sr. Stella Storch on "Who Is My Neighbor?" • Wednesday, Feb. 20 - Peter Laubach on "The Bible and Mental Health." • Wednesday, Feb. 27 - Sr. Mary Frost on "Wise As Serpents" • Wednesday, March 5 - Mary Kay Clark on "How Will They Know?" • Wednesday, March 12 - Marilynn Rebman on "Are You Hungry?" The speaker for February 13, Sr. Stella Storch, is currently the coordinator for Justice, Peace, Ecology for the Congregation of Sisters of St. Agnes (CSA). Sister Stella was a teacher and principal for 27 years, including nine years at Blessed Sacrament School in Madison. She networks with various groups including UNANIMA International, a United Nations non-governmental organization; the Interfaith Center for Corporate Responsibility; and Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice. Mount Horeb to host parish mission MOUNT HOREB -- Three parishes are sponsoring a mission to be held Sunday, Feb. 9, through Thursday, Feb. 14, at St. Ignatius Parish here. Sponsoring parishes are St. Ignatius; St. Mary Parish, Pine Bluff; and Holy Redeemer Parish, Perry. Fr. Chris Crotty, a member of the Congregation of the Fathers of Mercy and retreat director, will preach at St. Mary Parish at 4 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 9, and 8:30 a.m. on Sunday, Feb. 10; at St. Ignatius Parish at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 9, and at 10:30 a.m. on Sunday, Feb. 10. Father Crotty will be preaching and hearing confessions at 9 a.m. at St. Ignatius on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, Feb. 11 to 13. Evening sessions will begin at 7 p.m. each evening Sunday, Feb. 10, through Thursday, Feb. 14, at St. Ignatius Church, followed by a small social. The Healing Presence of the Holy Spirit is the theme of the mission. On Thursday, Feb. 14, there will be a healing Mass followed by a reception. For more information on Father Crotty, visit www.mercyhealing.com Lenten Taize Prayer Service at Sinsinawa SINSINAWA -- The Sinsinawa Dominican Sisters invite people to join them for a Lenten Taize Prayer Service, "Standing at the Foot of the Cross," Mondays at 7 p.m., Feb. 11, 18, 25, and March 3. Through the simple, meditative prayer chants of Taize music, participants will be drawn into a deeper prayer experience. Join the Sisters at Sinsinawa Mound in this ecumenical communal prayer. Contact Sr. Mary Ellen Winston for more information at 608-748-4411, ext. 843, or visit www.sinsinawa.org Sinsinawa Mound, the Motherhouse for the Sinsinawa Dominican Sisters, is located in southwest Wisconsin on Cty. Rd. Z, off Hwy. 11, about five miles northeast of Dubuque. Jail/Prison Ministry MADISON -- "Criminal Justice in Wisconsin: Effective Strategies for Change" a continuation of the "2007 Forum on Wisconsin's Correctional Future," will be held at Edgewood College on Saturday, Feb. 23, from 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at the Anderson Auditorium. There is no pre-registration or fee. Contact Sr. Esther Heffernan at 608-663-2218 or heffern@edgewood.edu if planning to attend the entire program. Portage blood drive PORTAGE -- A Portage community blood drive will be held at Divine Savior Healthcare, 2817 New Pinery Rd., here on Friday, Feb. 1, from 12 noon to 5 p.m. Walk-ins are welcome. For an appointment, call 1-888-310-7555. Nominate someone for a profile Do you know a person to nominate for a profile? This could be someone in a paid or volunteer position in the Catholic Church. It could be someone working outside the Church who lives his or her faith in ordinary or extraordinary ways in daily life. Send nominations with information about the nominee to: Catholic Herald, 702 S. High Point Rd., Madison, WI 53719, or e-mail info@madisoncatholicherald.org

Catholic Conference opposes assisted suicide bill

MADISON -- Arguing that physician assisted suicide involves the taking of human life and weakens rather than strengthens the bonds of human solidarity, the Wisconsin Catholic Conference (WCC) testified in opposition to a proposal to permit physician assisted suicide in Wisconsin.

	Related article: • Editorial -- Oppose assisted suicide bill

Senate Bill 151 would require that an attending physician satisfy a patient's request for medication to end his or her life so long as that patient meets certain statutory requirements and submits a written request for the medication.

Associate Director for Respect Life and Social Concerns, Barbara Sella, presented the WCC's testimony at a January 23 hearing before the Senate Committee on Public Health, Senior Issues, Long Term Care, and Privacy.

"Assisted suicide raises questions that are profoundly personal and heart wrenching. Yet, it is in these very moments that we are most in need of principles to guide our choices and to define the limits of our actions," Sella testified.

'Human life is sacred'

"The first of these principles is that human life is sacred, a gift with which we are endowed by God. Hence, it is inalienable," she argued. "This is not merely a 'Catholic' proposition, nor a uniquely Christian one. It is, rather, a 'self-evident' proposition, recognized as such by the founders and reaffirmed by Lincoln at Gettysburg when he dedicated the nation to a new birth of freedom, but a freedom under God's providence."

