The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has formally condemned racism in four pastoral statements: in 1958, 1968, 1979, and in 2018 with Open Wide Our Hearts: The Enduring Call to Love — A Pastoral Letter against Racism.
Tag: Barbara Sella
Voters urged not to sit on sidelines
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MADISON — This election year, Catholics may find it difficult to choose candidates and be tempted not to vote.
However, failure to vote would not be in keeping with Catholic teaching, which emphasizes that faithful citizens should be involved in the political process.
That’s what Barbara Sella told those gathered recently at St. Thomas Aquinas Church in Madison for her presentation, “Be Catholic First: Tools for Discerning as We Approach Election 2016.”
Sella is associate director for respect life and social concerns for the Wisconsin Catholic Conference (WCC), the public policy arm of the state’s Catholic bishops.
Role to play
Faithful citizens “cannot and must not remain on the sidelines,” she said in quoting Pope Francis. “We have an actual role to play in the politics of our nation.”
Sella said, “The Church emphasizes that our choices have to be grounded in moral principles, and we have to use our prudential judgment based on the values of our faith.
“Forming our conscience is the first step. But we have to form it in line with the teachings of the Church.”
The role of the Church itself is as a “teaching institution.” The bishops and priests teach the laity. “We are the doers,” Sella emphasized.
“The bishops and priests rely on the expertise of lay people.”
Key principles
This year, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is emphasizing four key principles in its materials on Faithful Citizenship (see www.faithfulcitizenship.org):
Urge funding be diverted from Planned Parenthood
On September 2 at a public hearing of the state Assembly Committee on Health, the Wisconsin Catholic Conference (WCC) testified in favor of reforming how Title X of the federal Public Health Service Act funds are disbursed in Wisconsin.
Juvenile justice reform is long overdue
Ninety-eight percent of all 17-year-olds arrested in Wisconsin committed non-violent crimes, usually underage drinking, disorderly conduct, marijuana possession, or property crimes.
Yet, since 1995, all these 17-year-old offenders are handled by the adult correctional system and, if incarcerated, are placed with the adult prison and jail population.
Prison reform needed for safer communities
Popes Paul VI and John Paul II both described the Catholic Church as an “expert in humanity.” This term recognizes the truth that through its long history Catholicism has engaged and reflected on the fullness and complexity of the human experience.
Contraception mandate: endangers religious liberty, women’s health
In implementing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) now requires almost all private health plans to cover contraception and sterilization as “preventive services” for women.
WCC opposes plan to perform abortions in Madison
The Wisconsin Catholic Conference (WCC), the public policy voice of Wisconsin’s bishops, has written the head executives of three Madison health care agencies to express its strong opposition to the reported plan to perform abortions at the Madison Surgery Center.