In 2012, the U.S. Bishops’ Ad Hoc Committee for Religious Liberty issued the statement Our First, Most Cherished Liberty, expressing grave concerns about increasing attacks against religious liberty at home and abroad. One of these attacks is the Obama Administration’s HHS contraception/abortifacient/sterilization mandate, but there are many other threats to religious liberty as well.
In this statement, the Ad Hoc Committee also announced the first Fortnight for Freedom designed to raise awareness of the serious threats to religious freedom and to call Catholics to fourteen days of prayer, education and action for religious freedom in the United States and abroad. The Bishops are calling us to a fourth Fortnight for Freedom this year from June 21 to July 4.
The timeframe of the Fortnight was chosen because it corresponds with the liturgical celebrations of the great martyrs who remained faithful in the face of persecution by political power, including St. Thomas More and St. John Fisher, St. John the Baptist, SS. Peter and Paul, and the First Martyrs of Rome.
The theme of this year’s Fortnight is “Freedom to Bear Witness” and according to Archbishop William Lori, Chairman of the Ad Hoc Committee for Religious Liberty, “Keeping the spirit of the Gospel means that Catholic institutions are to bear witness in love to the full truth about the human person by providing social, charitable, and educational services in a manner that fully reflects the God-given dignity of the human person.”
This freedom to bear witness is in grave jeopardy by the Obama Administration and other forces that think that the First Amendment grants freedom to worship (not freedom of religion) as long as it stays within the four walls of our churches. Given the substantial contributions that the Catholic Church (and others) makes to the well-being of society (e.g. social services, education, charitable and spiritual works) one would think that the government would want to encourage such activity, not squelch it.
Nonetheless, in addition to the HHS contraception/sterilization mandate, there is a growing range of religious freedom issues in so many areas of law, such as marriage, immigration, adoption, and disaster relief, both here and abroad.
Of greatest concern are the increasing threats to the religious freedom of those who believe that marriage is between one man and one woman. In the midst of this year’s Fortnight (June 29 or 30), the Supreme Court will likely be issuing its ruling on so-called same-sex “marriage” which could lead to profound violations of religious liberty.
The Fortnight is an important opportunity for raising awareness about these serious threats and establishing and maintaining a new movement for religious freedom.
Many excellent prayer and educational materials for celebrating the Fortnight are available (in English and Spanish) online at www.necatholic.org and www.fortnight4freedom.org. The prayer resources include a litany for liberty, a template for a holy hour, prayers of the faithful, and a prayer for the protection of religious liberty (available on three beautiful prayer cards).
The educational materials include several fact sheets explaining various domestic and international threats to religious liberty, and an excellent document providing compelling answers to frequently asked questions about religious liberty.
There are also daily reflections and readings taken from the Vatican II document Declaration on Religious Liberty (Dignitatis Humanae) along with questions that can be used for group discussion or personal reflection. This year marks the 50th anniversary of Dignitatis Humanae.
Fourteen additional suggestions for celebrating the Fortnight in your parish are available at www.necatholic.org and include: 1) celebrating a memorial Mass for SS. Thomas More and John Fisher on June 21 (vigil) or June 22 (their feast day) to open the Fortnight for Freedom; 2) sponsoring a movie night showing a relevant movie such as A Man for All Seasons, For Greater Glory, First Freedom: The Fight for Religious Liberty, or Becket; 3) praying the Prayer for the Protection of Religious Liberty at the end of daily Mass.
Finally, the Bishops urge us to stay up-to-date on current religious freedom issues by signing up for text messages from the USCCB. It’s easy. Just text the word “FREEDOM” to 377377. For those who prefer e-mail alerts, click on the “Take Action” link at www.fortnight4freedom.org.
“TEAM MOON: How 400,000 People Landed Apollo 11 on the Moon” by Catherine Thimmesh.
Houghton Mifflin Company, New York, 2006, 80 pages, 5-8.
On October 4, 1957, the old Soviet Union (Russia and its conquered countries) launched the first satellite into outer space. It was named “Sputnik,” which can be translated to ‘Satellite One’ in English. This event had enormous implications for world history, as the United States and the Soviet Union were engaged in what is known in history as the Cold War.
Ideologically, the question was whether Communism or Democracy was the better form of political government. Educationally, Sputnik shocked Americans into believing that somehow their schools were failing. Math and science funding rose dramatically after Sputnik. In May of 1961, President Kennedy proclaimed that the United States should commit itself to landing a man on the moon before the end of the decade. All of this started the “Space Race.”
Catherine Thimmesh has written an insightful account of the American space program and the massive effort of thousands of people to successfully land Apollo 11 on the moon. The name of this award-winning book is “TEAM MOON: How 400,000 People Landed Apollo 11 on the Moon.”
The building of the Apollo spaceships and the development of the astronaut corps to fly them was a gigantic undertaking. The Apollo 11 astronauts (Latin for ‘sailors of the stars’) were the highly talented pilots Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Buzz Aldrin. They had been handpicked from the most talented pilots in the American military.
The Grumman Aerospace Corporation developed a team of 7,500 who worked to build the lunar landing module known as “the LEM.” When it was finally constructed it was named the “Eagle.” The prime contractor for the command module was the North American Rockwell Corporation, and 14,000 people at Rockwell worked on the project. This included designers, engineers, mathematicians, welders and electricians. They hired more than 8,000 other companies to do various parts of the building project.
At Kennedy Space Center, some 17,000 engineers, mechanics, soldiers, contractors and other workers finally set up the enormous missile for the launch. The three astronauts finally went into the command module July 16, 1969. The countdown began, and at exactly 9:32 a.m., the missile was hurled into the heavens. Neil Armstrong, the flight commander radioed to the command center that “the Eagle has wings.”
Now the wait began. Upon arrival at the moon, Apollo 11 began its orbits. The crusty, no-nonsense director of mission control in Houston, Gene Kranz, told the moon directors to check over all their last calculations.
Finally, it was time. Kranz gave the word to the astronauts to begin the descent to the surface of the moon. As they began their final 30,000-foot descent, computer alarms began going off. The descent slowed to a crawl as mission control tried to figure out if the spaceship was going to crash. With the alarms still sounding, the spaceship hovered over the lunar landscape. Then another alarm sounded. The spaceship now had only 60 seconds of fuel left. Neil Armstrong had to decide whether to try to land the craft or abort the mission. Their own lives and the years of work by 400,000 people depended on their decision.
What happened? What was their decision and how was it made? What was the famous statement made by Neil Armstrong after the landing? To find out the answers to these and other questions, go to the library and check out this award-winning book “TEAM MOON” by Catherine Thimmesh.
This is a terrific book about one of the greatest accomplishments in the 20th century. It is very appropriate for reading and science study in Grades 5-8. I hope you can encourage students you know to study this interesting text. The writing and photographs are great. Enjoy!
This is my 1,200th Capitol Correspondent column.
That number has been reasonably verified, thanks to assistance from Sister Patricia Radek, archivist for the Diocese of Lincoln, and a supplemental visit to the microfilm library at the Nebraska State Historical Society.
This is also my last column. Twelve-hundred will be it. Retirement has arrived, after 38-plus years of employment with the Nebraska Catholic (Bishops’) Conference. The columns have always been a part of it.
One wag, whose anonymity shall be preserved, has estimated that my columns have amounted to more than 900,000 words and if I had been paid by the word, suggesting two-bits, I would have a nice nest-egg for retirement. Now you suggest it.
Instead of once more trying to be informative or insightful or provocative or critical or clever or (even) humorous—I’ve tried them all—it is time to express sincerest gratitude to those who have made almost four decades and 1,200 columns possible.
First and foremost, I thank God for the many blessings of working for and under the leadership of 10 diocesan bishops: Archbishops Daniel E. Sheehan, Elden Francis Curtiss and George J. Lucas of Omaha; Bishops Glennon Patrick Flavin, Fabian W. Bruskewitz and James D. Conley of Lincoln; and Bishops John J. Sullivan, Lawrence J. McNamara, William J. Dendinger and Joseph G. Hanefeldt of Grand Island. Their support and encouragement, including for my role as a columnist, have been greatly valued and appreciated.
Each of these Shepherds has been the official publisher of the respective diocesan newspaper. Catholic Nebraskans are blessed to be served by these outstanding and remarkable publications: The Catholic Voice of the Archdiocese, the Southern Nebraska Register of Lincoln and the West Nebraska Register of Grand Island.
It also has been a blessing and a privilege to have coordinated with the diocesan newspaper editors. From my perspective, those of the past and those who currently serve must be regarded as special people in the work of the Church: From The True Voice/Catholic Voice: Father Bill Kelligar, John C. McGinn, Dave Hoberman, Steve Kent, Charlie Wieser and Deacon Randy Grosse; from the Southern Nebraska Register: Msgr. Tom Kealy and Msgr. James Dawson, both more-than-capably assisted by one of my most cherished mentors, Dean Lusienski, Ph.D.; Father Kenneth Borowiak and Father Nicholas Kipper, both more-than-capably assisted by Cathy Blankenau Bender; and from the West Nebraska Register: Father Bernard Berger, Father Francis Curran, Marilyn Zastrow and Mary Parlin.
The assistance of these people was consistent and invaluable, but no way did it exceed, or could it have exceeded, the patience they had with me. Newspapers have deadlines and space limitations, which I haven’t always fully appreciated. There were some clashes, some tension, typically over their headlines or my wordiness, but usually not content or opinion. John McGinn, on the other hand, had a knack for being brutally honest, sometimes with political overtones. We had a few shouting matches, but a lot more high-fives and a special friendship.
I’ve written columns at all sorts of times and in many types of places: late at night, before dawn in the morning; by long-hand in planes, trains and automobiles (not while driving), by dictation while driving (perhaps just once or twice). I’ve dictated columns via telephone in airports and hotel rooms and even while attending a sporting event; but never in church, although I have been inspired there. These admissions give context to the editors’ patience. The advances of technology have been useful, especially laptops and the Internet.
Topics? Gosh, when you daily traverse an intersection of Catholic teaching and public policy, the subject matter is vast and diverse, to say the least. Controversy was seldom lacking as fertile ground for commentary. What’s more, “try to lighten up on occasion,” was fairly common advice.
And yet, there were times when ideas didn’t formulate easily. Sitting and just staring at a typewriter or a computer monitor can be frustrating, especially since time doesn’t stand still. I have vented by throwing things (e.g., pens and pencils), but never a coffee cup that would break. Restless sleep was another nuisance.
My favorite and most cherished column was my first, 1,199 ago, in February of 1977. I wrote it in the form of a message to my then-5-month-old daughter; explaining, as best I could, Daddy’s new job. Now, she’s almost 39, has five children of her own and not much time to be particularly interested in Dad’s now-ended job.
Two other columns often come to mind. They were my efforts to express meaningful, adequate tributes upon the deaths of two wonderful gentlemen and scholars who greatly influenced my professional life: the aforementioned Dean Lusienski and Robert B. Crosby, one-time Governor of Nebraska, who later was legal counsel for the Nebraska Catholic Conference.
And so, a little too wordy once again. Time to move out and move on; to terminate what has been a magnificent journey.
But perhaps, just maybe, I won’t resist writing a letter-to-the-editor once in a while.
I am elated to announce that Catholic Social Services of Southern Nebraska will hold its second annual “Summer Eve’s Celebration” at the Whiskey Run Creek Winery in Brownville.
Since we started offering social and emergency services in 2000, we have provided, astonishingly, more than 1.5 million dollars of total assistance to individuals and families in the southeastern sector of the diocese of Lincoln. It is important to remember that the mission of this center is to help needy individuals and families all across the southeastern sector of the diocese, and not just in Auburn. This includes assistance with rent, utilities, food, furniture, appliances, vehicles, grants for clinical counseling and more.
Since opening, our St. Francis Center has expanded significantly. If you have not been able to visit this beautiful campus located in downtown Auburn, we invite you to do so. There you will find a beautiful expanded thrift store, the profits of which are used to help needy individuals and families; a warehouse in the back to support our retail operation; social and clinical offices; and a beautiful chapel with the Blessed Sacrament, dedicated to St. Francis. Clients, staff and volunteers are welcome to make a visit.
We invite you to join us from 7 to 9 p.m. Saturday, June 27, at Whiskey Run Creek Winery in Brownville, for an evening of wine, hors d’oeuvres and a silent auction. Also included will be the finest musical entertainment from local musicians who love the Lord. Tickets are $50. All proceeds will be used to help needy individuals and families who live in the southeastern portion of our beautiful diocese. The food will be catered by Marge Wenzl and her gang. If you ever have stayed at the Convent House Bed and Breakfast in Steinauer, you know that the food will be five stars!
We hope many of you will be able to join us as we celebrate what God has done in southeastern Nebraska because of His grace and the generosity our supporters. If you are unable to attend, please pray for the success of this night of fun and entertainment as we give glory and thanks to God and thank our many benefactors.
I would like to take this opportunity to also thank our committee members for their hard work in planning this special event as well as our corporate sponsors. Please know that all of you are in our prayers! St. Francis, pray for us!
“Ghosts in the Fog: The Untold Story of Alaska’s WWII Invasion”
by Samantha Seiple.
Scholastic Press, New York, 2011, 221 pages, 7-9.
Images of wars are constantly shown each day on television newscasts. Most of these war broadcasts are from the Middle East and usually involve some type of religious extremism. Some of the countries in which these wars are taking place seem “backward” to Americans. Because of this, war seems far away and not part of American life. While most Americans know that Imperial Japan attacked the United States Naval Fleet at Pearl Harbor in 1941, very few people are aware of the Japanese military invasion of the Aleutian Islands in Alaska in 1942. The Alaskan Campaign to retake these Aleutian Islands turned into a brutal and bloody conflict. Samantha Seiple tells the harrowing facts about this battle in “Ghosts in the Fog: The Untold Story of Alaska’s WWII Invasion.”
With the destruction of so much of the Pacific Fleet on Dec. 7, 1941, the United States military was rocked off its feet. In rapid succession, the Japanese military attacked and conquered the Philippines, Singapore and French Indo-China. Underequipped and ill-prepared, the United States tried to imagine where the next strike might be. Shortly after the Battle of Midway, the country found out. The Japanese launched a full-scale attack on the Aleutian Islands in Alaska.
The Japanese successfully landed their forces in Alaska. Now the American government was forced to attack the islands to reclaim their own territory. These battles were very important because imperial command posts in the Aleutians could have given Japan bases to launch attacks on the West Coast. It is hard to imagine a worse place to fight a war. The Aleutians are cold, wind-driven and frequently covered in fog. These awful conditions are worsened by poor American planning. The ten thousand man strong Seventh Infantry Division was sent to drive the Japanese invaders from the islands. Amazingly enough, the American High Command sent the Seventh Division from a desert training base into the cold and brutal Aleutians. The soldiers were told that the battle would take only three days, so there was no need for winter clothing. The troops would pay for this stupid decision with frostbite as the battle stretched into months. The author also tells the story of what happened to the Native Americans and American civil workers during these battles. Since the Japanese believed in the “bushido” code, anyone surrendering was considered to be a coward and could be treated with contempt. Seiple gives detailed accounts of what happened to prisoners and the names and types of airplanes and military hardware used in the conflict.
So how did the United States finally dislodge the Japanese Army from Alaska? What happens if a country isn’t ready when it is attacked? Why is it necessary to remember the WWII invasion of Alaska? To find out the answers to these and other questions about this important story, go to the library and check out “Ghosts in the Fog: The Untold Story of Alaska’s WWII Invasion” by Samantha Seiple.
The author has done a considerable amount of research on the Alaskan invasion. The book is filled with accounts from diaries, military statements and weather reports. Seldom have battles been fought in such fog shrouded conditions. This book would be very useful in junior high and middle schools. We need to remember that the United States is not impervious to military attacks, or that wars are always in someplace far away. This book is a helpful reminder of the need for a country to be prepared because the price of freedom is eternal vigilance.
The Nebraska Catholic Conference (NCC) represents the collective voice of the three Catholic bishops in Nebraska. The Conference does not take a position on a piece of legislation unless the three bishops agree on that position.
Legislation that involves particularly serious, sensitive, or complicated matters is typically discussed at length by the bishops and the members of the Conference Board along with the Conference staff. At the root of such discussions is Catholic teaching which provides essential guidance for evaluating legislation and determining what, if any, position the Conference should take on the legislation.
This year, two of the bills that received significant discussion and analysis by NCC are LB 268 (repeal the death penalty and replace with life in prison without parole) and LB 586 (creates new unlawful employment practices on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity).
The Conference’s support of LB 268 is based upon Church teaching as presented in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (#2267): “Assuming that the guilty party’s identity and responsibility have been fully determined, the traditional teaching of the Church does not exclude recourse to the death penalty, if this is the only possible way of effectively defending human lives against the unjust aggressor.
“If, however, non-lethal means are sufficient to defend and protect people’s safety from the aggressor, authority will limit itself to such means, as these are more in keeping with the concrete conditions of the common good and more in conformity with the dignity of the human person.”
“Today, in fact, as a consequence of the possibilities which the state has for effectively preventing crime, by rendering one who has committed an offense incapable of doing harm—without definitively taking away from him the possibility of redeeming himself—the cases in which the execution of the offender is an absolute necessity ‘are very rare, if not practically non-existent.’”
