Year: 2014

On
Kevin Wondrash, Catholic Herald Staff

St. Thérèse Lecture answers, ‘Who is Pope Francis?’

Alejandro Bermúdez, the speaker at this fall’s St. Thérèse of Lisieux Lecture at the Bishop O’Connor Center in Madison, speaks on “Who is Pope Francis? What is his mind?” on September 19. Bermúdez is the director of ACI-Prensa, the world’s largest Catholic news agency in Spanish, as well as the executive director of Catholic News Agency. (Catholic Herald photos/Kevin Wondrash)

MADISON — On a near-autumn Friday evening in Madison, hundreds of people arrived at the Bishop O’Connor Center’s auditorium to learn more about current successor to St. Peter — Pope Francis.

It was the second of 2014’s St. Thérèse Lectures presented by the Office of Evangelization and Catechesis of the Diocese of Madison.

The topic on September 19 was “Who is Pope Francis? What is his mind?” The speaker was Alejandro Bermúdez, director of ACI-Prensa, the world’s largest Catholic news agency in Spanish, as well as the executive director of Catholic News Agency and the Portuguese agency ACI digital.

Bermúdez, who spent part of his life in Argentina, met and interviewed Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio (now Pope Francis) on several occasions. Bermúdez recently compiled a book of interviews regarding Pope Francis shortly after his election titled Pope Francis: Our Brother, Our Friend: Personal Recollections about the Man Who Became Pope, which has since been adapted into a show on EWTN.

As Bermúdez began his talk, he said Pope Francis is the next pope in a streak of “incredibly virtuous human beings at the head of the Catholic Church.”

Bermúdez outlined what he called “three crucial factors” to understanding Pope Francis: his background as an Argentinian, his background as a Jesuit, and understanding his intellectual mentors.

Pope Francis as an Argentinian

Bermúdez said Argentina has a major Catholic culture with a great number of Catholic theologians and writers. He said this creates of culture of “very lively debates” among Catholics.

Read More
On
Denis Downey, La Crosse Catholic Times Staff

La Crosse couple presenters at synod

MENOMONIE — Alice and Jeff Heinzen will not only be serving as auditors for the upcoming Extraordinary Synod on the Family that Pope Francis has called for October 5 to 19 at the Vatican but also they will make a presentation before the general assembly at the historic event.

In their main role as one of 14 married couples from around the world selected to serve as auditors for the synod, the Heinzens will observe all of the general assembly sessions and participate in group discussions with the English-speaking delegates.

Read More
On
Mary C. Uhler, Catholic Herald Staff

Masterpieces of God’s creation: Every life deserves respect, including children with Down syndrome

respect life poster

Perhaps one of the saddest things I’ve heard in recent memory is what atheist Richard Dawkins said about children with Down syndrome.

On Twitter in August, Dawkins said that an unborn baby with Down syndrome should be aborted and that it would be “immoral to bring it into the world.”

Dawkins was debating this issue with some of his one million Twitter followers. When one of his followers tweeted, “I honestly don’t know what I would do if I were pregnant with a kid with Down’s syndrome. Real ethical dilemma,” Dawkins replied, “Abort it and try again. It would be immoral to bring it into the world if you have the choice.”

I first heard about Dawkins’ remarks on Facebook from someone I know who has a son with Down syndrome. She was horrified by what Dawkins said, since her son is a wonderful person and an important part of her family.

After delving into this matter further, I found some information about Down syndrome and what has been happening with the screening of pregnant women. I feel more people should be aware of these issues and talk about them with their family members and friends.

Read More
On
Fr. Robert Barron

Parable of the talents revisited

The attendance at our Mass at Mundelein Seminary on Labor Day weekend was sparse. Many of the students had gone home while others were on a special tour of Chicago churches.

The celebrant and preacher for the Sunday Mass was Fr. Robert Schoenstene, our veteran Old Testament professor. Father Schoenstene offered the best interpretation I’ve ever heard of a particularly puzzling parable of the Lord, and I wanted to make sure his reading got a wider audience.

Rich man gives talents to servants

The parable in question is the one concerning the rich man who gives talents to three of his servants and then sets out on a journey. Upon his return, he assesses the situation and discovers that the servant to whom he had given five talents had invested them fruitfully and that the servant to whom he had given three talents had done the same.

Read More
On
George Weigel

Wanted: A synod of affirmation

Pope Francis has called a special session of the Synod of Bishops, which will meet from October 5 to 19 and prepare the agenda for the ordinary session of the synod that is scheduled for the fall of 2015; both sessions will focus on the family.

In my view, the synod should focus on two related themes: marriage culture is in crisis throughout the world; the answer to that crisis is the Christian view of marriage as a covenant between man and woman in a communion of love, fidelity, and fruitfulness.

To focus the conversation elsewhere is to ignore a hard fact and a great opportunity.

Collapse of marriage culture

The collapse of marriage culture throughout the world is indisputable. More and more marriages end in divorce, even as increasing numbers of couples simply ignore marriage, cohabit, and procreate.

Read More