Category: Guest column

Editor’s note: The following is the homily given by Msgr. James Bartylla, vicar general, at Fr. Gregory Ihm’s Mass of Thanksgiving, St. Clement Church, Lancaster, June 27.

Fr. Greg Ihm, Bishop Morlino, and my brother priests, it’s an honor to give the homily at Father Ihm’s Mass of Thanksgiving at his home parish of St. Clement in Lancaster. Ray and Sherri, you should be very proud of your son who will make an exemplary priest.

It is also a privilege to come back to my adopted home of Grant County where I spent seminarian summers and my first years of priesthood. This includes time in Dickeyville, Lancaster, Kieler, Sinsinawa, Bloomington, and Patch Grove. In fact, I first met Fr. Greg Ihm at the Kieler picnic shortly after he finished a TEC retreat and decided to enter the seminary.

Father Greg spent most of his years in the seminary with me as his vocations director. As you know, Greg, vocations directors are always prone to giving advice to seminarians and maybe even newly ordained priests. I have to say there’s a bit of that still in me as a former vocations director. So today I offer you my top 10 tips on the priesthood as we look forward to your priestly ministry.

As we approach the closing of the Year for Priests, the Diocese of Madison is blessed with two deacons, Rev. Mr. David Carrano and Rev. Mr. Greg Ihm, who will be called to the Order of Presbyters.

We are also blessed with the ordinations of Rev. Mr. Jorge Antonio Miramontes and Rev. Mr. Timothy Renz to the transitional diaconate in late May.

By God’s providence this coming October, at the American College of Immaculate Conception, in Leuven, Belgium, two more men, Mr. John Putzer and Mr. Chad Droessler, will be ordained transitional deacons.

“The Church can’t tell ME how to use my body.” Ever hear that?

I can’t even count the number of women who have remarked how lucky I am to be a stay-at-home mother. Another thing I can’t count is the number of women who say they wish they could afford to have more children.

The Wisconsin Attorney General’s office confirmed last week that the Madison Surgery Center (MSC) will not be providing late-term abortions. Thank God! For that reason, we are happy to announce that the boycott of the Madison Surgery Center has ended.

The University of Wisconsin, however, continues to insist it is committed to providing late-term abortions in the Madison area. There is no chosen location as yet to replace the Madison Surgery Center, and the UW is cloaking their search in secrecy.

I grew up learning about the gift of life and God’s great love for humanity through the example of my own parents. At the same time I grew up hearing very little about the meaning of life, God’s plan for my sexuality, and ultimate freedom and happiness.

It was in reading Good News About Sex and Marriage by Christopher West that the teachings of John Paul the Great first came to my attention. Unlike the list of rules I had heard, this new message said whole-heartedly, “Yes!”

The devastating earthquake in Haiti has focused our attention on that country and the living conditions of its poor. Hunger, disease, and illiteracy can be found in other countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.

This region provides a good background for reflecting on Pope Benedict’s latest encyclical, Caritas in Veritate, which addresses the development of peoples.

Here are several points to consider from a Catholic family physician regarding the health care debate that I do not hear very often.

Stupak amendment is compromise

First, news, and even Catholic news, venues often refer to the Stupak amendment as something good in prohibiting funding of abortions except in limited circumstances. However, what is often not mentioned is that in those circumstances, which include rape, incest, and threats to the mother’s life, there is an innocent living infant fetus who is murdered.

This column offers some reflections on Pope Paul VI’s document Humanae Vitae, which addresses the problems of all the various attacks on human life in the modern world. Paul VI identified contraception as the root cause of the “culture of death,” the twin evil of abortion.

One of the main objections to Humanae Vitae is that following its teaching (that is, practicing abstinence when avoiding pregnancy) impedes couples from expressing their love for one another. But of what “love” are we speaking: authentic conjugal love that images God, or its perennial counterfeit — lust?

Editor’s note: Following is a response to George Weigel’s column, “Benedict and the truth about charity,” published in the September 17 issue of the Catholic Herald. Portions of this article have been edited.

For those of us who have read Pope Benedict XVI’s social encyclical Caritas in Veritate, George Weigel’s recent commentaries may seem off the mark. Did he really read the same encyclical as the rest of us?

Caritas in Veritate is a very lengthy discussion of how our works of charity must proceed from the essential truth we find in Christ. If not, then such works reflect a kind of momentary whim or sentimentality.

Editor’s note: This is the first in a series of articles on how the offices in the Diocese of Madison are coping with the recent layoffs and financial cut-backs. Information will be included on what the diocesan offices continue to do for the diocese and its parishes. Offices will also indicate how people can help continue their mission through volunteer involvement.

We continue to spread the Good News! Like nearly every other business (for-profit and not-for-profit alike), the Diocese of Madison has undergone some difficult but necessary cutbacks. These changes have affected each and every office of the diocese, the Office of Communications among them, but we have work to do and we must continue that work.