The bishops believe that the primary condition (i.e. absolute necessity) needed to legitimize use of the death penalty does not exist at this time in Nebraska. For this reason, the bishops, guided by prudence and the teaching of the Church, made the decision to support legislative efforts to repeal the death penalty and replace it with life in prison without parole.
The Conference’s opposition to LB 586 is also based upon Church teaching. The Catechism confirms that men and women with homosexual tendencies “must be accepted with respect, compassion and sensitivity” (2358). However, the vague definition of “sexual orientation” in LB 586 would likely require employers to affirm and support sexual behavior that the Catechism, referencing Sacred Scripture, characterizes as “intrinsically disordered” (2357).
The same broad definition could also be invoked to mandate employment protection of the sexual behavior of unmarried heterosexual couples, which the Catechism describes as “gravely contrary to the dignity of persons and of human sexuality…” (2353). By its nature, LB 586 would require employers to be cognizant of their employee’s sexual behavior and to take it into account in their employment practices.
Most proponents of LB 586 also are overlooking the serious implications of conferring vaguely-defined protections based on “gender identity.” This ideological concept was not part of the public policy debate in 1992 and therefore is not referenced in the Catechism. But both Pope Francis and Pope Benedict XVI have raised strong objections to its growing influence.
In summary, Pope Francis describes gender theory as “an error of the human mind that leads to so much confusion.” Pope Benedict describes “gender” as a new philosophy of sexuality that constitutes “the manipulation of nature.” He has warned that it disputes “man and woman in their created state as complementary versions of what it means to be human,” thereby denying “an essential aspect of what being human is all about” and the family as a reality established by creation.
I have received passionate emails on both bills from Catholics who disagree with NCC’s position. Some of the emails were snarky at best and nasty at worst. Since I generally don’t respond to correspondence that lacks civility, I want to make clear in this space that the policy positions of NCC reflect the teaching of our Church and our bishops.
Not long ago on a beautiful spring morning at a local grocery store while standing in line after Mass, I noticed my cashier was on the verge of tears. This was only after telling a short story to someone else in another check-out line.
While carrying my basket containing oatmeal, yogurt and some other small items to a cash register, I noticed a woman I knew in the adjacent check-out line. After exchanging pleasantries I asked her what her plans for the day were. I was informed she was to attend a wedding later in the afternoon. We know that marriage is a union between a man and a woman where the two become one flesh until death. This union is a reflection of the bond between God the Father and God the Son, whose love between each other eternally generates a third person – namely God the Holy Spirit. It also is a reflection between Jesus Christ and His bride the Catholic Church. It is to her that He is eternally faithful. And finally, it is a reflection between the union between divinity and humanity in the divine person of Jesus Christ.
She then asked me what my plans were for the day. I informed her that I would be going to the nursing home where my dad resides. I related that he suffered another stroke after which all speech ceased. No more talking. It was no more than babble. If he makes it another month, my parents will celebrate their 63rd anniversary.
I explained that my mother sees him almost daily to feed him and to be with him. Soon after this last stroke, she noticed him staring into her eyes intently trying desperately to talk. She asked him, “Lou, what is it? What do you want to tell me?” After some struggle, he was able to say clearly, “I love you!” It was then that I noticed that my cashier was on the verge of crying. I still wonder if she was left high and dry by an unfaithful husband….
Whenever talking about love, I always like to mention the first letter of the evangelist John in the Bible. From it, we are told that God is love and the evidence of our love of God is our love of neighbor, and the evidence of our love of neighbor is our sacrifices for them. Thank you, mom and dad, for your love for each other for almost 63 years! Thank you also to our donors who truly love God because of their love of neighbor.
“Four Feet, Two Sandals”
by Karen Lynn Williams and Khadra Mohammed, illustrated by Doug Chayka.
Eerdmans Books for Young Readers, Grand Rapids, Mich., 2007, 32 pages, Grades 2-4.
War is filled with death and misery. To escape the horrors of war, people are often forced to flee their birthplace and sometimes even their country.
These people become refugees and often face a grim life of trying to get food to eat and clothes to wear. Refugees usually have little power or money, which makes them vulnerable.
If we think refugees are somehow responsible for their fate, we should recall the Holy Family’s Flight into Egypt. After St. Joseph was warned, he took Mary and the Infant Jesus and left in the middle of the night. The Holy Family had done nothing wrong, but there they were in flight from Herod’s assassins.
In today’s world, millions of people are refugees because of war, drought and famine. Karen Williams has written a touching story of two refugee girls sharing all that they have in a desperate refugee camp. The name of this moving story is “Four Feet, Two Sandals.”
Lina races into the crowd when a relief truck brings much-needed clothes to the camp. All the people are fighting for the clothes and Lina was only able to get one sandal. Having been barefoot for two years, Lina wonders what happened to the other sandal.
Nearby, another young girl stands, holding the other sandal. She looks thin and weak and her cracked lips betray her recent arrival in the camp. Both girls turn and go back to their tents.
The next day, wearing one sandal, Lina walks to the stream to do the family laundry. The girl with the other sandal is also doing the laundry at the stream. She quickly takes off the sandal and gives it to Lina. She says her grandmother has told her it is stupid to only wear one sandal.
She turns quickly to leave and Lina asks her for her name. The girl replies, “I am Feroza.” Moved by Feroza’s generosity, Lina inquires to see if they might be able to share the sandals. That way each girl could wear the sandals every other day. Feroza is genuinely touched by Lina’s consideration and agrees to the plan. So every day, the girls switch sandals.
As they grow closer, both girls share their lives and the reasons they are refugees. Both have had numerous family members killed in the war. Because of the fighting, both families had to flee Afghanistan into neighboring Pakistan. Now they are both waiting to see if they can immigrate to the United States or Europe. The days pass and the girls spend their days together. Everyone is waiting for the exit visa so they could start their lives again. Finally, one of the girls is told to go to the processing center for immigration. Who has been called?
What happens during the immigration process to the girls? How does the family prepare to leave Afghanistan? How does the love between the girls express itself during this time? What is the final beautiful present the one gives to the other? To find out the answer to these and other questions, go to the library and check out this beautiful yet haunting story, “Four Feet, Two Sandals” by Karen Williams.
Pope Francis frequently urges nations to be generous to immigrants. This story tells the hard life of refugees with a lighter touch. The love the girls have for each other assists them in overcoming the hardships they encounter. In their trials, the girls develop the virtues of kindness and charity towards others. This book is a beautiful story about a very painful reality. I hope you get a chance to share it with the younger members of your family or in a classroom setting. It is a moving story.
There is a famous saying in Nebraska: ‘If you do not like the weather, just wait around and it will change.’
Every year we have severe weather. If it isn’t an ice storm, it is a severe thunderstorm with hail, strong winds, tornados and flooding. I would like to thank Curt Krueger, who traveled the diocese to assess the damage and to offer help the morning after the deluge of rain. Thanks also to our other staff members who were helping out.
The morning after the severe weather in which Lincoln received more than 6 inches of rain, I met a woman in our parking lot carrying a good-sized sack of groceries. After greeting her, she tearfully informed me she was in the midst of cleaning up her basement because of the flooding and although she was not a wealthy lady, she felt compelled to go to the grocery store and buy food for our pantry to help those who are worse off than she was. Before we said our ‘goodbyes’ I imparted my priestly blessing to her.
I was amazed and edified that in the midst of her clean-up, she felt moved by the Holy Spirit to think of others – evidence to me of her selfless love of neighbor which is evidence of her love of God who is love (see first John).
I am excited to inform you that we are participating in the Give to Lincoln Day, which is being held Thursday, May 28, sponsored by the Lincoln Community Foundation.
By participating, each dollar will count even more because we will receive a share of a $300,000 match fund provided by the Lincoln Community Foundation and their sponsors. The more that is donated, the more we will receive from the matching fund, which will be used to help needy individuals and families that come to us seeking emergency services and grants for counseling services for those who are un-insured or under-insured.
I love to tell people that whatever you give, God will place two zeros behind your donation and that will be your deposit to your 401-K plan in heaven, for God rewards us one-hundred fold.
I would like to thank the lady mentioned above, who later sent an e-mail which in part said, “Dear Beloved Friend, Your blessing the day I dropped off food to the Catholic office on “O” strengthened me and let me have peace … I promise to keep you in my prayers always and ask that you remember me and my family in your sacrifice of the holy Mass... God bless you. Your new friend.”
I would like to thank her for her selfless love for Jesus Christ who lives in the poor and needy, and to all of our donors who selflessly love their neighbor by supporting us. I pray that the upcoming Give to Lincoln Day is a success.
To learn more and to donate online May 28, please visit www.GiveToLincoln.com. Or, if you wish to donate at the office of the Lincoln Community Foundation, they will be accepting donations on May 28. They are located at 215 Centennial Mall South from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Please know that all of you, your families and intentions are in our prayers at Catholic Social Services as we pray for you daily!
Since Nebraska became a state in 1867, a total of 37 people have been executed in our state. Thirty-four of those executions took place prior to 1972 when the United States Supreme Court put a moratorium on use of the death penalty.
Three executions have been carried out in Nebraska since the Supreme Court restored the death penalty in 1976: Harold Otey in 1994, John Joubert in 1996 and Robert Williams in 1997.
There are currently 11 individuals on death row in Nebraska.
In 1979, three years after the Supreme Court allowed states to resume use of the death penalty, the Nebraska Legislature voted to prohibit its use. Then-Governor Charlie Thone vetoed the bill and the Legislature was unable to override his veto.
Since 1979, largely because of the persistence of Sen. Ernie Chambers, the Legislature has had a perennial debate on the question of repealing the death penalty and replacing it with life in prison without parole. This year, Sen. Chambers’ repeal bill, LB 268, has the best chance of enactment since 1979.
The Nebraska Catholic Conference, representing the three bishops in Nebraska, supports repealing the death penalty and replacing it with life in prison without parole. The Conference testified in support of LB 268 and has been lobbying senators to urge their support for the bill.
In communicating our position, the Conference has made it clear that the teaching of the Church does not condemn use of the death penalty in principle. The Catechism of the Catholic Church (#2267) says that “Assuming that the guilty party’s identity and responsibility have been fully determined, the traditional teaching of the Church does not exclude recourse to the death penalty, if this is the only possible way of effectively defending human lives against the unjust aggressor.”
However, the Catechism also says if “non-lethal means are sufficient to defend and protect people’s safety from the aggressor, authority will limit itself to such means, as these are more in keeping with the concrete conditions of the common good and more in conformity with the dignity of the human person.”
The Catechism’s teaching on the death penalty was influenced by the writings of Saint John Paul in his encyclical Evangelium Vitae (The Gospel of Life). In paragraph 56 he says:
“The primary purpose of the punishment which society inflicts is ‘to redress the disorder caused by the offence.’ Public authority must redress the violation of personal and social rights by imposing on the offender an adequate punishment for the crime, as a condition for the offender to regain the exercise of his or her freedom. In this way authority also fulfills the purpose of defending public order and ensuring people’s safety, while at the same time offering the offender an incentive and help to change his or her behaviour and be rehabilitated.
“It is clear that, for these purposes to be achieved, the nature and extent of the punishment must be carefully evaluated and decided upon, and ought not go to the extreme of executing the offender except in cases of absolute necessity: in other words, when it would not be possible otherwise to defend society. Today however, as a result of steady improvements in the organization of the penal system, such cases are very rare, if not practically non-existent.”
In their joint statement on the use of the death penalty in Nebraska, Archbishop Lucas, Bishop Conley and then-Bishop Dendinger concluded that this primary condition (i.e. absolute necessity) needed to legitimize use of the death penalty does not exist at this time in Nebraska. “For this reason,” the statement reads, “the Catholic bishops of Nebraska, guided by prudence and the teaching of the Church, support legislative efforts to repeal the death penalty and reform our criminal justice system.”
Legislative Bill 268 advanced a few weeks ago from the first stage of debate with 31 votes (out of 49 senators). The bill is likely to have a second round of debate during the week of May 11 and, if it advances, would have a final vote within two weeks.
Governor Pete Ricketts has indicated he intends to veto the bill if it reaches his desk. It would take 30 votes to override his veto. Please go online to www.necatholic.org and send a message to your state senator and to Governor Ricketts asking them to replace the death penalty with life in prison without parole.
“That’s Papa’s Way,” by Kate banks, illustrated by Lauren Castillo.
Frances Foster Books, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York, 2009, 32 pages, K-2.
Parenting is one of the most challenging but enjoyable roles in marriage. Children can only learn if the parents are willing to teach.
Too often, today we speak of “quality time” in parenting. Adults from previous generations would not know what we are talking about. The reason for this is that they knew that children require lots of time and attention. They didn’t necessarily rate the times as good, better or best.
So sometimes, the best time parents can spend with their children is when they aren’t trying to do very much. They are not trying to turn the children into great pianists or presidents. They are just spending time with their youngsters. Kate Banks has written a charming story about a young girl spending the day fishing with her father. The title of this delightful tale is “That’s Papa’s Way.”
It is early in the morning and Papa picks up a coffee can and his daughter takes her little shovel. They walk into the forest looking for earthworms. When they come across a good location, Papa stops and the little girl begins digging in the soil. Soon, Papa reaches down and picks up an earthworm. He wiggles it in front of the child and she pulls back. So Papa lets her take out her little shovel and dig up some more worms. Finally, when the can is full, the father and daughter begin to head to a lake. They are going to be fishing together all day.
They load up the boat and the little girl tumbles in as she tries to enter. It is no big deal. Soon Papa is rowing the boat out along the shores of the lake. They are looking for a good place to begin fishing. Soon, they find the ideal area and Papa casts into the water. The little girl merely drops her line over the side of the boat. Then they begin waiting.
The ducks begin to swim by as they wait and wait and wait. The child begins to get anxious for something to happen. But Papa tells her that people like to think when they are fishing, and that the sport requires patience. It doesn’t help that people in other boats are beginning to catch fish.
Then Papa’s line jerks and he begins reeling in a beautiful fish. All of a sudden, sea gulls begin flying around the boat and geese begin swimming toward them. The little girl is trying to figure out what all of this means when her line sharply tugs. As her pole dips to the water, her mouth opens wide. What has just happened?
What just took place? Did the girl catch her first fish? Have you ever caught a fish? What did it feel like? What role did Papa have in all of this? And finally, what do parents and children learn by just spending a day together?
To find out the answers to these and other questions, go to the library and check out this pleasant story, “That’s Papa’s Way,” by Kate Banks.
Kate Banks is a delightful author and her stories are uplifting and fun. The father and daughter have a very wholesome relationship in the book, and the child learns trust from her caring dad. By the end of the day, both father and daughter have deepened their love for each other. I hope you get a chance to go to the library and check out this pleasing book. It is great fun to read. Enjoy!
An amendment introduced and pending on a controversial legislative bill in the current session of the Unicameral is a phony ploy that mocks the process and the integrity of the institution. Its manipulative purpose can hardly be anything other than to cause the public, the media and legislators who aren’t paying careful attention to think the amendment does something it doesn’t do.
The legislative bill is LB 586. It pertains to the Nebraska Fair Employment Practices Act (NFEPA). That law was first enacted in 1965, as part of the state’s response to the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964. It hasn’t been changed much since then.
NFEPA, which applies to all Nebraska employers of at least 15 employees, forbids employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, disability, marital status or national origin. (Soon, it will include pregnancy, by virtue of recent passage of LB 627.)
LB 586 proposes to add both “sexual orientation” and “gender identity,” as defined in the bill, to that list of protected classifications. It also proposes to apply the same prohibition to all employers, regardless of the number of employees, who are contractors or subcontractors of the state or any political subdivision. And it makes a few other, narrower policy changes as well.
As analyzed by long-time Omaha trial attorney Martin Cannon and others, NFEPA currently allows limited exceptions to its requirements. One exception provides that religion, sex, disability, marital status and national origin are permissible considerations for employment decisions when they are bona fide occupational qualifications reasonably necessary to the normal operation of the business. For fundamental, sound and deeply rooted reasons, race and color understandably do not qualify as BFOQs. (By the terms of LB 586, sexual orientation and gender identity also would not qualify; treating them as equivalent to race and color.)
Another exception has been part of the law since 1965; decades before adding either sexual orientation or gender identity was even contemplated. It too stemmed from and mirrored federal law. Codified as section 48-1103 of the state statutes, it reads as follows:
“The Nebraska Fair Employment Practices Act shall not apply to: “(1) A religious corporation, association, or society with respect to the employment of individuals of a particular religion to perform work connected with the carrying on by such corporation, association or society of its religious activities;….” (Emphasis added, for good reason)
By its terms, the exception applies only when the qualifying entity makes an employment decision based on a person’s particular religion, and then only with regard to religious activities in the employment. It seems abundantly clear that this exception would not protect any religious entity from a claim that it discriminated on the basis of any classification other than religion.
A firm, if not irrefutable, conclusion can be made that the religious exception of section 48-1103 would not apply to the new prohibition that LB 586 seeks to impose. Given its parameters, it seems abundantly clear that the limited exception in the current law would not allow religious entities to make employment decisions they deem necessary due to their religious convictions about sexual conduct or lifestyle. (Employers that are not organized as religious entities clearly would be subject to the new prohibition.)
