Some people might say good things just can’t last, but thanks to a family-friendship bond created almost 47 years ago, the Apostolate to the Handicapped’s weekly TV Mass has remained on the air on WISC-TV Channel 3 in Madison for as many years.
Month: July 2014
What is Natural Family Planning?
Natural Family Planning (NFP) is an umbrella term for certain methods used to achieve and avoid pregnancies. These methods are based on observation of the naturally occurring signs and symptoms of the fertile and infertile phases of a woman’s menstrual cycle.
NFP is not “Rhythm.” The Rhythm (or Calendar) method was developed in the 1930s. It was based on the scientific theory that ovulation could be predicted by calculating previous menstrual cycles. This method was often inaccurate because it did not take account of the unique nature of each woman’s menstrual cycles.
Pro-life cross country walkers stop in Madison
MADISON — A group of eight young adults attended 6:30 a.m. Mass on a recent Monday morning at Our Lady Queen of Peace Church in Madison.
They were noticeably distinctive, wearing neon green T-shirts saying “PRO LIFE” in big letters.
The young men and women were one of three groups of pilgrims in the United States with Crossroads — an effort to walk across the country “To witness to the dignity and sanctity of every human life, especially the unborn,” according to its website.
Honor our Jewish roots
To the editor: […]
Prayer: It’s the FIRST thing we should do
Sometimes when we are facing problems and challenges in our lives, we try many alternatives to fix the problem or meet the challenge. When all our alternatives are seemingly exhausted, we finally turn to prayer.
We say to ourselves, “Well, I guess all I can do now is pray about it.” In effect, it’s our last resort.
Experiencing many tragedies
Recently our world has been experiencing many tragedies: conflicts between the Israelis and Palestinians, shooting down of the Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 in the Ukraine, Christians fleeing the city of Mosul in Iraq for fear of being killed by the Islamic State group . . . the list goes on.
In addition, many people have been killed and injured in weather-related disasters. People have been murdered in drive-by shootings and gang warfare in our own country.
What can we do in the midst of all these awful things happening around us? Pope Francis keeps reminding us to pray in the face of each disaster. But are we really listening to him and turning to prayer?
Superman, General Zod, and God
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I didn’t really care for the latest cinematic iteration of the Superman myth. Like way too many movies today, it was made for the generation that came of age with video games and MTV and their constant, irritatingly frenetic action.
When the CGI whiz-bang stuff kicks in, I just check out, and Man of Steel is about three-quarters whiz-bang.
Freedom vs. tyranny
However, there is a theme in this film that is worthy of some reflection, namely the tension between individual autonomy and a state-controlled society.
Man of Steel commences with a lengthy segment dealing with the closing days of the planet Krypton. We learn that a fiercely totalitarian regime, led by a General Zod, is seeking the arrest of a scientist called Jor-El.
Renegade researchers should trigger drawing long overdue ethical lines
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Producing human embryos in the laboratory for research purposes makes most people uneasy.
Even those who tolerate the creation of embryos in test tubes so that infertile couples might have children will often have reservations about the creation of embryos to serve as experimental research material or to destroy them for their cellular parts.
Creation of embryos for research
Twenty years ago, when a deeply divided government panel recommended allowing such research experiments on human embryos for the first time, even Bill Clinton summarily rejected the idea.
Two years later, Representative Nancy Pelosi concurred in the Congressional Record: “We should not be involved in the creation of embryos for research. I completely agree with my colleagues on that score.”
The proposal to engender human embryos by cloning has similarly drawn strong opposition from Americans for many years.
Making life pleasant with an attitude of gratitude
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I recently lived vicariously through a friend’s miserable experience caring for an elderly aunt.
Although my friend traveled more than 2,000 miles to care for her aunt following a surgery, she was treated like a servant by this grumpy old lady, who showed no gratitude for her niece’s sacrifice, even though back home those of us who know her well are aware of her outstanding homemaking and nursing skills.
We couldn’t wait for the two weeks to end and have her back home to her family where she is appreciated.
Caring for the elderly
This was an experience that touched my heart and made me think about the whole situation of the elderly and the caregiver.
Finding life in infertility
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We were one of those crazy couples. We wanted six or seven children (and still do!) when we were married.
Even though we didn’t have any money, we said “God will provide!” and did not use contraception or Natural Family Planning.
In fact, when we were dating, I remember having a conversation about children. Chris asked me, “How many children do you want? I was thinking six.”
“As many as God will give us!” I responded joyfully.
But, it has been almost 10 years, and we still do not have any children. I certainly did not think that when I said “as many as God will give us,” that that might be none.
FNE scouts do their ‘best,’ grow closer to God
MONONA — During […]