The Catholic Herald

Colorful Gospel for March 18, 2010

The Catholic Herald — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 23:12:19 +0000

Based on the Gospel of John 8:1–11

Spring is here! That means change – from drab winter to fresh spring. Nature is beginning to waken from its dark winter sleep. The hours of daylight are getting longer. Trees will bud, flowers will bloom, shrubs will turn green or blossom, grass will turn from dull to bright green, and moms will start spring housecleaning.

In this Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus teaches about change, mercy and forgiveness. The scribes and Pharisees bring a woman who has been caught in sin to stand before Jesus as he is teaching in the temple. They say, “This woman has been caught doing something very wrong, and the law says that she should be stoned.” Wanting to trap Jesus, they ask, “What do you think should be done?”

If Jesus doesn’t join in condemning the woman, they’ll accuse him of not caring about the Law of Moses. If Jesus joins in condemning the woman, then all his teaching about God’s mercy, forgiveness, and reaching out to sinners means nothing.

Silence follows. Jesus bends down and traces on the ground with his finger. After a short time, Jesus stands up and says, “If any of you have never sinned, then go ahead and throw the first stone at her!” One by one they drop their stones and silently slink away until finally Jesus and the woman are there alone.

The scribes and Pharisees wanted to punish the woman, but Jesus cleverly changed the focus from the woman to them. Without directly judging or accusing the scribes and Pharisees, Jesus gently makes them aware of their own sinfulness.

Jesus then asks the woman, “Where is everyone? Isn’t there anyone left to condemn you?” “No one, sir,” the woman answered. Then Jesus said, “I am not going to condemn you either. Go now, sin no more, and make a fresh start.”

For the third Sunday in a row, the Gospel lesson has been about change, mercy and forgiveness. Jesus will always forgive us if we are sorry for the sins we’ve committed. When we are sorry, Jesus not only forgives us but gives us another chance to change our hearts to be good and to make a fresh start – just like the woman in this Sunday’s Gospel! Just like the season of spring!

Continue through the remaining days of Lent to spring clean your heart for Jesus!

Bishops ask Catholics to act now on health care bill

The Catholic Herald — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 22:23:50 +0000

As long-time advocates of health care reform, the U.S. Catholic bishops continue to make the moral case that genuine health care reform must protect the life, dignity, consciences and health of all, especially the poor and vulnerable. Health care reform should provide access to affordable and quality health care for all, and not advance a pro-abortion agenda in our country. Genuine health care reform is being blocked by those who insist on reversing widely supported policies against federal funding of abortion and plans which include abortion, not by those working simply to preserve these longstanding protections.

On Nov. 7, the U.S. House of Representatives passed major health care reform that reaffirms the essential, longstanding and widely supported policy against using federal funds for elective abortions and includes positive measures on affordability and immigrants.

On Dec. 24, the U.S. Senate rejected this policy and passed health care reform that requires federal funds to help subsidize and promote health plans that cover elective abortions. All purchasers of such plans will be required to pay for other people's abortions through a separate payment solely to pay for abortion. And the affordability credits for very low income families purchasing private plans in a Health Insurance Exchange are inadequate and would leave families financially vulnerable.

Outside the abortion context, neither bill has adequate conscience protection for health care providers, plans or employers.

Congressional leaders are now trying to figure out how the rules of the House and Senate could allow the final passage of a modified bill that would satisfy disagreements between House and Senate versions.

Contact your Representative and Senators today by e-mail, phone or FAX. To send a pre-written, instant e-mail to Congress go to www.usccb.org/action.

Call the U.S. Capitol switchboard at: (202) 224-3121, or call your members' local offices. Contact info can be found on members' Web sites at www.house.gov and www.senate.gov.

Here is a possible message you can send to your U.S. Representative:

"I am pleased that the House health care bill maintains the longstanding policy against federal funding of abortion. On the other hand, the provisions on abortion funding in the current un-amended Senate health care bill are seriously deficient and unacceptable. I urge you to work to uphold essential provisions against abortion funding, to include full conscience protection and to ensure that health care is accessible and affordable for all. I urge you to oppose any bill unless and until these criteria are met."