If the sponsor of LB 586, Senator Adam Morfeld of Lincoln, honestly and genuinely intended that his proposed ban on employment decisions based on sexual orientation and gender identity would not apply to religious entities, which he seems to want the public and the other legislators to think he intends, then he would be proposing to modify section 48-1103 to make that clear, or doing so with a free-standing provision.
But that is not what he is proposing; which returns us to the bogus committee amendment and the manner in which it is being used to manipulate the process on LB 586.
If section 48-1103 is not undergoing actual modification, then there is no legitimate reason to add it to LB 586, nor should it be added. Yet Sen. Morfeld and four other members of the Judiciary Committee sent the bill forward to the full Legislature with a recommendation that section 48-1103 be added to the bill in an all-but-unchanged form, other than one tiny, irrelevant modification; namely, the statute has a second paragraph that is fully unrelated to the religious-entity exemption; in that unrelated paragraph, the Morfeld group’s amendment changes “any” to “an” as a modifier of “individual,” for no necessary or related context. It’s as far from being substantive as an amendment can get.
An amendment that actually doesn’t amend shouldn’t exist; by its nature, an amendment has to change something. But on LB 586, a tiny, unrelated, non-substantive change was disingenuously created just so the pertinent, unchanged part could be carried into the bill, in order to make it appear that the bill has an exception for religious entities that would apply to the newly proposed classifications of sexual orientation and gender identity.
It’s bogus; a ruse, a manipulative ploy. What’s more, it’s surprising and troubling that the Legislature’s bill drafting office didn’t refuse to be complicit in it.
The hope here is that this ploy will backfire. It will if senators consider it carefully.
LB 586 offers legitimate policy issues. They shouldn’t be manipulated.
“I am the vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch of mine that bears no fruit, he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit … Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches, He who abides in me, and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing” (Jn 15:1-5).
Many people know that this passage is one of the descriptions of the reality of the Blessed Trinity in the sacred scriptures. God the Father is the vine dresser, Jesus Christ, the Son of God is the vine and the sap in the vine is God the Holy Spirit.
We all know what happens when a branch is cut off a tree—it withers and dies. When we separate ourselves from the vine, that is, Jesus Christ, by falling into mortal sin, we die spiritually and risk eternal death unless we are grafted back on (Rom 11:11-24; Jn 20:23).
Just hours before typing these words, I met one of our benefactors. He reached into his wallet and gave me a check made out to Catholic Social Services. As I reflect further on these divinely inspired words given to St. John the Evangelist and Apostle, it is evident that God the Father has pruned away all of their selfishness as they are regular donors. They are so because they love their neighbor as themselves which is evidence of their love of God. This check will be very helpful since we are beginning our response to the storm damage and flooding.
This couple is living out the gospel mandate given to us in Matthew’s gospel chapter 25, verses 31-46. In reference to this famous passage in Matthew’s gospel, I once heard Msgr. Liam Barr say in a funeral homily, “We are given ahead of time the answers to the final exam!”
If we read a little further in the same chapter in John’s gospel it reads, “Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (Jn 15:13). In my homily at the school Mass at North American Martyrs School just hours ago, I stated that if anyone is ever confused as to what love is, just gaze at the crucifix. I reminded them while Jesus did not feel like mounting the cross, He did so out of love for us (Lk 22:42). This is evidence that love is not a feeling. Thanks to St. John and his first letter, we are told that God is love, and the evidence of our love of God is our love of neighbor, and the evidence of our love of neighbor is our sacrifices for them.
Over the last 12 years, I have gotten to know many of our supporters. They and all of our donors have one thing in common; they love God and their neighbors as themselves, and for this I am most grateful!
“Poetry for Young People: Edna St. Vincent Millay”
by Frances Schoonmaker, illustrated by Mike Bryce. Sterling Publishing Company, 1999, 48 pages, Grades 6-9.
Poetry is one of the most difficult genres of writing. Poetry is the art of describing complex ideas with very few words. This makes poets the ultimate wordsmiths. Though nonsense poetry is fun to read and relaxing, serious poetry makes demands on readers. They must be willing to enter into the ideas and emotions of the verse. As a result, readers are often deeply moved by the ideas and feelings being described. While traditional poetry usually contained some type of rhyming sequence, poets in the late 1800’s had already began turning from these traditional styles. Edna St. Vincent Millay was one such poet. Born in 1892, she burst onto the literary scene at the age of 20 with her famous poem, “Renascence.”
Frances Schoonmaker has gathered 34 of St. Vincent Millay’s poems together in this book published for younger readers. The name of this fine title is “Poetry for Young People: Edna St. Vincent Millay.”
Born into a New England world, Edna early learned the power of music, words and literature. When her father and mother divorced Edna was seven and began to understand that there would be suffering and pain in this life. She turned to her artistic side to make sense of the world. With her two sisters, Edna began to write plays and sing songs. Her caring mother became a seamstress and a nurse but never was able to make much money. The young girl kept writing poetry throughout these years. At the age of 20, she published her first poem, “Renascence.” The poem was so well received that she gained a certain fame from the verse. And with this, she began to write and write. Unfortunately, Edna suffered the typical fate of many poets. Though her poetry was increasingly liked, there was very little money from her publications. She worked hard at all kinds of trades such as a newspaper columnist and an actress. There were times when she was so poor that she couldn’t even heat her apartment. But she continued to write and write.
Fortune finally blessed her when a rich man with a generous heart fell in love with Edna. His name was Eugen Jan Boissevain. Having already made a great deal of money, he retired and served as Edna’s confidant, companion and stable rock of affection for their entire marriage. Finally freed from the trials of survival, St. Vincent Millay spent her entire life writing poetry. In the happy years that followed, Edna found her poetic voice in the everyday concerns of life and in the common emotions felt by everyone. Her deep love of the natural world is evident in most of her poems.
While the poetic style of Edna St. Vincent Millay has been criticized by some people as being too simple to be great poetry, others simply loved her imaginative use of common words and ideas. After all, poetry is usually criticized for being too intellectual or unapproachable. Rarely have poets been criticized for writing poetry that can be commonly understood and appreciated by normal people. But this is where her greatness lies. In her simple language, Edna St. Vincent Millay describes a complex world of feeling and beauty. She tries to understand the ultimate meaning of life and helps readers ask these important questions as well. I hope you get a chance to go to the library and read this fine selection of poems by this sensitive New England woman. I liked the book and think you will as well. Enjoy!
I had the privilege of directing a retreat to the executive council of the Religious Sisters of Mercy in Alma, Mich., April 26 through May 2.
The Religious Sisters of Mercy of Alma, Michigan is a Religious Institute of Pontifical Right dedicated to the Spiritual and Corporal Works of Mercy. It was established in 1973 and recognizes Venerable Catherine McAuley as its original foundress. The motherhouse is located in Alma, Mich.
Their charism and apostolate is to make present the mercy of God the Father to the poor, sick and ignorant, as the sisters use their talents of having been called to a degree of higher education. For example, I visited their medical clinic in Alma. Their administrator, internists, psychiatrist, psychologist and physical therapist are all Religious Sisters of Mercy. They will not and do not turn anyone away for medical or psychological care. The most important person in their clinic is the Divine person of Jesus Christ present in their beautiful chapel, adjacent to the waiting room. For those interested in finding out more you are invited to visit their website, www.rsmofalma.org.
The topic of our retreat was ‘Ascending Mount Carmel’ with St. John of the Cross and developing contemplative prayer. It was a weeklong journey and discussion of how one can become detached from the things of the world while at the same time becoming attached to God. St. John and his friend, St. Teresa of Avila, point out in their writings that all of us are called to spiritual union with God in this life, but few do so because of their attachments to the things of this world. In short, we are to travel the narrow road by ridding ourselves of our appetites of the things of the world - both sensual and spiritual - by going through the dark night of the senses and spirit.
It’s important to point out that when one becomes detached from the things of the world it does not mean that one does not enjoy them, but that they do not desire them. That said, I am confident that our many generous donors who help us spiritually with their prayers and penances, materially with items not needed around their homes and farms and financially with cash donations according to their means, do so because they have already advanced far down this narrow road of detachment of the things of this world by becoming attached to God. For this I thank you.
I also would like to thank Mother Mary McGreevy for her invitation to Alma, Michigan and all of the other religious I met in Alma for their love and hospitality. I went up to Alma to direct a retreat and ended up experiencing one!
“My daughter, know that My Heart is mercy itself. From this sea of mercy, graces flow out upon the whole world. No soul that has approached Me has ever gone away unconsoled. All misery gets buried in the depths of My mercy, and every saving and sanctifying grace flows from this fountain… Sooner would heaven and earth turn into nothingness than would My mercy not embrace a trusting soul.”
These words from the Diary of St. Maria Faustina Kowalska (#1777) are a beautiful expression of God’s Divine Mercy. For those who suffer from a past abortion, however, God’s mercy can seem incomprehensible.
Personal and intensely emotional stories of women struggling with a past abortion give testament to this sad reality. I’ve received such letters in my office and many others can be seen on post-abortion websites like www.hopeafterabortion.com (Project Rachel). Here is an excerpt from one of those letters:
“My personal journey of healing began after six long years of the most deafeningly silent pain… I remember during those dark years, I would wake up each morning, and for a few brief seconds, all was well. Then I would remember what I had done. The grief was all-consuming. But, like so many other women, I kept it locked inside. I had accepted my fate. I was unforgiveable.
“The enormity of what I had done actually made my steps heavier…I cried alone almost daily. For brief periods I could take my mind off of it. Sometimes I would even forget long enough to try and enjoy a comedy at the movies, but then mid-laughter I’d remember and my laughing would stop because, well, I didn’t deserve to laugh.
“Growing up in a Catholic family that attended Mass every Sunday, I never expected that I, of all people, would be in this situation. I convinced myself that I had committed an unforgiveable act. I felt utterly alone. I desperately needed to connect with other women who were suffering as I was, and I longed to be the woman I used to be.
“And then one fateful Sunday morning during Mass, my husband handed me a church bulletin, pointing out the words on the back: 'Project Rachel — a program for post-abortion healing through the archdiocese.' I couldn’t believe my eyes.
“It took me several months to muster up the nerve to call. I had done a fine job of beating myself up for years and I certainly didn’t need the person on the other end of the phone to make me feel any worse. But, when I finally called, it was not like that at all. The voice on the other end was warm and full of hope for me. My journey of healing began on that day that I made that phone call.
“Thanks to Project Rachel, I am me again…The power of forgiveness is life altering. I am happy again, and the people whom I love sense that. I will always regret my decision, and I will continue to carry my quiet secret with me. It has become a part of who I am, but it no longer defines who I am.”
Project Rachel is comprised of specially trained clergy and professional counselors who provide individual, confidential counseling and reconciliation to women and men suffering from a past abortion. In Nebraska, Project Rachel can be accessed by calling 1-888-456-HOPE (4673). Information on Project Rachel and abortion’s emotional and spiritual aftermath is also available online at www.hopeafterabortion.com.
In his 2009 homily on the Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul, Pope Benedict XVI cautioned that “without the healing of souls, without the healing of man from within there can be no salvation for humanity. How essential then to the mission of the Church are the pastoral and apostolic activities that draw women and men burdened by the sin of abortion closer to God’s merciful heart. It is no exaggeration to say that the Church’s ministry of healing and reconciliation after abortion is at the heart of the Church’s mission at this time in her history.”
“Glass Slipper, Gold Sandal: A Worldwide Cinderella”
by Paul Fleischman, illustrated by Julie Paschkis.
Henry Holt and Company, New York, 2007, 32 pages, K-2.
Fairy tales have long been used in many cultures to entertain children and to instruct the young in morality.
The joyful part of fairy tales is commonly understood, but the moral aspect is increasingly rejected in modern media. The reasons for this rejection are many, but the primary failure of this mindset is that societies have used fairy tales to teach youngsters to understand what is right and what is wrong. This presupposes a universal awareness within people of being able to distinguish good from evil.
The Cinderella fairy tale is one of the best-known stories in the world. Award-winning writer Paul Fleischman has used versions of Cinderella from many countries to tell the tale in this book. It is a very interesting approach and is entitled, “Glass Slipper, Gold Sandal: A Worldwide Cinderella.”
The story has a basic setting with the death of a wife and a widowed husband. Only a single daughter remains from this union. In the Mexican version, the daughter is given sugarcane by a nearby woman. The child encourages her lonely father to marry this nice widow woman. The lady has two daughters as well, and the young girl believes she will have a happy family.
The father finally gives in and marries the woman. However, soon trouble begins as the new mother favors her own daughters and insults the girl.
Next, we see the Korean version of the fairy tale, with the stepmother making the child sleep among the ashes near the fireplace. Covered in soot, she is now named Cinderella.
In the version from Iraq, Cinderella is now lonely, hungry and frightened. Thinking of her plight, the girl blames herself for the awful marriage of her father, since she begged him to marry the widow.
Not knowing what to do, the Russian tale has Cinderella taking care of the family cattle. In her misery, one of the cows pours honey for her from one of its horns. Other countries, such as Iran and India, have animals giving the girl various types of rich foods in their stories.
Cinderella now is eating well and blooms into a beautiful young woman. Her two stepsisters are selfish and ugly and continually taunt Cinderella. At this time the Zimbabwe tale relates how the King of the country is trying to find a wife to be the queen. He sends out an invitation to all the unmarried women in the country to come to a party at the palace. But the Cinderella saga continues to take many different twists and turns in various countries.
What is the basic point of all the Cinderella stories? How does Cinderella respond to the unkindness and meanness she experiences in the fairy tale?
Why are all the versions of Cinderella so different and yet have so much in common? The French version by Perrault is the most common form of Cinderella in the United States. Did you even know there were other versions of the fairy tale? If not, go to the library and check out this enjoyable compilation of Cinderella stories by Paul Fleischman.
The Cinderella stories are very popular and common in most societies. Again, the point of the Cinderella story is that there is a punishment for choosing evil. The watered-down Disney versions in which everyone lives happily ever after are harmful to the purpose of fairy tales. The point of all fairy tales is that you will be punished if you act in a mean and selfish manner, and will be rewarded for choosing love and charity.
I hope you get an opportunity to read this interesting compilation of Cinderella stories. Though slightly different, they are all interesting versions of a beloved tale.
We were recently called by the owners of a house used as a rental to pick up any material items inside the home we wished to have. The renters had recently moved out and are now living elsewhere. We always love calls like this.
One of our truck drivers (who spent time in the seminary) noticed, tucked away, in the corner of the basement, an altar dedicated to Satan, along with multiple demonic items, books, statues, swords and other things difficult to describe. It looked to him that something akin to incense was burned to evil spirits.
We found out that it was the couple’s son and girlfriend who were responsible for this and that the parents were unaware of the goings-on in the basement.
After the astute material donations specialist saw the spectacle, I received the call as what to do. After a brief conversation with our diocesan exorcist, I headed over to the house, along with my manual of minor exorcisms and holy water to bless and exorcise the home.
Upon arriving, I was met by our crew of men and the Catholic couple who owned the home. They were happy to see me, to say the least. Before long, the house was blessed and exorcised and the aforementioned objects and swords are now where they belong – in the city landfill.
After getting this call, I thought of a couple I know who bought a home that was infested with demonic spirits. After buying the home they learned that a satanic witch lived there and performed many demonic rituals prior to the purchase. During the night they heard doors slamming and scratching on the walls. All these things ceased after the home was blessed by a priest.
Just before typing these words, I talked to a cousin of mine who bought a home in Nebraska, and after moving in, felt a cool, evil breeze blow past her and her family members – despite the air conditioner and furnace being off and the windows being closed, along with the sense of evil. They later learned that someone committed suicide in one of the bathrooms. Now please do not read this to mean that all who commit suicide are damned! Like the home mentioned above, this all ceased after a house blessing by a Catholic priest.
Oh, the power of a priestly blessing! If people realized this more fully, we priests would be constantly giving blessings to people we meet while in public. That said; please remember that it is a good idea to have your home, business and car blessed.
And remember the power of blessed holy water. I have fond memories of my parents blessing us children at night with holy water after our nighttime prayers. Please also be reminded of the power of the St. Michael the Archangel prayer and the prayer to our Guardian Angels.
If you never have had your home blessed, please do not hesitate to call your parish priest. I am confident he will happy to come over along with some holy water. “St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle!”
“Beautiful Moon: A Child’s Prayer”
by Tonya Bolden, illustrated by Eric Velasquez.
Abrams Books for Young Readers, New York, 2014, 32 pages, Grades K-2.
We pray for many reasons. The best reason to pray is to give praise and adoration to God. Since God created everyone, prayers of adoration are usually beautiful acts of love.
A second type of prayer is that of thanksgiving. Here, people praise God because of His generosity and kindness to humanity.
A third type of prayer is that of supplication. These prayers are the result of people needing God to give them something or asking for divine assistance with a problem. Many times people get bogged down by life and continually offer prayers of supplication, but the Lord Himself has said, “Ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find.” (Lk: 11:9)
Tonya Bolden has written a touching story about prayer in which we see a young child praising God, thanking the Lord and asking for assistance. The title of this serene book is “Beautiful Moon: A Child’s Prayer.”
