Columns – Page 77 – Madison Catholic Herald

Thanksgiving is a day when we gather with family and friends to share a meal, reconnect as family, and thank God for our cornucopias of blessings.

The roots of Thanksgiving Day began with the pilgrims. Despite a long, hard winter during which half of them died from scurvy and exposure to the elements, the pilgrims were so thankful some of them survived that they invited their Indian friends to share a three day feast of thanksgiving.

H.U. Westermayer wrote that the pilgrims made seven times more graves than huts during that first hard year, yet they set aside a day to thank God through prayer and through sharing their blessings with Indian friends.

On November 25, 2015

John Huebscher

In past debates, leaders appealed to ideals, not fears

The current debate over whether to welcome refugees fleeing the carnage in Syria reminded me of how one leader spoke to a similar situation some years ago.

Clifford “Tiny” Krueger represented much of northern Wisconsin in the State Senate for 34 years from the mid-1940s until 1983.

Conscience of common man

First a Progressive, then a Republican, Krueger was the GOP Senate floor leader from 1975 to 1981. When he retired, a veteran observer of the Capitol scene described him as “the conscience of the common man.”

That conscience was very evident in May of 1980. Tiny was asked to offer a few remarks at the Memorial Day observance in Rhinelander. Then as now, the issue of whether to accept refugees from another country was a hot topic.

On November 25, 2015

Bishop Robert Barron

‘Bridge of Spies’ and the path to virtue

My great mentor Msgr. Robert Sokolowski told a class of eager philosophy students many years ago that we should read Aristotle’s Nichomachean Ethics every year of our lives. As we grew older, he explained, new dimensions of the book would continually present themselves.

I can’t say that I’ve followed Sokolowski’s advice perfectly, but I have indeed returned often to Aristotle’s great text for inspiration and clarification.

On November 25, 2015

Andy Galvin

Theme seven: Light in a Dark World

Andy Galvin

In conjunction with the World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia this past September, the Office of Evangelization and Catechesis of the Diocese of Madison is providing a monthly series on a particular theme on marriage and family. Each theme is a chapter in the preparatory catechesis developed for the event entitled Love Is Our Mission: The Family Fully Alive, available in paperback from www.osvparish.com or for free online at www.worldmeeting2015.org

On November 18, 2015May 20, 2021

Fr. Tad Pacholczyk

Parents play key role in sex education

While some parents might be happy to avoid the awkward conversations that arise around human sexuality by allowing the school system to provide their children’s sex education, it is nonetheless important for parents to recognize that they are the most significant teachers and models for their own children as they mature sexually.

Instilling a healthy attitude about sexuality in young people involves a variety of considerations, including conveying a proper sense of constraints and boundaries. These boundaries arise organically through the virtue of chastity, by which a person acquires the ability to renounce self, to make sacrifices, and to wait generously in consideration of loving fidelity toward a future spouse, out of self-respect, and out of fidelity to God.

On November 18, 2015

Chris Lee

Losing that ‘spark’ in older years

Q I am concerned about my mother. She is in her early 80s and has enjoyed relatively good health.

She has a little arthritis but does not let that stop her from doing most everything she wants to do.

Since my father died several years ago, she has been living in an apartment complex for older adults. She has friends and seems to enjoy many of the social activities offered by the apartment management.

My concern is that lately when I visit she seems sad. For lack of a better term, she seems to have lost her “spark.”

I tried to talk to her about the upcoming holidays and she said we could discuss it later. This is a woman who used to begin Christmas shopping in July! I ask her what is going on but she dismisses the question.

I don’t know how to help her. Do you have any ideas? (From a daughter in Dodgeville)

On November 18, 2015

Jean Mueller

Losing that ‘spark’ in older years

Q I am concerned about my mother. She is in her early 80s and has enjoyed relatively good health.

She has a little arthritis but does not let that stop her from doing most everything she wants to do.

Since my father died several years ago, she has been living in an apartment complex for older adults. She has friends and seems to enjoy many of the social activities offered by the apartment management.

My concern is that lately when I visit she seems sad. For lack of a better term, she seems to have lost her “spark.”

I tried to talk to her about the upcoming holidays and she said we could discuss it later. This is a woman who used to begin Christmas shopping in July! I ask her what is going on but she dismisses the question.

I don’t know how to help her. Do you have any ideas? (From a daughter in Dodgeville)

On November 18, 2015

Tony Magliano

Support efforts to protect creation at conference

“A very solid scientific consensus indicates that we are presently witnessing a disturbing warming of the climatic system,” warns Pope Francis.

In his environmental encyclical Laudato Si’ (“On Care for Our Common Home”), the Holy Father further warns, “In recent decades this warming has been accompanied by a constant rise in the sea level and, it would appear, by an increase of extreme weather events.

“Humanity is called to recognize the need for changes of lifestyle, production, and consumption, in order to combat this warming.”

On November 18, 2015

Bishop Robert Barron

René Girard, Church Father

René Girard, one of the most influential Catholic philosophers in the world, died recently at the age of 91.

Born in Avignon and a member of the illustrious Academie Francaise, Girard nevertheless made his academic reputation in the United States as a professor at Indiana University, Johns Hopkins University, and Stanford University.

New social theory

There are some thinkers that offer intriguing ideas and proposals, and there is a tiny handful of thinkers that manage to shake your world. Girard was in this second camp. In a series of books and articles, written across several decades, he proposed a social theory of extraordinary explanatory power.

On November 18, 2015

Morgan Smith

Finding my dignity in self-giving love

Morgan Smith

I am reflecting now about how I felt on a weekend when I was facilitating a retreat that I had crafted from scratch (if you could imagine the stress this might cause). I feel like what happened to me sounds a bit crazy, the opposite of what “should” have happened.

I left the weekend at a physical deficit after I put in countless hours of work. What’s crazy is that I am more spiritually fulfilled than ever before. I left the weekend a changed person.