Here is a possible message you can send to your U.S. Senator:

"I am deeply disappointed that the current un-amended Senate health care bill fails to maintain the longstanding policy against federal funding of abortion and does not include adequate protection for conscience. I urge you to support essential provisions against abortion funding, similar to those in the House bill. Include full conscience protection and ensure that health care is accessible and affordable for all. I urge you to oppose any bill unless and until these criteria are met."

Votes in the House and Senate are expected at any time, so please act now.

Bishops, Catholic health group at odds on health bill

The Catholic Herald — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 21:25:17 +0000

WASHINGTON -- "Despite the good" that proposed health reform legislation "intends or might achieve," concerns about the abortion wording in the Senate-passed bill compel the U.S. bishops to "regretfully hold that it must be opposed until these serious moral problems are addressed," Cardinal Francis E. George of Chicago said March 15.

The statement from the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops came soon after the head of the Catholic Health Association called on House members to quickly pass the Senate legislation and make changes later.

A House vote on the health reform legislation was expected by March 20, with Senate and House action to follow on a separate bill containing a set of "fixes" proposed by President Barack Obama.

Sr. Carol Keehan, a Daughter of Charity who is CHA president and CEO, said in a March 13 statement that the Senate bill isn't perfect but would "make the lives of millions more secure, and their coverage more affordable."

She told Catholic News Service March 15 that she considered the Senate language "an acceptable way to prevent federal funding of abortion," even if it might not be the best way or the preferred way.

Cardinal George said in his statement that the USCCB concerns were "not quibbling over technicalities."

"The deliberate omission in the Senate bill of the necessary language that could have taken this moral question off the table and out of play leaves us still looking for a way to meet the president's and our concern to provide health care for those millions whose primary care physician is now an emergency room doctor," the cardinal said.

He acknowledged that the USCCB analysis "is not completely shared by the leaders" of CHA.

They believe, moreover, that the defects that they do recognize can be corrected after the passage of the final bill," Cardinal George said. "The bishops, however, judge that the flaws are so fundamental that they vitiate the good that the bill intends to promote.

"Assurances that the moral objections to the legislation can be met only after the bill is passed seem a little like asking us, in Midwestern parlance, to buy a pig in a poke," he added.

Sr. Carol said in her statement that CHA's priorities for health care reform were to "protect human life and dignity," including mothers and unborn children, and to "alleviate the suffering of people who cannot afford health insurance or cannot afford the health care they need."

She said those who want to pursue abortion coverage in their health insurance would have to "write a separate personal check for the cost of that coverage" and insurance companies would have to be carefully monitored to "assure that the payment for abortion coverage fully covers the administrative and clinical costs, that the payment is held in a separate account from other premiums and that there are no federal dollars used."

Sr. Carol, who was at the White House March 3 for Obama's announcement of the final push for health care reform, also praised the Senate bill for a "wonderful provision ... that provides $250 million over $10 years to pay for counseling, education, job training and housing for vulnerable women who are pregnant or parenting."

A lengthy analysis posted on the USCCB Web site March 12 said the "House-approved health care reform bill follows indispensable and long-standing federal policies on abortion funding and mandates, and conscience rights on abortion, while the Senate bill does not."

The USCCB analysis was directed at the points raised by Timothy Stolfzfus Jost, a law professor at the Washington and Lee University School of Law and co-author of a casebook widely used in the teaching of health law, in a March 11 article in The Hill newspaper.

"In our judgment, ... the Jost analysis is wrong in most of its major claims," the USCCB response said. "The Senate bill's major flaws are as real as ever and must be addressed."

Jost responded to the USCCB statement with a seven-page memorandum March 14 that said the Senate bill is "far more pro-life than the (USCCB pro-life) secretariat acknowledges, as has now been recognized by the Catholic Health Association and other pro-life organizations, leaders and theologians."

"The Senate bill is essentially as pro-life as the House bill, indeed more so on some issues," Jost said. "Pro-life members of Congress should, therefore, be supportive of the Senate bill."

In a letter March 11, Sr. Carol urge House members to "move quickly to enact health reform by passing the Senate-approved legislation in conjunction with a second 'corrections' bill providing for necessary legislative fixes that will improve the overall package."

She said the corrections package should include:

An increase in tax credits for low-income individuals and families.

