Columns – Page 156 – Madison Catholic Herald

Recently, a young man on American Idol sang a “modern” song, one of those all-beat-and-no-sense. I used to complain that I couldn’t understand the words, but now that my TV has the words printed on the bottom of the screen and I can actually understand them, I know I wasn’t missing much. And nothing rhymes. How can they memorize them? Oh, yes, they just repeat one phrase a hundred times.

In a recent interview, one of these guys whose voice seemed spectacular despite the song said that his vocal music training had come primarily from church choirs. Two thoughts came to my mind: He should have stuck with the church music and where have I heard that before?

On March 11, 2009

Fr. Donald Lange

Lent: A time for fasting and feasting

Lent is a time for fasting. When we think of fasting, we probably think of fasting and abstaining from food and drink for the sake of Jesus according to the Lenten regulations.

However, in Isaiah 58:1-9, through Isaiah, God reveals another kind of fasting that enables us to feast and feed on living God’s way more fully.

On March 5, 2009May 19, 2021

Msgr. Daniel Ganshert

A new season full of new beginnings

Daylight Savings Time returns. One rooster’s step longer. That is how my parents described the gradual lengthening of brightness each day from winter into spring.

One day at a time like the little step of a bird, the world enjoys more light as we shed the winter wearies and embrace the lingering dusks to come.

On March 5, 2009

Susanna Herro

Christ Our Hope: Healing a Broken World

Over 500 Catholics from across the United States and a few foreign countries gathered in Washington, D.C., from February 20 to 25. Sponsored by 19 groups, from the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities to the United States Conference of Bishops, people focused on the theme, “Christ Our Hope: Healing a Broken World.”

With the economic crisis as a backdrop, workshops, discussions, and prayer focused attention on bringing Catholic social teachings to assist the poor, wherever they live.

On March 5, 2009May 20, 2021

Fr. Tad Pacholczyk

Verbal engineering: Swaying of public conscience

Over the years, a number of unjust laws have come to be replaced by more just ones. Laws overturning the practice of slavery, for example, were a significant step forward in promoting justice and basic human rights in society.

Yet in recent times, unjust and immoral laws have, with increasing frequency, come to replace sound and reasonable ones, particularly in the area of sexual morality, bioethics, and the protection of human life.

On February 26, 2009

Sr. Margie Lavonis

Lent may be a good time for a ‘faith lift’

I always love to read the signs outside of churches. Once I saw a clever one that asked, “Do you need a faith lift?” It was a good question that made me stop and think about my own faith life and where I need some spiritual Botox.

Now that we are in the dark dreary time of the year when life is cold and monotonous, at least in the Midwest, and we probably have broken many of our new year’s resolutions, it is a good time to reflect on how we need our spiritual life lifted. Lent is a perfect season for renewal.

On February 26, 2009

Barbara L. Lyons

Abortion program politically, financially motivated

Imagine that you are a patient needing routine surgery at an outpatient facility. At the Madison Surgery Center, you receive treatment to enhance your health, while in the next room or down the hall a fully formed 19 to 22 week unborn baby is being dismembered, experiencing significant pain from the abortion procedure.

The UW Hospital and Clinics, Meriter Hospital, and the Madison Surgery Center recently approved such a venture. The second trimester abortion program was discussed for months, shrouded in secrecy. Since becoming public knowledge, information from facilities’ officials has been incredibly inconsistent and filled with public relations puffery.

On February 19, 2009May 19, 2021

Msgr. Daniel Ganshert

Helping others teaches us compassion

Lent presents us with an opportunity if we choose to take it. Just like God has given us people in our lives to help us if we take the opportunity and let them: family, parish, community, among others. However, to ask others for help can be humbling. Yet, knowing that we all need help can teach us compassion for others.

Lenten fasting, prayer, and almsgiving remind us of this. It is a special time and opportunity for us to ask for help and to ask out loud. When God hears our prayers, sees our fasting, and almsgiving, that’s one thing. But when we hear and see one another praying, fasting and giving to others in our families, parishes, and communities, it amplifies the impact. All of a sudden we can be moved by the example of those who recognize not only their need for help, but also their need to help others.

On February 19, 2009

George Weigel

‘Afflicted’ with fertility?

What’s the biggest threat to the world’s prosperity and stability over the medium haul — say, between 2020 and 2050?

The proliferation of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons of mass destruction? A continuing economic recession? Jihadism running amok? The Detroit Lions ushering in the Apocalypse by winning an NFL championship? (Just kidding on the last . . . )

On February 19, 2009May 20, 2021

Audrey Mettel Fixmer

On the road . . . still

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.