Category: Opinion

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Mary C. Uhler, Catholic Herald Staff

It’s important to affirm life at the time of death

As we approach the end of October observed as Respect Life Month and All Souls’ Day on November 2, our thoughts turn towards the end of life.

I think our society today avoids issues of suffering and death. Some say we live in a “death-defying and death-denying” society.

Denying death

As Jeffery A. Johnson says in an article called “Denial: The American Way of Death” (www.OrthodoxyToday.org), modern Americans seems to be “preoccupied with the preservation of youth and beauty.” He says that “society seems content to cling to the illusion that youth — and life — can last forever.”

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Mary C. Uhler, Catholic Herald Staff

Continue to oppose the death penalty

Editor's View by Mary C. Uhler

During October, which is observed as Respect Life Month in the U.S. Catholic Church, we publish a number of articles in the Catholic Herald about issues dealing with respect for life at all stages.

Perhaps one of the most difficult issues to discuss is the death penalty. If we admit it, I think many of us subscribe to the Old Testament belief in “an eye for an eye” when it comes to punishing those who harm others.

If someone murders another person, we may feel the death penalty is justified. After all, the murderer took someone’s life, so his life must be taken, too.

What’s wrong with this point of view? Quite a bit, if we start to look at it carefully.

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Mary C. Uhler, Catholic Herald Staff

A wake-up call: we are our brother’s keeper

Editor's View by Mary C. Uhler

After the tragic shooting in Las Vegas, one question kept surfacing in my mind: Are we still our brother’s keeper?

We know the phrase “my brother’s keeper” from the story of Cain and Abel in Genesis 4:1-9. Cain killed his brother Abel out of jealousy. After the murder, God asked Cain where Abel was. Cain’s answer was, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?”

We are surely not responsible for everyone’s safety at all times. However, we should not allow people to do violence if we can prevent it.

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Mary C. Uhler, Catholic Herald Staff

Keep the dream alive at Camp Gray

It all started with a parish priest’s simple dream in 1953, recounts the history of Camp Gray.

Msgr. Francis Gray was pastor of St. Joseph Parish in Baraboo. He dreamed of a place “where youths would be free and away from the temptations of the streets; where they could enjoy nature and become acquainted with it firsthand . . . a place where they could commune, under supervision, with their Creator and away from paths so frequently leading to delinquency.”

Dream becomes reality

So, Monsignor Gray scouted out potential sites but became enamored of an unoccupied, uncultivated 100-acre wooded site about eight miles northwest of Baraboo.

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Bill Dagnon

Health care bill was developed behind closed doors

To the editor:

Most people know a family member, friend, or neighbor who has had a traumatic health problem. In our family, it was when our two-year-old son ran into the highway as a car came over the hill. Comprehensive health insurance freed us from worrying about costs and let us concentrate on our son’s needs.

Anyone who experiences a similar disaster can imagine what other people go through in such a crisis. Empathizing with fellow Americans is natural in a country founded on the belief that we are all created equal. Equality in feeling suffering leads to equality in relieving and preventing suffering.

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Mary C. Uhler, Catholic Herald Staff

Health bill must be amended to protect poor

Here we go again. The U.S. Senate may be voting on another health care bill this week designed to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as Obamacare.

The Senate hasn’t given much opportunity for the public to weigh in on the Graham-Cassidy proposal. There was only one public hearing scheduled on the measure, to my knowledge.

The U.S. Catholic bishops have apparently studied the proposed legislation, co-sponsored by Republican Senators Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana.

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Mary C. Uhler, Catholic Herald Staff

Why the Church loves immigrants

Some people seem to feel the Catholic Church’s love of immigrants comes from a selfish point of view.

This opinion came to light in an interview airing on September 10 on the CBS-TV program 60 Minutes. Steve Bannon, former White  House chief strategist for President Donald Trump and now executive chairman of Breitbart News, said on the program that the Catholic bishops of the United States have “an economic interest in illegal immigration” as “they need illegal aliens to fill the pews.”

I beg to disagree. The Catholic Church’s love of immigrants is certainly not based on an economic interest. It is true that many immigrants do contribute of their time, talent, and treasure to Catholic parishes. But many of them start out living in poverty, and it may take years for them to be able to give anything back to the Church as they get settled in their communities here.

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Mary C. Uhler, Catholic Herald Staff

Importance of prayer in times of trouble

Editor's View by Mary C. Uhler

We have certainly been overwhelmed by all the disasters happening these days, from hurricanes to earthquakes to violence and discord in the world.

We may be tempted to throw in the towel, so to speak. We wonder if there is anything we can do in the face of all the turmoil.

Of course, we should respond with any kind of assistance possible. We can donate money to Catholic Charities USA and other outreach efforts. But is there anything else that we can do?

The power of prayer

I found an interesting commentary by the late Norman Vincent Peale, a minister in the Reformed Church in America, who was well known for espousing the power of positive thinking. The headline for his commentary is: “How to Pray in Times of Trouble: You can pray your way through any difficulty.”

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