Category: State News

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Mary C. Uhler, Catholic Herald Staff

Legislature passes ultrasound measure

MADISON — Both the state Senate and Assembly passed a bill requiring ultrasounds for those considering an abortion.

According to the Wisconsin Catholic Conference (WCC) Capital Update report, the vote was 17-15 in favor in the Senate and 56-39 in favor in the Assembly for Senate Bill 206 (authored by Senator Mary Lazich, R-New Berlin), also known as “Sonya’s Law.”

Wisconsin Right to Life explained that Sonya, a Wisconsin mother of two children, learned that she was pregnant with her third child this past November. Sonya worried about how she could handle another child, emotionally and financially. She seriously thought about abortion.

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Kevin Wondrash

Support for ban on gender-based abortions

The Wisconsin Catholic Conference (WCC) joined other pro-life groups in voicing support for a bill before the Wisconsin Legislature to impose a civil penalty on doctors who knowingly perform sex-selective abortions.

Assembly Bill 217 (authored by Rep. Steve Kestell, R-Elkhart Lake) received a public hearing on May 29 before the state Assembly Committee on Health.

Sex-selective abortion

A sex-selective abortion is an abortion that is performed when the parent or parents of the unborn child abort because the baby is not of the desired sex. Most of the time, unborn girls are aborted because the parents wanted to have a son.

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Kevin Wondrash

Bishops release revised end-of-life letter

MADISON — Wisconsin’s Catholic bishops have released the third edition of their pastoral letter on end-of-life health care decision-making and advance care planning, Now and at the Hour of Our Death.

The letter voices the bishops’ concern and compassion for those facing critical health care decisions, and shares a moral and ethical framework for making such decisions.

Popular document

“The conference issued the first edition of this pastoral statement in 2002. That edition and the second one issued in 2006 have proven to be our most frequently requested document,” explained Wisconsin Catholic Conference (WCC) Executive Director John Huebscher.

“In the seven years since the second edition, we have seen even greater interest in the moral questions surrounding death and dying. The bishops are resolved to keep responding to that interest. Reissuing the document is an effective way to do that.”

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Chris Lee

Holy Hill marks 150th anniversary

HUBERTUS, Wis. — The Basilica of the National Shrine of Mary Help of Christians at Holy Hill will commemorate the 150th anniversary of the founding of the Shrine with a Mass on Saturday, May 25, at 4:30 p.m.

Archbishop Jerome E. Listecki of Milwaukee will be the principal celebrant, with the Discalced Carmelite priests of Holy Hill concelebrating.

Chapel rededication

Archbishop Listecki will also re-dedicate the Shrine Chapel, recently repainted by Conrad Schmitt Studios (of New Berlin), as well as formally bless the newly installed bronze doors.

These doors, depicting St. Teresa of Avila, St. John of the Cross, and the Virgin Mary, were designed by renowned figurative sculptor, Cody Joseph Swanson, casted by Vanguard Sculpture Services, Ltd (of Milwaukee,), and fabricated by Louis Hoffmann Co (of Menomonee Falls). This special Mass is open to the public.

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Chris Lee

Bishops oppose rent-to-own changes

MILWAUKEE — At a press conference April 26, Milwaukee Archbishop Jerome E. Listecki expressed his opposition to a provision in the state budget that would exempt rent-to-own (RTO) businesses from key provisions of the Wisconsin Consumer Act (WCA).

Speaking at the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, Archbishop Listecki joined the Chamber’s president and CEO, Maria Monreal-Cameron; Lutheran Bishop Jeff Barrow of the Greater Milwaukee Synod of the ELCA; Senator Glenn Grothman (R-West Bend), Senator Lena Taylor (D-Milwaukee); Bruce Speight, director of the consumer advocacy group WISPERG; and others.

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Chris Lee

Bishops urge support for choice in education

MADISON — The Roman Catholic bishops of Wisconsin wrote to members of the Wisconsin Legislature, urging them to support Governor Scott Walker’s budget proposal, which would expand parental choice programs in the state and create the Special Needs Scholarship Program.

Noting the Church’s long-standing commitment to quality education, especially for needy or vulnerable children, the bishops explained why educational choice is so vital. “We back this effort out of a conviction that parents, as the primary educators of their children, must have the community’s support in selecting a form of education that best meets their child’s needs — academic, psychological, emotional, spiritual, and physical.”

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Jeff Kurowski, The Compass

Packers walking tour connects faith and football

St. Willebrord Church in downtown Green Bay, is known to many as the church where legendary football coach Vince Lombardi attended daily morning Mass. It is one of the sites on the Green Bay Packers Heritage Trail. Above is pictured the plaque as seen outside the church. (Compass photo/Sam Lucero)

GREEN BAY — Green Bay Packers fans who check out the new Packers Heritage Trail will discover a number of Catholic sites that have ties to the team’s history.

The trail, designed as a self-guided walking tour, features 22 commemorative plaques located within a two-mile radius of downtown Green Bay. Seventeen plaques are part of a city walk. Five others are a part of self-guided bike tours.

St. Willebrord Church

One of the city’s sites is St. Willebrord Church, known to many as the church where former Green Bay Packers coach Vince Lombardi attended Mass.

Cliff Christl, a Green Bay native and longtime sportswriter who developed the idea for the tour, said St. Willebrord was an easy choice for the trail but he didn’t know if placing a plaque on church property would be possible.

Norbertine Father Andy Cribben, pastor at St. Willebrord, said he was initially skeptical of the plaque but the text, which connects faith with the history of the Packers, convinced him it was worth it.

 

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Tracy Rusch, Milwaukee Catholic Herald

Dolan says archdiocese ‘has permanent place in his heart’

HUBERTUS — Despite the heavy rainfall and low temperatures, about 1,200 people gathered at the Basilica of Holy Hill in Hubertus on Saturday, April 28, to celebrate Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan’s Mass of Thanksgiving.

A steady hum of excited chatter filled the church, and grew louder as the cardinal made a special stop before Mass to the side chapel where people with disabilities viewed the celebration on monitors, and again as he greeted people down the center aisle of the upper church. Cameras flashed nonstop as he flashed his smile, shared his greetings, hugs, and firm handshakes.

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Jeff Kurowski, The Compass

UW student is Biking for Babies

KAUKAUNA — Biking from Louisiana to Illinois last summer was mentally grueling and oftentimes physically painful for Kevin Biese, but he is ready to do it again.

Biese and nine other cyclists will trek 1,124.25 miles from New Orleans to Chicago, May 21 to 29, as part of Biking for Babies 2012. The mission of the ride is to collect $40,000 for eight pro-life charities and raise awareness in the fight against abortion.

The new Women’s Care Center of Madison was one of the charities supported by last year’s ride, which raised more than $21,000. Biese, a sophomore at the University of Wisconsin, recently visited the facility, which provides services ranging from free ultrasounds to parenting classes.

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Chris Lee

Governor signs bills on health exchanges, sex education, ‘Web cam’ abortions

MADISON — On Thursday, April 5, Governor Walker signed about 50 bills into law, including three measures supported by the Wisconsin Catholic Conference (WCC).

Among the bills approved by the Governor are:

  • Senate Bill 237, which restores flexibility and local control to school districts in providing instruction in human growth and development. This new law is Act 216 of the 2011 Legislature.
  • Senate Bill 306, which assures that a woman is not coerced into having an abortion and also prohibits “webcam” abortions. This bill is now Act 217.
  • Senate Bill 92, which bars health insurance providers that participate in a future state exchange from including elective abortions in their coverage. The new law is now Act 218.
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