Next to voting, the most important way citizens can participate in government is to communicate their wishes to legislators.
In order to communicate most effectively with your legislators, it is necessary to know the issue under consideration. Many issues are very complex, both for legislators and the average citizen. If you want to influence the legislator, you must study the issues. An aware citizen can:
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| Bishop Robert C. Morlino receives candidate Kimberly Kazort during the Rite of Election and Call to Continuing Conversion at St. John the Baptist Church in Waunakee on March 13. (Catholic Herald photo/Kat Wagner) For more Rite of Election pictures click here. |
WAUNAKEE — Bishop Robert C. Morlino has often likened being a member of the Catholic Church to being on a battleship headed towards heaven. Unlike a cruise ship, the journey will be rough and will get stuck on the rock of Calvary before it gets there — but it will get a better reception when it does arrive.
Like the crew on the battleship — or the players on a team, as the bishop said at the Rite of Election and Call to Continuing Conversion March 13 at St. John the Baptist Church in Waunakee — it is important for Catholics to be unified in the fight.
The Rite of Election and Call to Continuing Conversion is an annual event traditionally held in the Diocese of Madison on the first Sunday of the Lenten season. It brings together the catechumens — those who are as yet unbaptized — and candidates — those baptized Christian and now seeking the Sacraments of Confirmation and the Eucharist in the Catholic Church — from parishes around the diocese. In ceremonies at their home parishes, they were sent forth to declare at the rite their intention of receiving the Sacraments of Initiation and full reception into the Church.
MADISON — Nationally known journalist and speaker Teresa Tomeo is coming to St. Maria Goretti Parish in Madison for the third and final event of the “rEVOLution of Love” speaker series for teens and their parents on Sunday, April 3, at 6 p.m.
MADISON — On Tuesday, March 29, from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m., Fr. Rick Heilman will speak at the Bishop O’Connor Center on the “Ancient Art of Fighting for Souls.”
Now that the governor has presented his state budget to the Legislature, fiscal issues and spending priorities will dominate the legislative agenda for the next several months.
First, the Joint Committee on Finance will hold hearings on the proposals. Then some of the standing committees may hold “subject matter” hearings on aspects of the budget related to their areas of expertise.
MADISON — Msgr. James Gunn, pastor of St. John the Baptist Parish in Waunakee, has been named Vicar for Priests of the Diocese of Madison by Bishop Robert C. Morlino.
To the editor:
I read the guest article in the Catholic Herald regarding the current labor situation in Wisconsin with deep disappointment.
The author clearly sought to undermine the Catholic moral principle of regard for the sanctity of labor and the right to form unions by selective use of quotations. The author suggests that Church doctrine does not encompass unions representing public workers, or unions that are politically active. This is simply not true.
To the editor:
On the topic of democracy, 50 years ago the Rev. John Courtney Murray, in his book We Hold These Truths, described majoritarianism as a kind of democratic tool shed in which the weapons of tyranny may be forged. We see this in the American political system, where you get both war and abortion, or usury and the normalization of sodomy no matter who you vote for.
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Perhaps one of the most hotly contested issues of the Church, the topic of abortion, often arises when somebody finds out we don’t condone it.
The Church has taught from early times that life is to be protected in all forms and time periods. We’re often asked: Why is it wrong? How can you discriminate against mothers?
Here are a few ways to explain the moral evil of abortion in a completely secular way, that will make sense to any reasonable citizen.
To the editor:
I would like to congratulate Dr. Constance Nielsen on her fair and balanced contribution to the guest column that was published in the Catholic Herald on March 3.
A couple of weeks ago, referring to Pope John Paul II’s Laborem Exercens 20, Archbishop Listecki partially and one-sidedly commented on the rights and value of unions. Nielsen dared to go beyond the archbishop’s blind spot by quoting the precarious aspect that John Paul II emphasized in LE 20.
