Columns – Page 149 – Madison Catholic Herald

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.

On October 8, 2009

Sr. Margie Lavonis

Respecting all life: looking beyond abortion

When most Catholics hear about Respect Life Week or Sunday they usually think of abortion and the sanctity of a child’s life in its mother’s womb.

Our call, however, is to respect all life. Our faith tells us that all human life, from the womb to the tomb, is precious and loved by God. Too often we concentrate on eradicating abortion, which is a noble and important cause, but we often neglect to speak out against the other ways human life is also disrespected.

On October 8, 2009

Carl Sommer

Damien of Molokai: a real hero

Editor’s note: Pope Benedict XVI will canonize Blessed Damien of Molokai on October 11. This article from Hope News Service provides information on one of our newest saints.

Joseph de Veuster — the future St. Damian of Molokai — was born in Belgium on January 3, 1840, the seventh child of a devout Catholic family.

On October 1, 2009

Fr. Donald Lange

October invites us to respect the lives of the unborn

Gianna Jessen appreciates God’s precious gift of life more than most persons because she survived an abortion. A toxic saline solution was injected into the womb of her frightened 17-year-old mother in order to induce a chemical abortion intended to end Gianna’s life.

The abortion failed. Eighteen hours later, she was born. Gianna had severe injuries that led to cerebral palsy. But she was alive. A startled, compassionate nurse called an ambulance that sped her to a hospital. Since she weighed only two pounds, the hospital placed her in an incubator. Eventually Penny, the generous mother of 56 foster children, adopted her. Gianna credits Penny and Jesus with saving her life.

On October 1, 2009May 19, 2021

Deirdre A. McQuade

Violence begets violence

On September 11, James Pouillon was shot multiple times and killed while protesting abortion outside a high school in Owosso, Mich.

According to reports, the suspect in custody, Harlan James Drake, admitted to police that he had also killed Mike Fuoss earlier that morning and that he had intended to murder a third man against whom he held a grudge, but was arrested before he reached his last victim.

The violence didn’t end with his arrest. The Associated Press reports that Mr. Drake was hospitalized Saturday night after an attempt on his own life in the county jail. Nor is that the end of it. Some angry people are already calling for the death penalty, yet another act of violence.

On September 24, 2009May 19, 2021

Msgr. Daniel Ganshert

Good news in the Year for Priests

Median age? Currently 66. Transitions out of active service? Currently 1500 with 400 to replace them annually.

You guessed it. These are priest statistics in our country.

On September 24, 2009

Grant Emmel

Setting goals as part of planning

“It is up to the bishop with the help of the priests, deacons, religious, and lay people to implement a coordinated pastoral plan which is systematic and participatory involving all members of the church and awakening in them a missionary consciousness.” — Ecclesia in America, 36, Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation of Pope John Paul II (January 1999)

As mentioned previously, pastoral planning can be a vital part of an ongoing renewal, since it enables a group of parishes to find the ways and means to be better Church communities in our diocese in the most effective manner possible.

On September 24, 2009

Katherine Snyder

Remembering pre-born babies who have died

My family moved to Madison last June from St. Louis. We miscarried our fourth child this past January. She was eight weeks old.

I elected not to have a D & C, but to go home and miscarry naturally. This gave me time to research, “What is the Catholic response to miscarriage?”

On September 24, 2009May 20, 2021

Fr. Tad Pacholczyk

The ethics of ‘correcting’ mitochondrial disease

Mitochondria are small, elongated structures in a cell that produce energy. These “cellular batteries” contain their own small piece of DNA, separate from the rest of the cell’s DNA found in the nucleus.

When defects or mutations occur in this mitochondrial DNA, it can result in a number of diseases. In severe cases, children can be born blind, epileptic, unable to crawl, and may manifest severe neurological delay and die at an early age. No real therapies exist for most mitochondrial diseases beyond treating the symptoms.

On September 17, 2009

George Weigel

Benedict XVI and the truth about charity

Pope Benedict XVI’s social encyclical, Caritas in Veritate (Charity in Truth), is a complex and occasionally obscure document, replete with possible implications for the future development of Catholic social doctrine.

Sorting those implications out will take much time and even more careful reflection. Along the information superhighway, however, careful reflection hit a few potholes in the early going, as sundry partisans sought to capture Caritas in Veritate as a weapon with which to bolster the Obama administration’s economic, health care, and social welfare policies.