Category: Columns

On
Sr. Constance Veit, LSP

Staying connected in a time of ‘social distancing’

Sr. Constance Veit, LSP

Several years ago, a summer heat wave of historic proportions settled over Europe, leading to the death of over 14,000 people in France alone.

Many of the victims were elderly citizens who were left behind in major cities as their families and neighbors enjoyed their summer holidays far from the country’s urban areas.

The memory of this tragedy has been very present to me as we hunker down, close our doors and try our best to isolate our elderly residents from the coronavirus for as long as it takes to protect them from danger.

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On
Fr. Tadeusz Pacholczyk, Ph.D.

She sent a hundred love letters

In a recent essay in the Wall Street Journal, Kimberly Cutter chronicled the death of her father by suicide. As he struggled with rapidly progressing prostate cancer, he lost more than 30 pounds, becoming gaunt and emaciated. Back pain and nausea forced him to spend much of his time in bed.

A few days before Christmas, he shared with Kimberly that he was thinking about shooting himself. Kimberly argued with him, stressing that she and her sisters couldn’t accept a violent ending: “If he shot himself, my father would die alone. Someone in our family would have to find him,” she wrote.

Looking into options

His daughters convinced him to look into other options. When he started investigating lethal drugs, he ran into questions of reliability. He encountered horror stories about “wrong dosages and unreliable contents, painful, drawn-out demises.”

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On
Julianne Nornberg

Focusing on forgiveness this Lent

“Say ‘I’m sorry,’” I remember telling my children when they were toddlers squabbling over toys.

“I’m sorry,” parroted the perpetrator, who sometimes had to repeat it a few times before exhibiting the requisite tone of remorse.

“Now say ‘I forgive you,’” I would tell the victim, who also parroted the phrase without completely understanding its meaning.

For years we have done this in our household, trying to explain to the children the importance of forgiveness. And yet, I myself was an adult before I understood its full meaning.

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On
Tony Magliano

The time is 100 seconds to midnight

On January 23, 2020, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists’ Science and Security Board, together with 13 Nobel Laureate consultants, moved their famous Doomsday Clock to 100 seconds before midnight — warning how extremely near humanity is to a global catastrophic midnight posed by the increasing threats of nuclear war and climate change.

“We are now expressing how close the world is to catastrophe in seconds — not hours, or even minutes. It is the closest to Doomsday we have ever been in the history of the Doomsday Clock.

 

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On
Fr. Donald Lange

Fr. Samuel Mazzuchelli inspires us

Carlo Gaetano Samuel Mazzuchelli was born on November 4, 1806, in Milan, Italy. He died on February 23, 1864, at St. Patrick Parish in Benton, where he was pastor. Years later, when I became pastor of St. Patrick’s, my knowledge and admiration of him deepened.

Father Samuel accomplished so much that I get tired just thinking about it. One parishioner appropriately called him “our steam engine missionary.” It would take books to completely cover his many accomplishments and gifts, so I will focus on just a few areas.

A mysterious occurrence

On October of 1863, according to Sr. Nona McGreal, Father Samuel rode to St. Matthew Parish in Shullsburg to celebrate Confirmation conferred by Milwaukee Bishop John Henni.

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On
Fr. Tad Pacholczyk

Christian girls and abortion

When Mother Teresa visited New Bedford, Mass., in June 1995, she told those of us gathered at St. Lawrence Martyr Church: “Abortion is the greatest evil of today.”

Never one to mince words, Mother Teresa’s courage, truthfulness, and charity were palpable. Parents today need similar fortitude, honesty, and love to be able to discuss the hard topic of unplanned pregnancies and abortion with their children.

Parents exercise influence

Parental input and advice are critical when these situations arise. Even as children profess independence, parents exercise influence over them, whether for good or for ill.

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