Author: Kevin Wondrash

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Kevin Wondrash

On the road . . . still

Grand Mom by Audrey Mettel Fixmer

Too old to travel? Who? Me? Don’t even suggest it. I’ll find a way to get to that grandson’s wedding or that resort in a warmer climate no matter what. Of course, we must listen to our aging bodies and adapt to new ways to get around.

We were in our mid 60s and newly retired when we first became aware of that. My husband and I were boarding a flight to Puerto Rico when the older lady in front of us asked Bob if he would hoist her bag into the overhead compartment. As he reached up to do so, his pants fell down. That’s when we realized he had to start wearing suspenders.

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Kevin Wondrash

Looking at abortion facts and figures

Living and Learning column by Msgr. Daniel T. Ganshert

Parish signing campaigns against the proposed Freedom of Choice Act are ongoing in our diocese. These campaigns also are allowing the people of the Diocese of Madison to voice their concerns related to second-trimester abortions performed at the Madison Surgery Center.

Finding the following comments from Mr. Joseph Collison, director of the pro-life office for the Diocese of Norwich, Conn., to be helpful, I want to share them with you by means of this column because the numbers are frightening.

Mr. Collison states that every fourth baby conceived in the United States is deliberately destroyed in our nation’s busy abortion businesses. Every day 3,500 developing babies are killed. Almost 1.5 million are killed every year. Our nation has the highest abortion rate in the Western world, and half of the American mothers seeking abortions have already aborted at least one child before.

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Kevin Wondrash

‘A future pregnancy would be too risky’

Making Sense out of Bioethics column by Fr. Tad Pacholczyk

Various medical conditions can affect a woman’s ability to carry a pregnancy and, at times, even threaten her and her child’s life.

Some of these conditions include pulmonary hypertension, Marfan’s syndrome, and certain congenital problems with the aorta. When a doctor informs a woman that she cannot become pregnant in the future without serious consequences to herself and her baby, having her tubes tied might seem to be the most appropriate response. Some would further argue that since the sterilization would be for “medical reasons,” it would be an “indirect sterilization” and therefore morally acceptable.

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Kevin Wondrash

Reflections on inauguration and theme of hope

Dear Friends,

bishop column logoLike many of you, I’m certain, I’ve watched, with interest, the events which occurred just over one week ago.  Our country has witnessed a tremendously historic event with the inauguration of President Barack Obama — an event which speaks to the tremendous strides our country has made, even in my lifetime, in terms of racial equality.  Though it has become cliché to say over recent weeks, there were times when no one in my generation could have dreamed that we would “see the day.”

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Kevin Wondrash

Families must serve others

Living and Learning column by Msgr. Daniel T. Ganshert

To know, love, and serve him in this life and to be happy with him forever in the next is why God made us. Family provides the environment in which knowing, loving, and serving God is made real.

As a matter of fact, the root meaning of the word family is servant. It is in the family where we are to learn how to be a servant. Our success has a direct relationship to finding meaning and purpose in life, to finding peace and happiness.

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Kevin Wondrash

Election reveals possibilities for great-grandson

Grand Mom by Audrey Mettel Fixmer

Did you weep that night? November 4, 2008, was one of those times when every senior citizen in this country had to whisper, “Thank you, Lord, for letting me live to see this day when an African American has been elected president of the United States, the leader of the free world.”

Regardless of how one may have voted in this election, no one who had lived through witnessing President Lyndon Johnson in 1965 sign an order that would allow people of any color, race, or creed the right to vote, or who could recall the race riots and the separate drinking fountains and bus seats of the ’50s could possibly be unmoved by this drama.

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Kevin Wondrash

Fighting Freedom of Choice Act

Dear Friends,

under the gospel book

By the time you are able to read this column, I will have begun my vacation in warmer climes. Bishop Bullock has taught me well how advisable it is to take vacation at this time of year, and, along with so many other good things, I am grateful to him for this particular important bit of wisdom. I beg your prayers that I will have health and safety during this time of vacation and, most importantly, grow in faith. This is the very same prayer that rises up from my heart for each one of you, each day.

You will find, below, a letter which I have sent to my brother priests with regard to a national effort which is being made in every diocese in the United States, spearheaded by Cardinal Rigali of Philadelphia, chair of the Pro-Life Committee of our national bishops’ conference.

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