It is late at night and the world is covered in darkness. A young boy suddenly remembers that he has not said his bedtime prayers. He gets out of bed and kneels on the floor. He looks out of his bedroom window and sees a spectacular golden moon. Acknowledging the beauty of creation, he thanks God with the heartfelt exclamation: “What a beautiful moon.”
Then he begins praying for people he thinks are having problems. Some blocks away, a poor homeless woman bundles up the best she can on a park bench, and the child remembers all of these troubled souls in his prayers for their safety.
Next, we see a well-dressed businessman reading a newspaper on a commuter train. For all of his affluence, the man seems distracted and concerned. He should be. The title on the front of the newspaper states: “War is Declared.” The man thinks of his daughter in a combat zone and is filled with fear and dread.
The young boy asks God to help nations stop war and for people to have peace. In another part of town, an old man lies in his bed, sick and alone. The sick man wishes that he could see the stars and the moon so that he could fall asleep. The young boy prays for all sick people to get well.
Not far from his house, a family is in deep distress. They have no food, and don’t know how to get any. The child asks God to take care of all the needy so they don’t suffer. The prayers continue as the boy thinks of more and more people in need of God’s love.
What do you ask from God? Do you usually pray thanking God for all the gifts you have received? Do you thank God the Father for sending His Son to redeem us? Do you sometimes make prayers of supplication to the Lord? Why is the praying of this child so beautiful? To find out, go to the library and check out: “Beautiful Moon: A Child’s Prayer” by Tonya Bolden.
This is a lovely book. The setting is in a modern city with the many cultures and races that make up urban areas. It looks at modern problems but is not depressing. The child’s prayerfulness will build our faith. I hope you get a chance to share this fine book with the younger members of your family. I found it touching and hope you will as well. Enjoy!
Editor's Note: Photos from the Mass Father Kubat refers to in this column are posted in the Register's gallery.
“The Lord God has given me a well-trained tongue, that I might know how to speak to the weary a word that will rouse them” (Is 50:4). On Tuesday, March 31, Bishop James Conley offered the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass at the Nebraska State Penitentiary while confirming four men.
There are several reasons why any of us may be weary, one of which is our sinfulness. During his homily, Bishop Conley said he came to them as their shepherd and at the same time as a sinner while quoting St. Paul, “All who have sinned are deprived of the glory of God” (Rom 3:23). In the same breath he said that all of us, no matter who or where we are, including residents of a prison, are called to be great saints.
As an instrument of God standing in the person of Jesus Christ the Good Shepherd, and by the power of the Holy Spirit, Bishop Conley was given a well-trained tongue to rouse the weary that day in the prison by giving the men hope that only can be found in Jesus Christ.
The gospel of the day was the evangelist John’s account of the betrayal of Judas Iscariot who sold the King of the Universe for pocket change. He compared and contrasted his betrayal of Jesus Christ with the betrayal of Peter who denied even knowing Jesus not once but three times. He pointed out that since the three-fold denial of Peter may be found in all four gospels, it would have been widely known. What each of them did after their betrayals could not be more different. While Judas despaired and hung himself, Peter went back to Jesus in repentance and became the Church’s first pope. His point was that all of us, not only those in prison, are not defined by our sinfulness but by our response to the mercy of God. I observed many moist eyes.
After his homily, Bishop Conley confirmed four men by the laying on the hands, anointing them with sacred chrism blessed by himself the previous day at the Chrism Mass and by saying the appropriate words. They were the first to have been anointed by the newly blessed sacred chrism. Knowing that the chapel there at the State Penitentiary was filled with God the Holy Spirit, I could not help but think of the day of Pentecost, when the room the disciples were in was filled with the Holy Spirit like a strong driving wind (Acts 2:2).
Please pray for these men and all of the men and women incarcerated in the prisons and jails across the diocese of Lincoln so they too, like St. Peter, may respond similarly to the grace of our most merciful God.
In my last column I addressed a bill, LB 586, that the Nebraska Catholic Conference (representing the bishops in Nebraska) strongly opposes. In this column, I will highlight some of the bills we are supporting.
LB 268 would repeal the death penalty in favor of incarceration for life. The teaching of the Catholic Church, as presented in the Modern Catechism, does not condemn use of the death penalty in principle because it is not regarded as intrinsically immoral. Recourse to it is not excluded from the right and duty the State has to defend society from unjust aggressors.
Nevertheless, Catholic teaching also applies an extremely important condition to use of the death penalty; namely, if non-lethal means are sufficient to defend the innocent and preserve public order and safety, then public authority must limit itself to such means, as they are more in keeping with the common good and more in conformity with the inherent dignity of each human being.
As the bishops said in their recent statement on the death penalty, “Catholic teaching allows the use of the death penalty under certain clear and specific conditions. We do not believe that those conditions exist in Nebraska at this time.”
LB 268 is awaiting the first round of debate in the Legislature which will likely begin this week and carry into next week. We ask Nebraskans to contact their state senator and urge him/her to support LB 268. This can be done easily on the Nebraska Catholic Conference website, www.necatholic.org, by clicking on “Take Action.”
LB 89 would raise the maximum payment level for Aid to Dependent Children (ADC) for the first time in 30 years. Since its inception in 1968, the Nebraska Catholic Conference has urged support for a meaningful ADC program as a means for assisting Nebraska families who every day face the challenges and hardships of poverty, especially children. The Catholic Church believes there is a common social obligation to respond to the needs of those who are materially poor.
The Nebraska Aid to Dependent Children program is vital for the poor and working poor in Nebraska. Inflation strikes hardest at the poor and disadvantaged who have to spend large portions of their limited resources on basic necessities of food, clothing and shelter. Unfortunately, children usually bear the brunt of this hardship.
Thankfully, LB 89 has advanced to the final stage of debate in the Legislature and is likely to be enacted into law this session.
LB 114 would categorize abortion facilities as ambulatory surgical centers (ASCs) for the purpose of regulation by the state. For 30 years abortion facilities have been regulated as health clinics—a classification that has lower safety standards than ambulatory surgical centers—even though they perform surgical procedures similar in nature to procedures done in other ASCs.
The fact that surgical (and chemical) abortion procedures have real potential for life-threatening complications is reason enough for abortion facilities to be subject to the same regulatory oversight as other similar surgical centers. The fact that there are several actual and recent cases in Nebraska—and many more such cases nationally—in which women were victims of botched abortions and shoddy medical practices only makes the need for LB 114 more compelling.
LB 114 received a late public hearing and, as a result, wasn’t prioritized for this session. This means that if it is voted out of the Judiciary Committee before the end of this year’s session it will not likely be scheduled for debate this year but would likely be prioritized and debated next year.
Other bills that the Nebraska Catholic Conference (NCC) supports are LB 187, LB 623, LB 358, LB 495 and LB 26, the scholarship tax credit bill that I featured in a previous column. All of the bills NCC supports and opposes can be seen on our website at www.necatholic.org under Public Policy.
“Tornado Alert,” by Wendy Scavuzzo
Crabtree Publishing Company, New York, 2004, 32 pages, Grades 4-6.
Tornadoes are the most violent storms in nature. They arrive with devastating power and destruction. Until recently, tornadoes could not really be predicted and usually fell on towns and cities with little warning. Fortunately, scientific advances have lessened but not entirely eliminated this problem.
The photographs and recordings of tornadoes are both striking and harrowing. Wendy Scavuzzo has written an excellent book on storms entitled “Tornado Alert.”
Tornadoes are frequently called twisters. There are many reasons for this. First, tornadoes many times touch down and then turn in many directions. Second, they leave behind a twisted path of destruction. Finally, the spinning funnel clouds appear to be twisting. This spinning is what causes the massive destructive capability of tornadoes. Tornadoes have been registered to spin at the speed of 318 miles per hour. Very few buildings can survive the direct power of tornadoes.
What causes tornadoes? First, warm air begins to rise in a cloud. Second, the warm air collides with colder air within the cloud. Next, the air begins to fall and rise within the cloud. Then rain begins to form in the cloud. Downdrafts begin to sink, accompanied by lightning, forming the supercell storm. The final part is when the downdrafts of air form a funnel cloud that drops down to land. This is when the tornado sirens begin warning everyone to take shelter.
With the invention of Doppler Radar, meteorologists can see these supercell storms building and warn communities in the path of the potential twisters. The author points out the many scientists and researchers who try to warn us and teach us about tornadoes. The most famous are the storm chasers. These intrepid souls actually try to get near the twisters to photograph and measure their strength. Storm chasers are usually in great danger as tornadoes can suddenly change directions and bear down on them.
Certain tornadoes have caused so much damage and death that they became part of history. In 1925 the Tri-State Tornado was on the ground for three and half hours, killing 695 people over a 219-mile swatch of destruction. Recently, massive tornadoes have struck cities in Oklahoma and virtually destroyed large sections of the city of Joplin, Mo. The American Midwest holds the dubious distinction of being in “Tornado Alley.” The reason for this is that the geography and weather conditions in the Midwest are conducive to the development of tornadoes. Scavuzzo includes numerous photographs of famous twisters in this fine book.
What would you like to learn about tornadoes? Have you ever seen a funnel cloud? Why does the sky often turn green when tornadoes touch down? What can you do to protect yourself? What is the Fujita Scale? To find out the answers to these and other questions, go to the library and check out “Tornado Alert” by Wendy Scavuzzo.
This book would be very useful for a science class in the upper primary grades. It could be used very effectively in a group setting because the text has a number of technical terms that might not be familiar to all readers. The photographs are very compelling and will hold the interest of students. Older family members can share this book with the younger members of the family as well.
Tornadoes hold a fascination for many people and Scavuzzo does a good job telling the many facets of these storms. I hope you get a chance to read it.
Nearly four decades ago, I sued the Governor of Nebraska. It was J. James, “Big Jim,” Exon at the time.
Actually, there were two lawsuits; the first set the stage for the second. Governor Exon’s co-defendants were then-Secretary of State Allen Beerman and Bruce Cutshall, then-Revisor of Statutes. These were “friendly” lawsuits; both sides wanted clarification on sticky legal points. Both - what I like to keep straight as Cunningham v. Exon I and Cunningham v. Exon II - went through to a decision by the Nebraska Supreme Court.
I won both times. Well, not me actually. As a young-pup executive director of the Nebraska Catholic Conference, and somewhat familiar with the issues and their significance, I (was) volunteered to be the Plaintiff. The victories were a result of darned good lawyering by the late Robert B. Crosby (himself a Nebraska Governor) and his partner, Steven Seglin.
The facts are complex. Here’s my effort at explaining them.
Prior to 1976, Article VII, Section 11 of the Nebraska Constitution provided that no public funds could go to private schools, except that the state could receive money from the federal government and distribute it in accordance with the terms of the federal grant so long as no state funds were added. In 1976, the Unicameral proposed a two-part amendment to Art. VII, Sec. 11 and caused a summary of each part to be placed on the General Election ballot. Part 1 provided that state funds could be granted to non-government institutions to be used for the educational benefit of handicapped children. Part 2 provided that state funds could be granted to students attending private post-secondary educational institutions if such aid was expressly limited to nonsectarian purposes. Part 2 also was blended to contain the provision, in a slightly modified form, that the state could receive money from the federal government and distribute it, “but any state funds…added thereto shall not be used for sectarian purposes.”
At the 1976 General Election, Part 1 was approved by the voters, but Part 2 was rejected.
After the election, Governor Exon carried out his duty to enter a proclamation declaring the wording of Art. VII, Section 11 as amended. The proclamation stated that no public funds can go to private schools, except to be used for handicapped students. But as for the outcome on Part 2, the Governor, adhering to legal advice from the Attorney General, also omitted the pre-1976 constitutional wording that allowed the state to pass through federal funds to private schools. The parties agreed to refer to this as “the omitted language.”
The lawsuit that bears my name was first filed on April 13, 1977 in Lancaster County District Court. It challenged the Governor’s interpretation of the action of the voters. It sought a declaration of the proper content for publication of the amendment. We argued that the voters had no understanding, and certainly no intent that “the omitted language” would be deleted.
We lost the first round. District Judge Samuel Van Pelt ruled that I did not have standing to initiate such a lawsuit. He ruled that I failed a traditional, two-pronged standard for taxpayer standing, because I hadn’t shown (I couldn’t show) any financial injury different from that of the public generally and the action did not involve expenditure of state funds.
We appealed to the Nebraska Supreme Court. On March 13, 1979, the seven justices unanimously overruled the District Court, ruled that I did have standing, and remanded the case for proceedings on the merits. Writing for the Supreme Court, Justice Hale McCown said, in part: “An amendment which changes the provisions of a state constitution…is of such great public interest and concern that a citizen taxpayer should have standing sufficient to maintain an action for a declaratory judgment as to such an amendment without the necessity of showing that he has sustained some special injury peculiar to himself….”
On several occasions since Cunningham v. Exon-I was decided, I have been told that at the end of that Court’s term in 1979, Chief Justice Norman Krivosha chided media representatives some for giving little attention to what he said was the most significant decision of the term: Cunningham v. Exon.
Even earlier this year, in its January 9 ruling on Thompson v. Heineman/State of Nebraska, a case challenging the constitutionality of a response to the Trans-Canada Keystone Pipeline by the Legislature, a four-member majority ruled that the plaintiff landowners had standing because of the “great public concern” exception. The ruling quoted extensively from Cunningham v. Exon-I.
On remand of our case seeking reinstatement of “the omitted language,” District Judge Van Pelt ruled in our favor. This time, the Attorney General appealed, on behalf of the Governor and the other officials. I became the Appellee; having been the Appellant on standing.
Uniquely, the oral argument on Cunningham v. Exon-II was held at the Creighton University School of Law, on October 14, 1980. Four other appeals were argued that day in that setting, including a high-visibility case involving Rev. Everett Sileven and state authority to regulate church schools. What’s more, the five cases that day became the first ever to be taped by the Nebraska Educational Television Network.
On December 19, 1980, the Nebraska Supreme Court again ruled unanimously in our favor; that “the omitted language” should not have been omitted from the Constitution. The Attorney General subsequently directed that the Constitution be re-published in corrected form.
I am excited to announce that this spring’s annual furniture and appliance drive will be held Friday, April 24 from 4 to 7 p.m. and Saturday, April 25 from 8 a.m. to noon.
It will be a great time to bring to our main office (located on the campus of our beautiful St. Joseph Center in Lincoln at 23rd and O streets) any items around your home or farm that are not needed. If you cannot drop your items off, please call us at 402-474-1600 to arrange for a pick-up.
For the three other permanent sites across the diocese, you can drop off your items during normal business hours. Here are their phone numbers: St. Francis Gift & Thrift in Auburn- 402-274-4818; St. Isidore Gift & Thrift in Imperial- 308-882-3065; and the St. John Vianney Center in Hastings- 402-463-2112.
Any used furniture and working appliances are needed, along with any other items that help make an apartment or house a home, especially electric appliances in good working order.
Recently, a family in the diocese came to us for assistance. The dad was in between jobs and the family was in need of furniture, as they also recently moved into a new, unfurnished apartment. Since they could not afford furniture they were eating and sleeping on the floor. They were literally weeping when they learned we would furnish their new apartment.
I would like to thank all of our loyal donors who support us spiritually with prayers and penances, financially with cash donations according to their means, and also those who donate material items as described above including other things such as food, clothing and vehicles! There is nothing like giving away a car to a family when one of the parents is in need of a car to drive to work and take their children to school or to the doctor’s office.
May the risen Lord Jesus Christ bless you abundantly during this Easter season and beyond! May the prayers of the Immaculate Heart of Mary our Blessed Mother lead us closer to His Sacred Heart each and every day!
“No Easy Way: the Story of Ted Williams and the Last .400 Season”
by Fred Bowen, illustrations by Charles S. Pyle.
Dutton Children’s Books, New York, 2010, 32 pages, Grades 2-4.
Each April, hope springs eternal because the Major League Baseball Season begins.
After a long winter of snow and cold, the air freshens and summer dreams emerge. All across many countries, players start throwing on baseball diamonds and hitters pick up their bats and go to home plate.
Since a baseball is round, and the bat is round, hitting is one of the most difficult athletic skills to master. The only way players can learn to hit is to practice, practice and practice. No player ever worked harder at mastering the art of hitting than Ted Williams of the Boston Red Sox. While batting .300 in the major leagues is considered a great accomplishment, very few players have even approached a .400 batting average. The last player to get close was George Brett of the Kansas City Royals. But the great Kansas City third baseman fell short.
Ted Williams accomplished this magical exploit in 1941. Fred Bowen has written an interesting children’s biography of this great accomplishment in the book entitled “No Easy Way: the Story of Ted Williams and the Last .400 Season.”
As a young boy growing up in California, Ted Williams dreamed of being a great baseball player and an outstanding hitter. Realizing how difficult the task was, Ted practiced and practiced throughout his childhood. In fact, the boy took so much batting practice that large calluses formed on the palms of his hands. With grim determination, Ted spent year after year in the batter’s box.