"The second principle is that human life is social. We humans, by our nature, are bound to each other. Any decision that violates basic rights or that devalues life affects other types of behavior and other choices. Such decisions are never a purely private matter or choice."

Sella's testimony also refuted the argument by supporters of assisted suicide that what is at stake is freedom of choice.

"Human freedom and personal choice are not absolute values or rights. . . . The law places some limits on freedom and choice in the interest of protecting human life and dignity," she testified.

"If our law does not recognize a person's choice to become a prostitute or a slave, how can it permit her to use the argument of freedom in order to be killed? Personal freedom and choice cannot trump the inalienable right to life."

Precedents and clarification

As an example of where this type of legislation can lead, Sella cited the widespread use of euthanasia in the Netherlands. "Doctors have assisted not just the terminally ill to die, but those who are completely symptom free, those who are severely depressed, and those who have not voluntarily consented to ending their lives. Furthermore, since the publication of the Netherlands' Groningen Protocol in 2004, the Dutch permit doctors to euthanize newborns born with serious disabilities, like severe spina bifida."

"It does not follow, however, that a terminally ill patient is obligated to accept or employ every means of treatment just to stay alive," she clarified. "Catholic moral teaching makes a clear distinction between ordinary and extraordinary means of care, between accepting death and choosing to cause it.

"Catholic medical ethics permits the use of powerful painkillers even when they may have the unintended side effect of shortening a patient's life."

Sella concluded her testimony by stressing that the proper response to those who are nearing death is love and solidarity. "As individuals and as a society, we can and must comfort dying persons and reassure them that we value their continued presence. We can and must tell them that their dependency does not diminish their inherent dignity. We can and must affirm that their lives still matter."

The committee took no action on the bill after the hearing.

For more information, contact Barbara Sella at 608-257-0004.

Respect Life Events

Madison vigil-goers brave bitter cold

MADISON -- It was the 35th anniversary of Roe vs. Wade at 5:30 p.m.

	Respect Life Events: • Pro-life movement strong for youth • Front page -- Marchers' comments

Outside the Planned Parenthood abortion clinic in Madison, the temperature read five degrees and the windchill was 15 below. Yet 45 prayer warriors, both young and old - from five to 80 years old - met to pray for an end to abortion.

With the prayerful leadership of Fr. Eric Nielsen, pastor of St. Paul's University Catholic Center in Madison, and Fr. Eric Sternberg, parochial vicar of St. John the Baptist Parish, Waunakee, the group also prayed for greater unity of pro-life efforts here in the Diocese of Madison.

Vigil-goer Curtis Jacobsen, Madison, shared an observation he had made: "Something I found interesting while praying there on Tuesday was that while most of the candles could not remain lit in the wind; there was one group near me that was able to keep their candle going. The glow on their faces from the gleaming candle light seemed to give the false appearance of warmth and comfort to them.

"I could tell by the look on their faces however, that they were just as cold as everyone else out there," he said. "I thought it was a good analogy to how today's society likes to give the false appearance that abortion will provide comfort to those women who it seems are faced with only 'cold' choices."

Pro-life movement strong for youth

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The March for Life has long been the most visible event within the pro-life movement, with a wide range of people from around the nation traveling each year to register their vocal support of the defenseless and unborn.

	Respect Life Events: • Madison vigil-goers brave bitter cold • Front page -- Marchers' comments

But for a group of young men studying for the priesthood, the Vigil Mass held the night before in D.C.'s Basilica of the Immaculate Conception left the greatest impression.

"Attending the Vigil Mass showed me that the pro-life movement is deeply rooted in our Catholic belief," said seminarian Chris Barkhausen, studying at St. Andrew College Seminary for the Diocese of Paterson, N.J. "It made our work in Washington into a religious experience."

The Vigil Mass for Life, held each year on the night preceding the anniversary of the Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion in the United States, has become the largest Mass in the United States. Six cardinals, with more than 30 bishops and over 800 priests and seminarians, participated in the Mass. Over 8,000 people, mainly youth, filled every available pew, aisle, and side chapel, with many more finding space in the crypt church and in the halls.

"It was absolutely overwhelming to process down the aisle and see all the people," remarked Ed Kennedy, seminarian from the Diocese of Camden, N.J. "But to see that many young people was even more moving. It just proves that the strongest movement in the Church right now is the youth."

This vitality in the Church was acknowledged the next day at a Youth Rally for Life by Pope Benedict XVI. In a prepared message read by apostolic nuncio Archbishop Pietro Sambi, the Holy Father said that he saw "a radiant sign of hope for the future," in the young Catholics, present in numbers upwards of 25,000 in the Verizon Center arena.

And just like the pope, the seminarians were struck in a deeper way by the witness of faith. "It really helped to reinforce my call to the priesthood," said Kennedy.