Category: Opinion

On
Mary C. Uhler, Catholic Herald Staff

Continuing the Year of Mercy

We are approaching the end of the Jubilee Year of Mercy declared by Pope Francis, which began on December 8, 2015, and will conclude on November 20.

This year has been an invitation for all of us to rediscover and encounter the incredible mercy of God. It has been an invitation to love, kindness, and generosity — things that we all need more than ever in our world today.

And just because the Year of Mercy ends on November 20, it doesn’t mean we have to stop learning more about mercy and incorporating it into our daily lives.

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Timothy Rookey

One candidate stands up for life and religious liberty

To the editor:

Catholics will be very influential in determining who will become our next president. The choice is really only between the candidates of our two major parties. Though neither candidate this year is ideal, I would argue that one of them is far superior to the other from a Catholic point of view.

One of the candidates now substantially embraces the pro-life position and has promised, as president, to only appoint pro-life justices, like the late Antonin Scalia, to the Supreme Court. The other candidate wants no restrictions on abortion and is the darling of America’s largest abortion provider-Planned Parenthood.

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Gregory L. Sheehy, M.D.

One candidate is best prepared for presidency

To the editor:

Recent letters to the editor have tried mightily to avoid saying the name, but encourage us, just the same, to vote for the Republican candidate. The plea is to support the Republican Party platform and to view abortion above all other issues. There appears to be little concern about electing a man to the most important position in the world despite his racist, sexist, xenophobic, and anti-religious views. Likewise, his election would allow his finger to be on the nuclear button that could eliminate all life on earth.

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Nick and Kay Ringelstetter

Voters should consider abortion issue in choosing candidates

To the editor:

As the election approaches, we must ask which party, policies, and candidate is most in line with our Catholic Church?

There are so many issues to consider . . . immigration, racial injustice, war, education, the economy, and healthcare.

However, there is one issue that is deemed an intrinsic evil by the Catholic Church: the killing of unborn innocent babies. We must never commit, promote, or enable the killing of babies, regardless of their age.

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Mary C. Uhler, Catholic Herald Staff

Voting is our responsibility as faithful citizens

Four years ago, during the last presidential election, I wrote that living in a swing state isn’t much fun. We had been inundated with television advertising and campaign phone calls for many months.

Just as it was four years ago, this election season has also been a trying time for Wisconsinites, who find themselves bickering with relatives, friends, co-workers, and even church members over political candidates and issues. I’ve noticed people have even requested Facebook friends to stop posting information on politics.

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Mary C. Uhler, Catholic Herald Staff

We can’t be neutral on assisted suicide

Pope Francis has said that compassion means “suffer with.” It is a challenge to suffer with a beloved family member or friend who is dying.

The dying process has been called a “sacred time — a final season to seek closure in this life and prepare for the next in the hope of sharing in Christ’s Resurrection,” says a passage from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Respect Life Program publication on “Caring for Loved Ones at Life’s End.”

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Tom Roberts

Philosophers did not set out to undermine religion

To the editor:

I am in agreement with Bishop Robert Barron in part two of “Christian apologists, wake up!” In all, that is, but one point. I do not believe the Enlightenment philosophers, Voltaire, Diderot, and Spinoza, set out to undermine religion.

Each did have an encounter with the Catholic Church. Diderot had considered becoming a priest, Voltaire had been educated by the Jesuits (1704-1711).

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Rick McKellar

We need to spend more time with God

To the editor:

There were many good insights in the article by Bishop Robert Barron (on a Pew Study about why young people are leaving the active practice of Christianity) which we can easily recognize.

What is often left out for consideration in discussion of this issue is that in the modern faith formation process, at least in my limited experience of 50 years, there is a lack of engagement of many people, including myself, to a life devoted to dynamic personal devotional intercession and communal intercession happening outside the confines of a very structured and impersonal speedy approach by some to the celebration of the Mass and community involvement within the parish outside of Mass.

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