He realized certain things as he learned to hit. The first thing was that all pitches aren’t the same. To be a great hitter, a player needs to swing at hittable pitches. So a batter can’t just go up to the plate and start swinging at everything the pitcher throws. He must wait for his pitch and then attack the ball. The second part of hitting is the swing. The batter times the pitch and then brings the bat through the hitting zone connecting with the ball. Since Ted wanted to be a great power hitter, he had to add a slight lift to his swing. This upper cut, as it is called, allows the baseball to soar over the fence when properly executed. By the end of his youth, Ted Williams had mastered the art of hitting.
The Boston Red Sox called him up to the major leagues and soon Williams was a star in the league. During the 1941 season, Ted had a brilliant season. With two games left, his batting average stood at .399.55. All that Ted had to do was sit out the last two games to achieve lasting fame. But that seemed like the coward’s way out and Ted had never taken the easy way out. Did he decide to play the last two games and risk losing the .400 batting average?
How did integrity play into Ted’s decision? Are goals worth achieving at any price?
Have you ever really sacrificed something you had long desired? What happens to Ted Williams? To find out go to the library and check out this fine biography “No Easy Way: the Story of Ted Williams and the Last .400 Season.”
Sports books are very popular with students of all ages. This book is a fine biography about one of the greatest hitters in the history of baseball. But I would encourage you to go to the library and find other fine books about baseball in the Dewey number 796.357 section of library. There are many interesting books in this section and students will greatly enjoy shelf browsing. Go with your younger family members and you can have just as much fun. Spring is here, it is time to have fun! Batter Up!
Whenever someone says, “I have good news and bad news, which do you want first?” I always want the bad news first, so the good news will later cheer me up. I have heard it said that, ‘there is nothing worse than hearing bad news after good.’
The bad news is that after almost six years, St. Gianna Women’s Homes will be stopping our First Friday Fish Fry which benefitted St. Gianna’s.
We are stopping it not because it wasn’t fine, fantastic, and flavorful and fun, but …. and here comes the good news … we will be starting—later this year or early next year—a coffee and gelato shop on the campus of our beautiful St. Joseph campus (located on 23rd and O streets in Lincoln), with all of the proceeds going to help needy families.
Some of the space is what we used for our first Friday Fish Frys. Since we have to live within our means and spend only the money God has given us through our generous donors, this is another way of generating funds for the poor.
Recently, we served a dinner for our many fish fry volunteers and served them some delicious gelato, a portent to come. It was a fine and fitting end to a delicious meal prepared by Dave Walbrecht.
I would like to thank our many volunteers who selflessly helped us make around $50,000 after expenses! I would also like to thank our many loyal patrons who came, many of them regulars, to dine and visit.
Another bit of good news, as a way of thanking our loyal fish fry customers, we will serve free samples of our gelato and other items made in house at CSS at 23rd and O streets in Lincoln on Friday, May 1 and Friday, June 5 from 5 to 7 p.m.
This is a way of thanking you, and at the same time giving you a chance to taste what is to come. We hope you are able to come and enjoy these delicious treats!
The most contentious bill for the Nebraska Catholic Conference in this year’s legislative session is undoubtedly LB 586.
This bill, introduced by Sen. Adam Morfeld (Lincoln), proposes to make “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” protected classifications – the same as race, religion, sex, etc. – under Nebraska’s employment laws.
This bill, like similar bills introduced over the last decade, creates a sensitive challenge to the Church. Catholic teaching holds that all human beings possess an innate human dignity that must be acknowledged and respected by others in society. The Church also rejects unjust discrimination, which includes discrimination against someone because they have same-sex attraction. So why does the Nebraska Catholic Conference oppose LB 586?
First, LB 586 would allow for no distinction to be made between persons with same-sex attraction and persons who are actively living or promoting a homosexual lifestyle. This problem is highlighted by the bill’s use of the vague, undefined term “sexual orientation,” which must be presumed to include conduct as well as inclination or attraction.
Even more vague and problematic is the bill’s definition of gender identity, which is “actual or perceived appearance, expression, identity, or behavior of an individual, whether or not that appearance, expression, identity, or behavior is different from the individual’s assigned sex at birth.”
So, while LB 586 would prohibit unjust discrimination based on an employee’s same-sex attraction, it would also force employers to accept or even affirm an employee’s conduct-based sexual lifestyle or an employee’s desire to engage in public expression of, or advocacy for, sexual conduct the employer deems immoral, or face crippling penalties.
Second, LB 586 is a solution in search of a problem. Proponents of LB 586 have failed to demonstrate why this legislation is needed. There is no evidence of pervasive employment discrimination against homosexual persons in Nebraska. And, clearly, the trajectory of our cultural and business climate further undermines the supposed need for LB 586.
For example, the financial company Prudential reports that “Median LGBT [lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender] household income is $61,500 vs. $50,000 for the average American household.” The Human Rights Campaign, a chief advocate of homosexual rights, reports that 88 percent of Fortune 500 companies voluntarily prohibit consideration of sexual orientation in employment decisions.
Third, the bill’s coercion would apply not only to for-profit employers who have religious or conscience objections, but also to church entities, organizations and schools. The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Morfeld, claims that there is a religious exemption to his bill and recently accused the Nebraska Catholic Conference of “deliberately” misleading Catholics on this point.
The NCC has a solid basis for asserting that religious entities would not be exempted from the mandates in LB 586. The “religious exemption” that Sen. Morfeld uses to make his claim only exempts religious entities “with respect to the employment of individuals of a particular religion.”
This means that a Catholic school or church, for example, could give preference to hiring Catholics over non-Catholics. This “religious exemption” would not allow religious entities to make employment decisions on the basis of “sexual orientation” or “gender identity” as Sen. Morfeld suggests. Further substantiation on the lack of a religious exemption to LB 586 can be seen on our website at www.necatholic.org.
I am confident in the accuracy of NCC’s conclusion that nothing in LB 586 would exempt religious entities from its coercive mandate. Sen. Morfeld has a right to make his case about why he thinks NCC’s interpretation is wrong. But when he accused NCC of “deliberately” misleading Catholics, he attacked NCC’s integrity and crossed a line. Not only is his accusation baseless, it is shameless.
LB 586 is waiting to be scheduled for debate by the Legislature. If you haven’t yet urged your senator to oppose LB 586, you can do so quickly and easily at www.necatholic.org.
“The Lord is my Shepherd: The Twenty-Third Psalm”
Gennady Spirin, illustrator.
Philomel Books, New York, 2008, 32 pages, all ages.
The Psalms are part of the life blood of the Church. In the Divine Office or Liturgy of the Hours, clerics and professed religious are required to pray the Divine Office and the laity are encouraged to do the same. The current four volume set is frequently called “the Breviary.” The entire Liturgy of the Hours are centered on a four week reading of the 150 Psalms. Being the spiritual food of Israel, the Catholic Church has, from its institution, realized the sacred benefits of the Psalms. All the joys and sorrows, hopes and difficulties, suffering and redemption of ancient Israel are found in these musical, poetic literary gifts. Within the Psalter, as the compilation of the Psalms is known, the 23rd Psalm is a special favorite for many believers. Gennady Spirin has produced a lavishly illustrated text of this famous psalm by the title: “The Lord is my Shepherd: The Twenty Third Psalm.”
In perhaps the most famous line of the Old Testament we see and can almost hear the music in the opening of the psalm: “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.” A shepherd leads a flock of sheep over a hilly terrain while a young child plays a flute for two baby lambs. It is an entirely comforting scene of a pasture and forest. The second verse of the psalm has equally beautiful paintings. “He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.” The pasture is filled with lovely trees, a herd of deer running through the forest and a flock of geese standing next to a still lake. Over these still waters three white geese spread their wings and begin a flight.
Picture after picture gives a lush design to the psalm. The protection God provides is amply seen in the verses “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death.” Now, the three geese have landed and provide guidance and comfort against an evil goose intent on attacking. The artist then paints an angel shielding us from evil by the use of a rod and staff and we are safe and comforted. The beneficence of God continues to be shown in the banquet table spread before our enemies. A lion protects us against attacking enemies and keeps them at bay. As the psalm reaches its climax, readers see an angel anointing the head of a faithful man. And finally the faithful are carried into the “House of the Lord forever.”
This book is a visual and spiritual banquet for readers. The beauty and the glory of the 23rd psalm is evident in this gorgeous book. I hope that you get a chance to go to the library and checkout this marvelous title: “The Lord is my Shepherd: The Twenty Third Psalm” by Gennady Spirin.
As Lent has entered into Holy Week, I hope you take the chance to read this beautiful psalm to the younger members of your family. Good Friday is a difficult and painful day for Christians and we need to remember the hope and joy of Easter. The 23rd Psalm comforts us and tells of God’s great love for His children. In that way we will realize that: “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” Have a blessed Easter!
Just before typing these words and saying a prayer of thanksgiving, along with a plea that God the Holy Spirit guides my fingers, I enjoyed a delicious chicken sandwich. And yes, it was on a plate which was set on my desk. A desk or table – what’s the difference? They both serve as a platform for placing a plate.
Oh, how we take the simplest things for granted!
Recently, a family came in who literally did not have a stick of furniture. The children were eating their meals by balancing their bowls and plates on the window sills in their apartment. By the time they came in for help, the parents and children were suffering with back pain and discomfort from sleeping on the floor. When they heard we would furnish their home, they all started crying in our office, parents and children together. As for dad, thank God, he has just started a new job.
As many of our donors know, there are numerous ways you can help. The most important way, I firmly believe, is with prayer and penance. It cannot be overstated that prayer plus penance is more powerful than prayer alone. It is this that leads to material and financial gifts. We are unique compared to other Catholic Social Service agencies in that most of the funds that come to us are private rather than governmental.
That said, in addition to your prayers and penances, material donations are key to our mission. This includes food, clothing, furniture, appliances, housewares, kitchen items, vehicles, blankets, bedding – literally anything that is able to help make a house a home.
As you can see from the story above, a little furniture can go a long way in relieving the suffering of struggling families. When donated, material items are either directly given away as described above, or sold and the profits used to help fund our many emergency services such as assistance with rent, utilities etc., or charity grants for those who cannot afford counseling services.
Then there is financial support, without which we would not survive. With cash donations, we are able to help families and individuals escape homelessness, prevent homelessness, help pay for counseling services in our many satellite offices for people who are either un-insured, or under-insured and cannot for some reason afford counseling services.
As we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ who rose from the dead after his crucifixion, the definitive victory over sin and death, let us be most grateful because we are members of the mystical Body of Christ. We too, by the grace of God, are destined to share in the resurrection of the dead. Let us never overlook this precious, unmerited gift. In a same manner let us never overlook the daily blessings that may seem so mundane as eating a meal on a desk or table!
“The Right Word: Roget and His Thesaurus”
by Jen Bryant, illustrated by Melissa Sweet.
Eerdmans Books for Young Readers, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 2014, 41 pages, Grades 3-5.
For most people, writing is far more difficult than reading. In reading, the story is already crafted by someone else and readers then decode the script. Readers do not have to create the story.
Writers, on the other hand, have to invent the text and then carefully choose the correct words to transmit their ideas. English teachers are loath to admit this, but writing is much more arduous and painful than reading.
Some books offering literary assistance are dictionaries and thesauruses. While dictionaries list the meaning of words, thesauruses list synonyms, or different words with a similar meaning. It is almost impossible to write effectively without both of these writing aids. The most famous thesaurus in the English language was written by Peter Roget. Jen Bryant tells the very interesting story behind its creation in her book, “The Right Word: Roget and His Thesaurus.”
When Peter Roget was a young boy, his father died. Being a shy child, he took to solitary endeavors and proved to be an outstanding student. At 8, he started compiling lists of all sorts of things. Being unsure of where to start, Peter made a list of all the Latin words he knew. Then he gave the English translation next to it. His mother became alarmed when she saw him delving deeper and deeper into books and learning, rather than playing games outdoors with other boys. Peter liked the outdoors, however, and frequently visited the gardens of London. There he made lists of all the plants and insects he could see. He kept doing this for years and his mother complained that all the boy ever did was write and write.
Peter was so brilliant that he entered medical school in Edinburgh at 14 years old. He studied so hard that he graduated from medical school at the age of 19. Unfortunately, he was so young that he was not allowed to practice medicine. Fortunately, a rich man needed a tutor for his two sons and hired the young doctor to oversee the boys in Paris and other beautiful locations in Europe.
During his travels, Roget continued to build his word lists. His fascination with words and the English language continued to grow. Finally, he decided to publish a book with all of his word lists. In 1852, he named the book “Thesaurus,” which is Greek for “treasure house.” (Text, page not numbered.) One thousand copies were published. How would the Thesaurus be received?
Was the Thesaurus a success? How intricate must a thinker be to create a thesaurus? Why is a thesaurus so helpful? Have you ever used a thesaurus? (I have already used one for this column.) Why is Roget’s Thesaurus one of the most famous books in the English language? To find out, go to the library and check out this fascinating and delightfully illustrated book, “The Right Word: Roget and His Thesaurus” by Jen Bryant.
This book was an American Library Association Caldecott Honor Medal book for 2015. Additionally, it won the American Library Association Sibert Medal for the outstanding information book of the year in 2015.
This book should be read with an older child or in a group setting. The pictures are interesting and amusing, but the text describes the complicated linguistic task of compiling a thesaurus. Advanced readers will likely not have a problem with this, but struggling readers would gain more from the book if it were read in a group setting. In any case, I hope you get a chance to read this fine book. Enjoy!
On the eve of St. Patrick’s Day, 41 individuals helped St. Gianna Women’s Homes raise more than $9,200!
St. Gianna’s, as you know, is a home for women who are escaping abortion and domestic violence, along with their children, staffed by the Marian Sisters. I would like to thank John and Gloria Strope for organizing this year’s event once again. I would also like to thank Jim and Barbara Partington who were gracious in hosting us at their beautiful Deer Springs Winery (at 162nd and Adams).
We are also grateful to Carmen and Tony Messineo for providing the delicious Irish corned beef and cabbage, Italian-style, through Premier Catering! Needless to say, the food and wine were wonderful.
I would also like to thank Don Bennett and Barb Biffle Bennett who make up Whoozon 1st Band for providing this year’s musical entertainment. They sang all of the favorite Irish music and then some. They are a unique band for they are able to play at least 16 different musical instruments, some of which I have never heard of but hope to hear some day.
We were blessed once again to have one of Ireland’s native sons – Monsignor Liam Barr – along with his parochial vicar, Father Jonathan Haschke (who, like me, has an Irish grandmother). I am sure his grandmother, like mine, always provided their grandchildren something green to wear each St. Patrick’s Day. Our special guests this year were our new Lieutenant Governor Mike Foley and his wife Susan.
After dinner, I thanked everyone who helped bring in more than $9,200, which will keep St. Gianna’s open for 15 days. This is important because it is private donations that keep the doors open.
I like to tell people that the most important resident at St. Gianna’s is Jesus Christ, who is present in the Blessed Sacrament in his Divinity and His humanity.
Since opening, in addition to having helped women escape violent situations and having saved many babies from abortion, women have returned to the practice of the faith and others have decided to become Catholic. All this is made possible because of our loving donors.
At the end of the evening, I thanked everyone for their love and support. The same goes to you! Please know that we at St. Gianna Women’s Homes will keep all of you, your families and intentions in our prayers! Saints Gianna and Patrick, pray for us!
For many years the Diocesan Councils of Catholic Women from the three dioceses in Nebraska have sponsored a legislative day in Lincoln. The Nebraska Catholic Conference has assisted with and participated in this annual event.
This year, in an effort to expand the reach and purpose of this legislative day, it has been somewhat restructured and given a new name, “Catholics at the Capitol.” And all Catholics are encouraged to attend.
Catholics at the Capitol will be held Tuesday, March 24, from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at St. Mary Church (across from the Capitol) in Lincoln. The event is co-hosted this year by the Nebraska Catholic Conference, the Diocesan Councils of Catholic Women, the Knights of Columbus, and the Catholic Daughters of America.
The general purpose of Catholics at the Capitol is to raise awareness among Catholics that our faith teaches that “responsible citizenship is a virtue, and participation in political life is a moral obligation. This obligation is rooted in our baptismal commitment to follow Jesus Christ and to bear Christian witness in all we do.” (Faithful Citizenship, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops)
More specific purposes of this event are the following: to inform Catholics about specific legislation of concern or interest to the Church, to facilitate interaction between Catholics and their state senators, to learn about Church teaching on key issues that are debated in our State Legislature, and to help Catholics better understand our state’s legislative process.
We are blessed to have Archbishop George J. Lucas from Omaha and Bishop James D. Conley from Lincoln present for this inaugural Catholics at the Capitol event. Newly consecrated Bishop Joseph Hanefeldt from Grand Island is not able to attend.
Archbishop Lucas will provide the opening prayer and introductory remarks to start the day. Bishop Conley will follow with an address about “Living our Faith in the Public Square.” I will then give a brief overview of key legislation the Nebraska Catholic Conference is supporting, opposing or monitoring.
Sheri Rickert, policy director and general counsel at the Nebraska Catholic Conference, will explain the scholarship tax credit bill (LB 26) that would result in needed and just financial assistance to lower-income parents wanting to send their children to parochial or private school. Rickert will also provide an update on the status of legal challenges to traditional marriage in Nebraska and at the federal level.