A rise in Medicaid primary-care reimbursement rates to Medicare levels.

Extension of drug discounts for low-income patients to cover drugs dispensed for those patients during hospital stays. And, Sr. Carol said, "the bill should ensure that the final, overall health reform package will provide no federal funding for abortion."

The USCCB analysis had a similar message on abortion in response to those who, like Jost, see no "significant differences" between the House and Senate bills on abortion.

"If the House leadership believes that to be true, it should substitute the House language on abortion for the Senate language when it makes other changes," the USCCB said.

But Jost said such a recommendation "demonstrates a misunderstanding of the Senate procedures that constrain action at this time." The reconciliation process "can only deal with revenues and outlays of the federal government, which does not include the abortion issue," he said.

"The choice we face, in sum, is the Senate bill or our current health care system," Jost added. "The Senate bill will undoubtedly save many lives through extending insurance coverage to people who cannot afford insurance. It will also in all likelihood make abortion coverage less common than it is now, since people will have to explicitly choose and pay extra for it."

Congratulations to the "Watch the Bucks with Archbishop Listecki" winners!

The Catholic Herald — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 01:53:37 +0000

Congratulations to the winners of the "Watch the Bucks with Archbishop Listecki" contest. After dozens of entries, these seven names were drawn:

Heidi M. Antoni, St. Joseph, Waupun

Paula Beine, Holy Angels, West Bend

Daniel J. Strandt, St. John the Evangelist, Greenfield

Erik Anderson, St. John Vianney, Brookfield

Gregory Ermatinger, Our Lady of Peace, Marshfield

Daniel Piessens, St. Mary's Visitation, Elm Grove

Jon Whittet, Old St. Mary, Milwaukee

On evangelization, brackets and odds

Brian Olszewski — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 22:42:41 +0000

Sorry that it has been more than a month since I have written. All those Lutz toe-loops and twizzels during the Olympic figure skating competition made my head spin for days afterward.

However, I was once again so inspired by the bobsled competition, particularly because of the gold medal win for the U.S. four-man team, that I am considering renewing my quadrennial call for the Vatican to enter a bobsled team in the 2014 games in Sochi, Russia.
The Holy See takes sports seriously, given the Pontifical Council for the Laity has had a Church and Sport division since 2004.

It's probably too late for them to consider entering racewalkers in the 2012 London games, but c'mon, there have to be a couple of people in Vatican City who could handle a bobsled, right? The possibilities for international evangelization would be tremendous as their sleds, Spiritus and Dominus, speed along the track. Hey, if you don't like those, you're welcome to suggest other names for the Vatican's sleds.

Sports and religion in one bracket: There is a possibility -- albeit a slim one -- for an all-Catholic school Final Four in the NCAA men's tournament. Eight Catholic schools received bids on Sunday: Georgetown in the Midwest; Marquette in the East; Gonzaga and Xavier in the West; and Siena, Notre Dame, Villanova and St. Mary's of California in the South. How can you not cheer for Siena when their nickname is the Saints? But I'm torn, since those Saints face "my" Purdue Boilermakers in the first round.

I want the Catholic schools to do well. My hope is that if I attended one of them, and that school goes deep into the tourney and gets an even bigger share of that TV money, that will be one less call and/or mailing I receive from that institution's development office asking me for money.

Odds of another sort: They either don't take much interest in the NCAA tournament in Ireland or the betting action has been slow because paddypower.com is posting odds on who will be the next pope.

They see Cardinal Francis Arinze of Nigeria, Prefect Emeritus of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, at 4-1. Three are listed at 8-1: Cardinal Peter Turkson of Ghana, president of the Pontifical Counccil for Justice and Peace; Cardinal Angelo Scola, patriarch of Venice; and Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga of Honduras. I met and interviewed the latter several years ago when he received an honorary degree from Carthage College. Definitely has a universal view of the church.

As for Americans on the list, Cardinal William Levada, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, 10-1; Archbishop Raymond Burke, head of the Roman Rota, 14-1; Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, 18-1; Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York, 50-1; and Cardinal Francis George of Chicago, 80-1.

For whatever it is worth, in 2005 paddypower.com correctly figured that then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger would succeed Pope John Paul II.