The final topic, “Immigration Challenges,” will be presented by Omar Gutierrez, manager of the Archdiocese of Omaha’s Missions and Justice Office.
Immediately following these presentations, participants will be invited to walk across the street to the State Capitol where they will be encouraged to visit with their state senator about one or more legislative issues of particular interest to the Church. A packet of information about these issues will be provided to each participant. Participants will also have an opportunity to observe our State Legislature in action.
The formal schedule for Catholics at the Capitol will end with 12:10 p.m. Mass at St. Mary Church. However, following Mass (and lunch on their own) participants will be encouraged to pray a rosary at Planned Parenthood’s abortion facility at 48th Street and Old Cheney Road before heading home.
There is no charge to attend Catholics at the Capitol. Pre-registration is not required but is encouraged by calling 402-477-7517 or by emailing This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. More information about this event is available online at www.necatholic.org.
Please come join your fellow Catholics at the Capitol and heed these words of Pope Francis: “A good Catholic meddles in politics, offering the best of himself so that those who govern can govern.”
“The Golden Key,” by George Macdonald, illustrations by Maurice Sendak
Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York, 1967 (reprint from 1867 edition), 86 pages, Grades 5 and above.
Fairy tales are some of the oldest forms of literature. Since fairy tales are fantasy, these stories are filled with dragons, talking animals, flying horses and other odd and interesting creatures. Fairy tales can be used with the very young to teach morality and they can be read by adults to find meaning in human existence. Though many of the characters in fairy tales are unusual, fairy tale writers are very serious. Fairy tales are about truth, meaning and the good and bad consequences of decisions. One of the first great fairy tale writers was George Macdonald (1824-1905). Born in Scotland, Macdonald wrote fairy tales with deeply religious significance. “The Golden Key” is an outstanding example of his work.
Mossy is a young boy living on the edge of a forest near Fairyland. His great aunt tells him stories about an unseen world beyond the forest. To get there, Mossy needs to find the end of the rainbow and locate a golden key that will unlock the future. As the sun begins to set one day, Mossy sees the rainbow and walks into the woods and finds the golden key at the end of the rainbow.
Also on the border of the magical forest is a young daughter of a widower. As the gentleman is often away on business, the daughter is managed by two very careless servants. Her hair is a mess and she is quite dirty. The fairies from the forest one day try to vex the child by playing practical jokes on her. In response, she runs into the forest and meets an older woman named Grandmother. Because her hair is so messy, Grandmother calls the girl, Tangle. Grandmother sends some magical creatures to find Mossy and by the end of the day, the young boy returns to Grandmother’s house. He has the Golden Key, but doesn’t know what to do with it. Grandmother tells Mossy to take Tangle and go deeper into the forest to find the keyhole that opens the future.
They begin walking deeper into the forest and across strange regions looking for the keyhole. Along the way they meet characters that give them clues to eternal truths and their own ultimate destinies. But they get separated and both must find the path by themselves. Oddly enough, the journey ultimately leads them to again find each other. There, Mossy sees a keyhole. What should he do?
What does Mossy do? Does Tangle go with him? Why is there such peace and beauty in this world? Who is responsible for this tranquility? Would you throw yourself into the unknown to find truth? What do the children do? To find out, read George Macdonald’s beautiful fairy tale, “The Golden Key.”
George Macdonald was born in Scotland and raised in a severe Calvinistic faith. He became a minister but could not accept the vengeful God that Calvin preached. Rejecting predestination, or the belief that people are either saved or damned at the moment of birth, he turned to writing and created loving, beautiful, religious fairytales. Macdonald strongly influenced modern writers such as J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. The more stories one reads by Macdonald, the more you are impressed by his great love of God. Simply a first rate author, I hope you get a chance to read “The Golden Key” or other fine works such as “The Light Princess.” They can’t be beat. Enjoy!
When I saw this headline last Nov. 18—“Judge who tossed ban will hear marriage suit”—I remember thinking, ‘that can’t be right; what’s fair, impartial or objective about having a judge who is likely predisposed on the key, substantive issues of constitutionality decide another case, which involves essentially the same issues? What kind of a judicial process allows that?’
U.S. District Court Judge Joseph Bataillon ruled in 2005 that Article I, section 29 of the Nebraska State Constitution, which prohibits government recognition of same-sex marriage and marriage-like, same-sex relationships, violates the U.S. Constitution. His decision was subsequently reversed by a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.
It’s a fact though, that nearly a decade later, a new challenge to Nebraska’s constitutional amendment—Waters et al v. (Governor) Pete Ricketts and (Attorney General) Doug Peterson, et. al—was assigned to Judge Bataillon. Deja vu. What’s just about that? In 2005, this judge arrogantly opined that Nebraska’s marriage amendment, approved by 70 percent of the voters, could only have been motivated by animus toward homosexual people.
A highly reputable and well-experienced federal-practice attorney of long acquaintance has persuaded me that my questioning and doubt are not justified and have no merit. The assignment of the case was undoubtedly part of the regular process of the federal courts, taking into account workload and scheduling. It happens. Get over it. Move on. So I have.
Since the new challenge was filed, the developments have been that Judge Bataillon took the deja vu path and again ruled Art. 1, sec. 29 of the Nebraska Constitution violates the U.S. Constitution; that the state Attorney General quickly sought a stay of the ruling pending an appeal to the Eighth Circuit; and that the appellate court granted the stay and further ordered that oral arguments on the merits of the case will take place May 12 in Omaha.
Another aspect of those developments is that the United States Supreme Court has scheduled oral arguments on similar issues of constitutionality on April 29. It will be interesting to see if the Eighth Circuit’s three-judge panel issues its ruling before the Supreme Court releases its ruling, anticipated for late June.
Doubt and questioning about the Supreme Court’s process and approach on same-sex marriage are pertinent; two of the justices have called it into question.
Keep this scenario in mind: last October the Supreme Court, sans additional comment, declined to review appeals from the fourth, seventh and tenth circuits—involving Utah, Oklahoma, Virginia, Indiana and Wisconsin—on the definition of marriage. That order let stand federal district court rulings and ended stays on same-sex marriage in those states. It also opened the legal door in the other states in those circuits.
At least one pundit referred to that development as the nine not being able to count to four, a reference to the process that requires at least four of the nine justices to vote to take an appeal. Given the Court’s ruling in 2013 that struck down a part of the federal Defense of Marriage Act, it was, at least for a while, a head-scratcher that there wasn’t a quartet of justices sufficiently anxious to tee-up further review on the definition of marriage.
All the uncertainty, speculation and intrigue notwithstanding, hundreds of same-sex marriages have occurred under law as a result of the Supreme Court allowing lower court rulings to stand.
But then the scenario had a new development Jan. 16 of this year; the Court announced it would consider an appeal of a ruling from the Sixth Circuit, which upheld the same-sex marriage bans of Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee. These are the arguments set for April 29.
The next high drama of a much anticipated Supreme Court ruling—this one on same-sex marriage—will grab national attention in late June, probably on the last day of the Court’s term.
But that’s not the whole story.
On Feb. 10, the justices voted 7-2 to reject a petition from Alabama to place a hold on a federal judge’s ruling that struck down the state’s law that defines marriage as the union of one man and one woman. Even though the Court already had announced it would be ruling on the constitutional issues, seven justices refused to preserve the status quo during pendency.
How does justice flow from such a scenario? Add it to what happened last October when the Court allowed same-sex marriages to proceed in three circuits.
If a majority of the Court has its collective mind made up, why bother with the charade of an oral argument? Alternatively, if there is some possibility that the right of states to define marriage would be upheld, what would be the legal status of same-sex marriages legally recognized in the interim?
In his dissent to the order refusing to preserve the status quo in Alabama, Justice Clarence Thomas aptly described the situation: “This is not the proper way to discharge our (constitutional) responsibilities. And it is indecorous for this court to pretend that it is.”
And finally… from a much different context: the Nebraska Legislature is firmly engaged in its current session, with a lot of legislation to consider. Overheard during a hearing on a bill of some questionable merit: “Bad legislation is like fish; it stinks from the head.” While it is anything but clear what that means, it does tend to make a point.
One of the things I have learned over the years is that many people in need are afraid to approach someone for help because of a lack of trust.
Fear can be literally crippling. I have heard several of our long-time case managers state the same. I have heard it over and over: ‘When someone gets to know us and learns we love them, they will open their hearts and share their story.’
Our sack lunch program in Hastings is a perfect example on how we are able to get to know clients who are in need on a personal level because many of them come to us on a daily basis.
Last winter, an elderly man who came to us for a daily sack lunch made an appointment on a Friday with Phil Rosno for assistance. His application was peculiar because he requested only socks and a blanket. As we found out, no address was listed on his application because he lived in a shed five miles from the office. As it turned out the shed was demolished that very day, as it snowed more than 6 inches. He spent the entire weekend standing in a stairwell in an abandoned building.
To make a long story short, because we were able to establish a trusting relationship with this elderly homeless man, he allowed us to assist him in obtaining a VA pension and permanent stable housing. This man, who was created in the image and likeness of God, is now off the streets and filled with joy.
I would like to thank Phil, who responded to the promptings of the Holy Spirit. It would have been easy for him to have given the homeless man socks and a blanket without any probing questions. Because of the man’s trust in us built up over his daily visits, he allowed us to assist him in his need.
Thank you to all the agencies that are part of the Open Table Sack Lunch Program, for with your help almost 48,000 were distributed to those in need last year. We need to daily remind ourselves for whom these lunches are for. In the very words of Jesus Christ, “Truly I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me (Mt 25:40).”
Please know that you are all in our prayers!
“Sixteen Years in Sixty Seconds: The Sammy Lee Story”
by Paula Yoo, illustrated by Dom Lee.
Lee and Low Books, New York, 2005, 32 pages, Grades 3-5.
The American Dream has beckoned to countless immigrants since the beginning of the country. Simply stated, the American Dream is the idea that you can achieve any personal ambition through hard work and dedication. Therefore historical prejudices about race and religion can be overcome through individual striving for success.
According to the American Dream, people are not forced to make future decisions because of historical prejudices. It is a compelling idea and has shaped and continues to shape American society. In the 1920s, a young Korean-American boy growing up in California during a time of great discrimination against Asian-Americans was determined to live the American Dream. His name was Sammy Lee. Paula Yoo tells his story in the compelling book “Sixteen Seconds: The Sammy Lee Story.”
Recent immigrants to the United States, the Lee family run a restaurant. Through incredible drive and sacrifice, Mr. Lee saves his hard earned money that his children may enjoy the American Dream. His youngest son’s name is Sammy. The young boy passes by a swimming pool in town, only to read that the facility is closed to all non-whites except on Wednesday. So he returns on Wednesday and begins diving off the spring boards. He is amazed at how much he enjoys the activity. It is like flying.
Unfortunately, he soon learns that it can result in crash landings as well. How do you do this? Another boy begins giving him instructions and his technique improves. Now all Sammy wants to do is to excel in diving. His hardworking father thinks this is total foolishness. He wants Sammy to become a doctor, make a lot of money and become a success. This is his view of the American Dream.
But the whole point of the American Dream is that individuals can achieve their aspirations, not the wishes of others. So Sammy is conflicted, how can he be a good son and support his parents’ plans and still live out his own goals?
He unexpectedly finds a diving coach after he loses a meet. This man, Jim Ryan, is a stern taskmaster and will not accept anything but the best from Sammy. Since he can still only use the pool one day a week, Ryan has him build a sand pit in his back yard with a spring board above it. There Sammy practices hour after hour by crashing into the sand pit. He soon discovers how to land on his feet and through these painful lessons learns how to make precise movements while spinning in the air. He becomes so talented in diving that eventually everyone takes notice. Finally, as a member of the USA Olympic team, Sammy stands on the edge of the 10 meter board. In the next 16 seconds, he will spin through 16 years of prejudice and trial. What happens?
Does Sammy win the gold medal? Does he achieve the American Dream? What happens to his father’s desire that he become a doctor? And finally, what does it mean for Sammy to be himself?
To find out the answers to these questions, go to the library and check out this excellent book by Paula Yoo, “Sixteen Years in Sixteen Seconds.”
This is a marvelous story about an American hero. The text is appropriate for grades 3-5. It is impossible not to cheer for this remarkable man. The next time you think something is impossible, remember that Sammy Lee proved that a person can achieve their dreams. His lesson to us is that we will be able to do this as well. Enjoy!
Not long ago, I dropped off some donations to the back of our St. Louise Gift & Thrift Store at the beginning of the day before the store opened. It was then I witnessed Leigh Ann Gdowski, the thrift store manager, praying with the staff and volunteers before opening. After saying their usual prayers (including the St. Michael the Archangel prayer) they prayed for the repose of the soul of a staff member’s sister, who died recently. In addition to praying for our donors and volunteers, our staff prays for each other and our family members. Like many other groups, organizations and schools, whenever one has a prayer intention, an email blast is sent to everyone asking for prayers. I was moved not only witnessing what I have described above but also to have been a part of it. It was and always will warm my heart thinking of this moment. I was so moved, I thought I better snap a picture and share it with our readers.
When mothers and fathers raise their children and try to foster their faith as they grow, I imagine after children leave the house, parents often wonder if they are practicing their faith and praying daily. Sometimes the thought crosses my mind whether our staff and volunteers pray in my absence. I am always edified beyond description whenever I see our staff praying on their own. I have seen this time and time again. I know for a fact this is the case in all of our locations- Auburn, Lincoln, Hastings and Imperial. This holds true for both of our arms of charity, namely our social and clinical divisions.
As we continue our Lenten journey toward Easter and the Easter season, let us be reminded that prayer is nothing more than spending time with God, talking with God, through which we not only become closer to Him but become more like Him, in whose image and likeness we were created. As we daily remember you in our prayers and penances, please remember us in yours.
The Vatican Congregation for Catholic Education wrote the following in its 1997 document, Catholic Schools on the Threshold of the Third Millenium: “Young people of the third millennium must be a source of energy and leadership in our Church and our nation. Therefore, we must provide young people with an academically rigorous and doctrinally sound program of education and faith formation designed to strengthen their union with Christ and his Church.”
“By equipping our young people with a sound education, rooted in the Gospel message, the Person of Jesus Christ, and rich in the cherished traditions and liturgical practices of our faith, we ensure that they have the foundation to live morally and uprightly in our complex modern world. This unique Catholic identity makes our Catholic elementary and secondary schools “Schools for the human person” and allows them to fill a critical role in the future life of our Church, our country, and our world (No.9).
In the three dioceses of Nebraska, there are a total of 87 Catholic primary schools and 26 secondary schools that educate more than 27,000 students. As Governor Rickett’s proclamation for Catholic Schools Week stated, “Catholic Schools offer Nebraska parents a choice in education, and the competition, diversity and God-centered approach afforded by Catholic Schools enhance the quality of life in Nebraska.”
The Proclamation goes on to say that “Catholic Schools in Nebraska have continuously provided the highest caliber of academic and moral development to the students they serve for the mutual benefit of every citizen in our state.”
Unfortunately, as the Nebraska Catholic Conference pointed out in a 1997 statement on Catholic education, “Parents are not being treated fairly under the present educational finance system. All parents are subject to the State’s mandate to educate their children, but are provided free instruction only in government schools.
“This creates an economic burden on parents who choose to meet the State’s mandate by providing their children with education in non-government schools. The inequitable treatment of parents choosing non-government schools fails to recognize the cost savings they provide the State of Nebraska, and fails to promote their freedom in fulfilling their responsibility to provide the instruction they deem best for their children.
“Moreover, in those many instances where the parents are financially unable to assume the added financial burden, their choice is effectively denied. Accordingly, the present system needs to be modified in order to meet the above objectives and provide a fair and equitable system for the education of Nebraska children.
To remedy this injustice, the Nebraska Catholic Conference has been working for years to enact various forms of school choice legislation. Another attempt this year comes in the form of a scholarship tax credit bill (LB 26) entitled the Choice for the Advancement of Nebraska Children in Education (CHANCE) Act.
The CHANCE Act would provide a 60 percent tax credit to taxpayers (individuals and businesses) who fund scholarships for students to attend a private school. The donations would be made to non-profit organizations accredited by the state that dedicate at least 90 percent of their revenue to scholarship grants.
Students eligible to receive a scholarship would have to live in a household with income not more than two times the reduced-price meal cost of the federal school meal program (currently about $88,000 for a household of four). First-time applicants would also have to be transferring to a private school from any grade in a public school, be entering kindergarten or ninth grade of a private school, or be the sibling of a current scholarship recipient.
The Legislature’s Revenue Committee held a public hearing on Wednesday of this week. Our focus right now is on getting this bill advanced from the Committee to the full Legislature. Since Senators respond best to their own constituents, we particularly urge those whose senator is on this committee to urge him/her to vote to advance LB 26. The following senators are members of the Revenue Committee: Mike Gloor (Grand Island), Paul Schumacher (Columbus), Lydia Brasch (Bancroft), Al Davis (Hyannis), Burke Harr (Omaha), Jim Scheer (Norfolk), Jim Smith (Papillion), Kate Sullivan (Cedar Rapids).
More information about LB 26 is available on our website at www.necatholic.org. You can also use the Take Action page to contact the senators on the Revenue Committee.
“Jesus: His Life in Verses from the King James Holy Bible”
by Gennady Spirin.
Marshall Cavendish Children, Tarrytown, New York, 2010, 32 pages, Grades 2-4.
Lent is a season in which we think and meditate on the life of Our Divine Savior. It is fitting that we do so; all human existence finds its true meaning in the life of Jesus Christ. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last.
The Sacred Scriptures tell us about the life of our marvelous Redeemer. The Russian-born artist Gennady Spirin has drawn 12 pictures to accompany passages from the Holy Gospels. The name of this book is “Jesus: His Life in Verses from the King James Holy Bible.”
It is only fitting that Spirin starts at the beginning with the Angel Gabriel asking the Blessed Virgin if she would become the mother of God. As the Angel Gabriel extends a pure white lily toward Mary, she answers much to the happiness of mankind: “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done unto me according to thy word.” (Lk 1:26-38)
Next comes an elaborate double-page illustration of the Nativity. On one page we see the Three Wise Men journeying to Bethlehem and on the other we see the Blessed Mother holding the Holy Infant in swaddling clothes. Appropriately, St. Joseph humbly and lovingly worships the newborn King of the Jews.
In the third picture, the artist portrays Jesus being baptized in the Jordan River by St. John the Baptist. As Jesus emerges from the water, a Dove descends on Him and we hear the magnificent words: “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” (Mt 3:13-17)
Spirin then creates a double-page illustration of the 40 days of fasting in the desert and the temptations of Our Lord by the evil one. Each picture focuses on one of the temptations. In the first, we see Jesus being tempted by Satan to turn nearby stones into bread. His famous reply to the tempter is that “Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.”
After this the evil one tries to tempt Our Lord through vanity and fame by having Him throw Himself off of the Temple. The holy angels will catch Jesus lest He “dash thy foot against a stone.” And the final temptation is that of showing Jesus all the wealth and power in the world with the statement: “All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.” Our Lord’s answer is crushing: “Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.” (Mt 4:1-11)
Spirin continues with this majestic approach to the life of Jesus with numerous other paintings and quotations from the Bible.
How does the artist draw the Sermon on the Mount, the Transfiguration, the Last Supper and the Passion? There is simply too much to tell in such a short review as this. I encourage you to go to the library and check out this marvelous book, “Jesus: His Life in Verses from the King James Holy Bible” by Gennady Spirin.
This book is best shared by two older readers or an adult and a child. Spirin draws in the Russian iconographic style which may seem somewhat formal to some Americans. Because of this, an adult can help the child connect the text and the pictures. Because of its esteemed place in the English language, many authors will take their biblical quotes from the King James Bible. Spirin draws on this tradition.
I hope you get a chance to share this beautiful book with the younger members of your family. It is powerful and passionate. I love it. Enjoy!
“Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing near, he said to his mother, ‘Woman, behold, your son!’ Then he said to the disciple, ‘Behold your mother!’ And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home” (Jn 19:25-27).
When reading these verses, one may ponder the great love Jesus Christ had for His Blessed Mother that was exhibited from the cross while in agony. Oh the pain He must have endured in His Sacred Heart watching her suffer. How grateful He was to John the evangelist for taking her into his own home to care for her.
Who can explain the love of a child or adult for their earthly mother? Recently I visited a young man in prison; a young man who will spend the rest of his life behind bars. He has no chance for a parole.
It was in the solitude of his confinement that he turned to God with the help of some ‘evangelical’ Protestants. During my visit, he shared with me how anti-Catholic his new found ‘evangelical’ friends were. After enduring months of hearing anti-Catholic statements, he finally said to them, “Stop bad-mouthing the Catholics! They cannot be all bad - they helped my mother!”
As it turns out, we had helped his mother escape a violent situation. When I met him for the first time, he immediately knew who I was because we had helped his mother. How grateful he was that we assisted her. I am looking forward to my next visit with him.
Recently, a group of priests were dining at a local restaurant. One of the chefs spied the group of priests dressed in their clerical garb. He immediately went to their table and asked, “Do you know Father Kubat?”
“Yes, we do!” They replied. After asking them to tell me ‘hello,’ he bought their dinners. As it turns out, we had helped his mother in the past escape a violent man who insisted she have an abortion. When she refused, the man assaulted her and threatened her life. How grateful her son was that we helped her.
After John agreed to take his spiritual mother into his home, Jesus said, “I thirst!” (Jn 19:28). Followed by, “It is finished” (Jn 19:30). It was then He gave up His spirit to His Heavenly Father.
Make no mistake, Jesus thirsts for our souls. He wishes that we imitate His sacrificial love for others. I know this is the only reason our benefactors support us. They love Jesus who is present in the needy.
Not only are our clients grateful, but so are their children. In addition, like John, Jesus wishes that we take our spiritual mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary into the homes of our hearts.
It is my prayer that you will grow closer to God the Father through His only begotten Son in the Holy Spirit this Lenten season. May you imitate St. John the Apostle and take the Blessed Virgin Mary into the home of your heart and know that she too will help you by her prayers.
Please know that we at Catholic Social Services of Southern Nebraska will keep you, your family and intentions in our prayers during this holy time of year.
“The Grand Mosque of Paris: A Story of How Muslims Rescued Jews During the Holocaust”
by Karen Gray Ruell, illustrations by Deborah Durland DeSaix.
Holiday House, New York, 2009, 32 pages, Grades 4-6.
If one is to merely read American newspapers or watch television, it would be hard not to conclude that Muslims are violent and fanatical. Clearly, groups like ISIS in Iraq and Syria create this image due to their brutality. But the voice of “normal” Muslims is rarely heard. These leaders and citizens try to live their lives like everyone else.
Like everyone else, these Muslims are capable of heroic virtue and sacrifice. This was never more evident than during the Nazi Holocaust. When the Nazi dragnet of terror fell upon the victims in France, Jews fled to private homes, churches, convents and The Grand Mosque of Paris. Karen Gray Ruell tells this remarkable and mostly unknown story in her moving book “The Grand Mosque of Paris: A Story of How Muslims Rescued Jews During the Holocaust.”
The Grand Mosque was built in 1926 on land given to the Muslims by the French government in thanksgiving for the 500,000 Muslim soldiers that had fought on the Allied side during World War I. Built with the lovely, intricate designs found in mosques built in North Africa, the Grand Mosque was an oasis of beauty, peace, prayer and communal gathering in the heart of Paris. The rector, Si Kaddour Benghabrit, ran the daily operations of the mosque. A cultured, sophisticated diplomat, Benghabrit moved easily in Arabic and French societies.
After the fall of France in 1940, he watched with growing dismay as the Nazis passed their draconian race laws targeting Jews, Gypsies and others. Soon frightened Jews began to arrive furtively at night seeking help. Benghabrit arranged safety for these desperate souls by producing Moroccan birth certificates, finding hiding places in the Grand Mosque and charitable homes and smuggling the Jews out of Paris to safety. His actions in protecting the Jews were very similar to the ones taken by Pope Pius XII in saving the victims of the Holocaust.
But World War II produced many additional targets for the Third Reich. As the war carried on, many downed Allied pilots and crews found themselves looking for hiding places from the Nazi hunters. Five times a day when the muezzin (the man announcing the times of prayer) called the people to prayer, an unusual combination of people hurried to the Grand Mosque.
Who were these people? Since it was widely known that those hiding Jews and other “enemies” of the state could be sent to concentration camps, why did Si Kaddour Benghabrit continue to act with such compassion and courage? How did the labyrinth of ancient tunnels under the city of Paris prove to be invaluable? And finally, how can saving one life help you save humanity?
To find out the answers to these questions, go to the library and check out out this fine book, “The Grand Mosque of Paris” by Karen Ruell.
The Muslim rescue of Jews and other victims of the Nazis is virtually unknown by many people. It is well for us to remember the courageous charity of the Parisian Muslims in the face of unrelenting evil of the Holocaust.
Though a picture book, the text is quite extensive and is more appropriate for somewhat older students. But I hope you get a chance to read this book with the middle-grade children in your family. It is very insightful.
Catholic Social Services of Southern Nebraska held its 28th annual Celebration of Caring banquet Feb. 15. During the celebration, I had the privilege of presenting our ‘state of the agency’ report outlining many of our charitable endeavors last calendar year.
One of the most stunning statistics is that for the first time ever, Catholic Social Services has distributed from all of our fixed and mobile pantries more than one million pounds of food—1,131,836 to be exact!
Some of the details are: In addition to our fixed food pantries in Auburn, Hastings and Lincoln, CSS, in partnership with the Food Bank of Lincoln and the Kearney Food Bank, conducts mobile food pantries across southern Nebraska called the St. Andrew Mobile Food Pantry. CSS purchases food from these agencies and utilizes local parish volunteers to distribute pantries to needy individuals and families (a “pantry” is enough food to last one week). This is a way to not only feed the hungry, but when families receive a pantry, it frees up funds that can be used for rent or utilities.
I am happy to announce that our St. Andrew Mobile Food Pantry now visits 24 communities across southern Nebraska: Ashland, Clay Center, Crete, David City, Edgar, Fairbury, Falls City, Geneva, Glenvil, Grant, Harvard, Hebron, Imperial, Minden, Orleans, Pawnee City, Peru, Seward, Shelby, Stromsburg, Superior, Sutton, Tecumseh and Wahoo.
Our two sandwich programs are also going strong. Last year our program in Hastings, a program with many partners, provided nearly 48,000 sack lunches–an increase of around 3,000 compared to last year, while our Lincoln program, which is only two years old, provided just over 10,000, which has doubled after the first year. As some of you remember, we started our sack lunch program in Lincoln because we noticed a need in the area surrounding our Lincoln office.
In addition, this past year, the St. Joseph PCCW members in Auburn have started to serve monthly meals in the parish hall to some of our most needy clients who access services in our St. Francis Center. So far 223 meals have been served in this new program.
I would like to thank all of our donors who have responded to the call of God to help feed the hungry. Thanks also to our many volunteers who make, serve and distribute food and sandwiches, donate food or money to purchase food, because through the grace of God and your generosity, we are feeding Jesus who lives in the hungry in a special way (Mt 25:31-46). Please know that you, your families and intentions are in our daily prayers!
Your immediate action is needed to help stop the passage of a bill by our State Legislature that would be harmful to our society and that would attack religious freedom.
Legislative Bill 586 would make “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” protected classifications under Nebraska’s employment laws. All persons, including those who experience same-sex attractions, have inherent human dignity and must be treated with respect, including in the workplace. But LB 586 would go far beyond this by requiring employers with 15 or more employees to affirm sexual activity and relationships outside marriage between a man and a woman, and to affirm gender identity as a social construct, in their personnel management and policies. Employers would also be required to allow employees to promote and advocate for such lifestyles and fluid gender perceptions within and outside the workplace regardless of whether such advocacy would be detrimental to the business’ mission or operations.
Both the nature of these new “unlawful employment practices” and ambiguities in the legislation would make employers vulnerable to expensive and time-consuming public administrative hearings and civil lawsuits as well as the attendant negative publicity. If found “guilty,” they could be subject to injunctions to force them to abide by the mandates, be forced to pay the job applicant or employee both “general” and “special” damages, and to pay attorney’s fees and costs. It could put them out of business.
This coercion would apply not only to individual employers who have religious or conscience objections, but also to church entities, organizations and schools. Catholic schools, social services, and day care centers, as well as those of other faith communities, would be subject to the same requirements or face the same penalties.
Various proposals are being made to include a “religious exemption” and to make other changes to the bill, but it is clear that these attempts at a compromise would, at best, only result in lengthy and expensive litigation to attempt clarification with uncertain outcomes. At worst, any changed language would only be window dressing to mislead well-intentioned senators into voting for a bad bill.
LB 586 recently was voted out of the Judiciary Committee and could be debated by the entire Legislature within a few days.
The Nebraska Catholic Conference, under the guidance of the three Diocesan Bishops, is firmly opposed to LB 586 and believes that no political compromise is possible that would render the bill acceptable. It is poor public policy, would seriously harm the public good, and is a grave threat to religious liberty. Additional information is available online at www.necatholic.org (under “Take Action”).
It is critical and urgent that you contact your state senator immediately by phone and/or e-mail with this simple message:
Please oppose LB 586, regardless of any amendments that may be proposed or made to the bill.
You can e-mail your senator quickly and easily online at www.necatholic.org (“Take Action”). You can reach your senator by phone by calling the Capitol at (402) 471-2788. Do not hesitate to leave a message on your senator’s voicemail if you call after business hours.
“Nana Upstairs & Nana Downstairs,” by Tomie DePaola
G.P. Putnam’s Sons, New York, 1973, 30 pages, Grades K-3.
The terrible evil of euthanasia is spreading across Canada and the United States. Already a scourge in the Netherlands and other European countries, euthanasia is the deliberate killing of the old, infirm and others viewed as useless. It is incorrectly named “mercy killing” by some people. But how can killing ever be merciful? Quite simply, it is brutal and sinful.
Given this, why is euthanasia spreading? The basic reason is that we do not see the sick and infirm as children of God. They teach us through their illnesses and weakness how to be kind and giving. They teach us the value of human life. A marvelous example of this was Pope John Paul II. In his final years, the pope could barely stand up. Though he had instructed us through his marvelous encyclicals, he poignantly taught us of our need for God’s love and strength as he leaned on his crozier to keep from falling over. Only Christ can keep us standing up.
The famed author/illustrator Tomie DePaola has written a beautiful story of how an infirm great-grandmother and grandmother taught him what was really useful and meaningful in life. In their weakness, they taught him strength. The name of this beautiful story is “Nana Upstairs & Nana Downstairs.”
As a little boy, Tomie would visit his grandmother and great-grandmother each Sunday. There the family would gather to visit and share a Sunday dinner. His 94-year-old great-grandmother was bedridden upstairs. He would eagerly run up the steps to see his great-grandmother. Since she lived on the second floor of the house, he called her Nana Upstairs. He would eat candies with Nana Upstairs and listen to her stories. She brought joy and happiness to him, and his visit with her became one of the highlights of his life.
In the meantime, Tomie’s grandmother, Nana Downstairs ,would bake cakes for the family. The little boy especially liked watching Nana Downstairs brush the long silvery, white hair of Nana Upstairs. Then Nana Downstairs would make a game with the boy of combing out her long silky, white hair. She would make her hair into the braids and buns that he so enjoyed watching her create. The day would end with him being surrounded by their love.
One day, his mother told Tomie that Nana Upstairs had died. Crushed, the little boy began to weep. But several nights later, he saw a shooting star and ran into his parents’ bedroom. As his mother held him, she gave him a wonderful memory of Nana Upstairs.
What was that memory? Why was it so important? How had these two older ladies given so much to this young boy? How could a bedridden great-grandmother be so valuable in learning about life? To find out the answers to these questions, go to the library and check out this touching story of Tomie DePaola’s childhood.
Governments encouraging euthanasia confuse the evil by clouding it with compassion. The supposed reason is to relieve suffering. But whose suffering is relieved; the dying person or those still living? These governments really use utility and usefulness as the criteria for being allowed to live. But Tomie DePaola shows us the immense usefulness and dignity of the old and infirm. They helped form him in charity and kindness. They taught him about dignity and worth. These are the virtues that our contemporary society so desperately needs to learn. Young Tomie was taught these important values by his infirm Nana Upstairs and his loving Nana Downstairs. I hope you get a chance to share this wonderful book with your family. Enjoy!
Proponents of utilizing Obamacare’s provisions that allow and encourage states to expand Medicaid-insured health-care coverage are back with implementing legislation for a third time in as many years in Nebraska. This time it’s LB 472. Will it be the charm?
The cause behind LB 472 is basically the same as it was for its two predecessors—LB 577 in 2013 and LB 887 in 2014: ensure access to health care for adults with household incomes less than 133 percent of the Federal Poverty Level. Obamacare promises an enhanced federal share of no less than 90 percent of the costs for newly eligible individuals. Nebraska law already provides more extensive coverage for children and pregnant women, but gaps exist for adults.
The glaring gap is for impoverished, childless adults who have annual income slightly greater than 50 percent of FPL, but less than 100 percent. Under current policy, they have too much income to qualify for Nebraska’s Medicaid, but not enough to qualify for federal subsidies in the marketplace, because that assistance starts at 100 percent FPL.
Relatively considered, the original Medicaid-expansion legislation, LB 577 in 2013, was straightforward in relation to implementing expanded eligibility and financing per Obamacare. But the bill encountered insurmountable opposition, so proponents of the policy changes—most notably Senator Kathy Campbell, chairperson of the Legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee—came back with LB 887 in 2014. It was more complex and complicated than its predecessor, with provisions for using private insurers, implementing more extensive cost-sharing, and promoting personal responsibility.
It appears that LB 472 follows suit; that it is more complex and complicated than LB 887. It reiterates much of that bill, but adds some new planning and management concepts. It brings in ideas and expressions of health-care transformation, a popular concept for Senator Campbell and Senator Mike Gloor, chairman of the standing committee that oversees insurance issues.
LB 472 has a lot of wording. If legislation can be intense, this is it. It might be the first-ever bill with the words “superutilizer,” “silos,” “targeting strategies” and “value-based payments” all together. It uses a version of “shall include, but not be limited to,” 11 times.
LB 472 has four basic components:
- It would create a 16-member Medicaid Redesign Task Force to conduct a comprehensive review of the medical-assistance program and make recommendations.
- It would give the state Department of Health and Human Services 12 months to develop a Medicaid-demonstration-waiver application, in accord with extensive, prescribed criteria, to access the enhanced federal funding.
- In the meantime, it would give NE-DHHS 30 days following the bill’s effective date to submit an amendment for the current state plan in order to cover all “newly eligible individuals” with a “benchmark benefit package,” defined by federal law, including mental-health parity.
- And it would create the “Health Care Access and Support Fund,” to annually receive 23.5 percent of the net balance of the state’s Comprehensive Health Insurance Pool Distributive Fund.
Senators Campbell and Gloor, and their allies, will have to work hard to explain, justify and sell this newest version of Medicaid expansion.
LB 586 is the latest version of legislation that would add both “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” as protected classifications for which discrimination in hiring, firing and terms and conditions of employment would be punishable pursuant to the state’s Fair Employment Practices Act. That set of proscriptions applies to all employers of 15 or more employees and to all contractors and subcontractors of the state and local governments.
The public hearing on this year’s version of such legislation included what has to be darn close to the ultimate exhibit in political correctness; namely, the testimony presented in support of the bill on behalf of the Greater Omaha Area Chamber of Commerce and the tag-along Lincoln Chamber.
Another observation: in editorially expressing its support, the Omaha World Herald described LB 586 as “a straightforward measure.” That opinion might be flawed.
The bill encompasses not only “sexual orientation,” but also “gender identity.” The latter is defined as follows: “the actual or perceived appearance, expression, identity, or behavior of an individual, whether or not that appearance, expression, identity, or behavior is different from the individual’s assigned sex at birth.”
Puzzler. Have to wonder what standard of “straightforwardness” the World Herald uses.
And finally... news of the death last week of Sister Mary Evangeline Randolph was for me a source of both sadness and fond memories.
As founder and long-time director of Madonna School for Exceptional Children in Omaha, Sister Evangeline was unique and special; full of energy and love for the special-needs children to whom she was so devoted. Her earthly journey was one of compassion and service.
On numerous occasions, I consulted Sister Evangeline, or she collaborated with the Nebraska Catholic Conference, on public-policy issues affecting her school or her students. She was informed, engaged, passionate and effective as an advocate and administrator. She was one of those you learn from, and don’t forget.
On Wednesday, Feb. 11, the memorial of Our Lady of Lourdes, I made a trip to Hastings for our annual volunteer luncheon. Like other similar events across the diocese, it gives us a chance to thank our many volunteers who are the backbone of our agency. In some respects, they are our ‘unsung heroes,’ meaning, they certainly deserve more recognition.
The event was planned by Jill McMahon, our volunteer coordinator in Hastings, along with Sarah Klabenes and Christine Cook. The menu included a crisp garden salad, potato salad, chips, fork-tender roast beef and pork and jazzed-up baked beans, with an impressive array of desserts and chocolates.
As I visited each table, greeting and thanking our many volunteers, I asked them this question, “What is the best thing about volunteering?”
Several of the older men replied, jokingly I am confident, “To get out of the house!” The most common answer reflected their desire to serve Jesus who lives in the poor and needy. Others added how gratifying it is to help and serve others seeing gratitude for the help they receive at Catholic Social Services.
Yes, our volunteers truly are the backbone of our 83-year-old agency. Our volunteers do many things for us, including, answering phones, doing clerical work, packing food, picking up and delivering bread, making and handing out sack lunches, working in our fixed and mobile food pantries, performing housecleaning chores, working in our thrift stores, maintenance work, refinishing and repairing furniture, planting and watering flowers, teaching GED and ESL classes or countless other items done for us.
Last year, more than 1,000 volunteers gave over 23,000 hours to Catholic Social Services at a value to the agency of nearly $200,000. For this, I will be eternally thankful.
Please allow me to once again thank all of our volunteers at Catholic Social Services! If anyone reading this feels called by God to volunteer for us, please contact Bill Sullivan in Imperial at 308-882-3065; Jill McMahon in Hastings at 402-463-2112; or Bryan Dahlberg in Lincoln at 402-474-1600. In contemplating volunteering, please remember these words of Jesus, “Truly I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me” (Mt 25:40).
“Martin de Porres: The Rose in the Desert”
by Gary D. Schmidt, illustrated by David Diaz
Clarion Books, New York, 2012, 32 pages, Grades K-3.
South America has produced many great saints. Interestingly enough, three of them have belonged to the Dominican Order, and all are from Peru.
The first is St. Rose of Lima. The beautiful daughter of a Spanish nobleman, St. Rose withdrew from the world and committed herself to prayer and sacrifice. The second is St. Juan Macias. St. Juan spent his life as a lay brother serving the poor in Lima.
The third is St. Martin de Porres. The son of a Spanish father and an African mother, St. Martin de Porres gave himself totally to Jesus Christ through a life of charity. Gary Schmidt tells his wonderful story in the short biography, “Martin de Porres: The Rose in the Desert.”
Life did not hand Martin de Porres any favors. As a child, his father abandoned the family and the young boy frequently endured racial taunts from others. Living in abject poverty, he eked out a living with his mother and sister through a brutal life of manual labor. Eventually, his father returned to the family, moved the children to Ecuador and began to provide for them.
At about the age of 15, Martin returned to Lima and was apprenticed as a barber/surgeon. He soon joined a Dominican monastery as a laborer and porter. He endured many persecutions from his fellow Dominicans because of his biracial heritage and was not allowed to study for the priesthood. But through it all, Martin practiced the highest charity with the poor of Lima. He used his medical skills to heal many sick people. Eventually, his immense holiness became widely known and after many years, Martin took his vows as a religious.
In the following years, Brother Martin cared for the sick and suffering from all classes in Lima. He had a special affection for animals and frequently cared for them as well. Soon many miracles began to occur through his intercession. Most people in Peru came to believe that Brother Martin was a living saint.
Throughout his many years of humble service to the Church, Martin de Porres never sought any glory for himself. He considered himself God’s servant and was frequently seen humbly sweeping the floors at the monastery and church. He knew that anything done for the love of God could be a sanctifying moment.
By the end of his life in 1639, Brother Martin de Porres was revered in Lima for his deep love for God and his neighbor. As he lay dying, people throughout Lima began singing to him in thanksgiving for his beautiful life. St. Pope John XXIII canonized him in May of 1962 and his feast day is Nov. 3.
I have only related a few of the marvelous things St. Martin de Porres accomplished in his life. How did he heal so many people and animals? What is bilocation? How did this pertain to the life of this great saint? Why is love able to overcome racial hatred? And finally, how does the life of St. Martin de Porres show us why a life of total dedication to Jesus produce such magnificent fruits? To find out the answers to these questions, purchase this wonderful book, “Martin de Porres: The Rose in the Desert.”
Pura Belpre was the first Latina librarian at the New York Public Library. The American Library Association gives an annual medal in her name to the book making the most outstanding contribution to Latin American culture each year. “Martin de Porres: The Rose in the Desert” won the medal for illustration in 2013. I hope you get a chance to read this story with your children. Enjoy!
There are several ways we at Catholic Social Services obtain referrals. These include individuals and families who walk into our four social service offices asking for assistance, those that call us directly, and those who contact us through our website and priest referrals.
Recently during the last cold snap, a concerned priest in a rural parish somewhere south of the Platte River called me about an elderly woman and her daughter who were living in a worn-down trailer. Her electricity had been shut off because she was late on her payment. It is my understanding that some utility companies never disconnect during the winter months, but not hers.
I asked him if he could visit her with a parishioner for an assessment. There he found the elderly woman on her couch wrapped in a blanket. Her trailer reeked of diesel fumes. Because of the stench, she would turn an antiquated heater on until things were tolerable and then shut it off. Because of this priest’s fear of them dying of carbon monoxide poisoning, he put them up in a local motel for several days. That is when we stepped in and helped her catch up on her bill. She was one happy woman to finally feel heat coming out of the vents of her home without the nasty smell of diesel fuel. She apparently didn’t know of the risks that carbon monoxide poses. People dying of carbon monoxide poisoning is not uncommon every winter around the country.
I can imagine when people send us money, they may ask, “I wonder how this money will be spent…” This story is just one of the many I can relate. Ever since Bishop Kucera started Catholic Social Services in the Great Depression in 1932, with the help of the faithful, we have been helping poor and needy individuals and families that come to us in crisis.
Not only do we help individuals from a social services standpoint, we also do so from a clinical standpoint. Our Immaculate Heart of Mary Counseling Center is unique in that our well trained clinicians are able to incorporate the Catholic faith in their counseling. However, not everyone is able to access services because of an inability to pay for some reason. It is my understanding that we have never turned anyone away for the inability to pay for services because of being under or non-insured.
Last year, because of the generosity of our donors, we provided nearly $240,000 in charity grants. I am unaware of any other mental health clinics in southern Nebraska that can say the same thing. This, of course, is only possible because of the generosity of our benefactors.
Unfortunately there are some who need help from both of our arms of charity because a major psychological illness can temporarily keep one out of the work force. We all know it is impossible to pay for rent and utilities without having a job. In these instances, we do our best to help those who are out of work because of a crippling psychological illness become employable once again.
Please know that we at Catholic Social Service are most grateful to our many supporters, for with your help, we are a beacon of hope for so many who access our services each and every year. Please be assured of our prayers for all of you!
It has become nearly perennial that a bill is introduced in the Nebraska Legislature to expand Medicaid eligibility for free contraception. This year is no exception as LB 77, introduced by Sen. Jeremy Nordquist, would expand income eligibility for Medicaid funded contraception to 185 percent of the federal poverty income guidelines.
The main argument for such a measure boils down to this: the more people who use contraception, the fewer unintended pregnancies there will be and, therefore, the fewer abortions there will be. And, if the recipients of free contraception are people receiving public assistance, the state will ultimately save money because the cost of providing free contraception will be more than offset by what the state saves in not having to pay for pregnancy and child-related expenses.
Although this argument may have some intuitive appeal, there is little or no meaningful data to support it. No one has demonstrated any causal link between either greater access to contraception and fewer unintended pregnancies and abortions, nor between greater usage of contraception and fewer unintended pregnancies.
It is simply assumed that what may work on an individual level will work on a societal level; but data and experience contradict this assumption. On a national level, unintended pregnancies have risen along with increased access to contraceptives through various public programs.
According to some family planning researchers, increased access to contraceptives may actually drive unintended pregnancy and abortion up, not down. Non-marital pregnancies, for example, increase in the long term when access to contraception increases, which studies suggest is due to “risk compensation” – the belief that one is insured against the risk of pregnancy. Encouraging this false sense of security may end up achieving the opposite of what this bill intends.
This result is born out in numerous studies, conducted by family planning proponents, demonstrating that greater access to contraception does not reduce unintended pregnancies and abortions. For example:
James Trussell who originated the claim that easier access to emergency contraception could “result in a greater than 50% reduction in abortion rates” has conceded that 23 published studies from 10 countries disprove his claim. According to every one of the 23 studies, published between 1998 and 2006, easier access to EC fails to achieve any statistically significant reduction in rates of unintended pregnancy and abortion.
The cost-savings argument simply assumes that if Nebraska expands government funding for contraception more women in the target population will use contraception and, as a result, fewer pregnancies will occur providing savings to our state by reducing prenatal, delivery and postnatal costs that would otherwise be paid for by Medicaid.
This argument is undermined by the primary study used to make the cost-savings claim. The 2004 study examined six states that had implemented a Medicaid expansion of contraceptive coverage. The study claims that all six states experienced a net cost savings by reducing the number of pregnancies and births that would result without this expansion of contraception.
However, the study reveals that not every state that was examined experienced an increase in family planning use and only two of the six states “appeared” to experience a reduction in unintended pregnancies. How can the study credibly claim that all six states saved money by averting births due to better access to contraception when not every state experienced an increased use of contraception and four of the six states did not experience a decline in unintended pregnancies? This strains credibility.
It is encouraging to know that some women are beginning to challenge the general assumption that women’s health and equality are advanced by greater access to contraception and abortion. A group called “Women Speak for Themselves” formed in response to the phony “war on women” narrative created by those trying to exploit women to advance an ideological agenda. I encourage you to check them out at www.womenspeakforthemselves.com.
“George Washington: Encyclopedia of the Presidents”
by Zachary Kent.
Children’s Press, Chicago, 1986, 100 pages, Grades 4-6.
Nations are usually born on a set of principles. In the American colonies, one of the principles was the idea that people could not be taxed if they were not represented in the parliament.
Additionally, the beliefs in life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness became the foundation of the emerging United States. But the price of independence is costly and can only be achieved through a dedication to these beliefs. A strong leader is needed as well to focus energies of divergent groups to achieve the goal of independence. When a country is fortunate, this leader is a person of virtue and ideals. The United States was incredibly lucky to have such a leader, General George Washington. Zachary Kent tells the powerful story of how this honorable Virginian grew as a person and led the founding of the country. The name of this fine book is “George Washington: Encyclopedia of the Presidents.”
On February 22, 1732, George Washington was born in a modest brick home in Westmoreland County, Virginia. His father, August Washington, moved the family from farm to farm raising tobacco. Young George’s father died when he was 11 years old. At the time of this loss, his half-brother, Lawrence took a keen interest in the lad and invited him to his plantation at Mount Vernon, Virginia. In addition to becoming an accomplished horseman, George soon learned how to do surveying and served in an expedition surveying western lands. These lands in the Ohio River Valley were the source of contention between France and England. Rivalry soon broke into warfare and Washington received a commission in the British-American Army as a lieutenant-colonel. For the next several years, Washington served as an officer in the French and Indian War. When it was concluding, he resigned from the army and returned to Virginia. He soon happily married the widowed Martha Custis and settled into the life of a gentleman.
These were happy years for Washington as he adopted Martha’s two children and served in the Virginia legislature. But his peace was to be short lived as the stirrings for independence from England began spreading throughout the colonies. The political arrangement between England and the American colonies was like that of a parent and a child. England was not brutal to the colonies, but always insisted the colonies remain dependent on the mother country. When the colonies were young and weak, this relationship was tolerated. But as the colonies matured, they refused to stay in continued adolescence. With this, the American Revolution happened. Though still young and weak, the colonies finally wanted independence. They needed a strong and valiant leader. This man must be selfless and filled with courage. He had to be someone that everyone would immediately respect. The colonial leaders knew that man was George Washington.
How did George Washington get 13 quarreling colonies and state legislatures to work together? Where did he get his courage and vision? Why did everyone revere him? And finally, why is George Washington really the Father of the United States? To find out the answers to these questions, go to the library and check out this outstanding title, “George Washington: Encyclopedia of the Presidents.”
This fine book is from the series known as the “Encyclopedia of the Presidents.” It is very well written and contains many fine illustrations. The writing style is inviting and middle-school students will enjoy the text. The book is packed with information on the life and work of George Washington.
The third Monday of February is a nation-wide holiday know as President’s Day. So this Feb. 16, I would encourage you to share this wonderful title with members of your family. Enjoy!
I am blessed to live in residence at North American Martyrs Parish, where Father Brian Connor is the pastor. At the end of the day several weeks ago, while talking with Father Connor, I received a call on my cell phone.
“Hello, Father! My name is Horace McSchmershmach. Do you know Francine McFindlandski?” The names have been changed to maintain anonymity. Francine is a woman we helped escape homelessness several years ago. I have known her for more than 10 years. She hates receiving assistance from us and only calls when absolutely necessary. We gave her a car last year which allows her to drive to her two part-time jobs. Like Francine, Horace too had been homeless in the past and now lives in a small apartment.
After exchanging the usual pleasantries, he informed me he needed help with his February rent and utilities. I asked what happened in January that he is now in a bind. As it turns out, he makes ends meet by participating on a regular basis in experimental studies, supplemented by part time work at a temp agency. As an unfortunate turn of events, during the peak of the cold and flu season he was ‘knocked flat’ and was unable to work.
‘What a way to make ends meet,’ I thought to myself. Even though age discrimination is against the law, he is an older gentleman which complicates finding regular full-time employment. It was Francine who said to him, “Call Father Kubat at Catholic Social Services! They were the ones who helped me!”
After checking his story further, I told him to expect a call from someone on our staff. We were able to help him only because of the grace of God and the generosity of our donors. Before hanging up, I asked him what his religion was. He explained he was a believer but nothing else. Apparently, going to church on Sundays and praying to God on a regular basis were never a part of his early life. Time after time when hearing such stories, I am more and more grateful for my faithful parents who taught my sisters and me the faith by their words and actions.
After planting a few seeds, we said good-bye. I wanted to talk about the importance of having a relationship with God because saving ones soul is more important than anything else. Isn’t prayer speaking to God, the One we should love with all of our heart, soul and mind (Mt 22:37)?
I would like to first thank Almighty God for His grace that Catholic Social Services exists in the Diocese of Lincoln. It is the vehicle of charity of the faithful of southern Nebraska or in other words, we are your arms and legs of charity. I would secondly thank all of our donors scattered across the 24,000 square miles of our diocese and the handful that live outside the diocese, for charity knows no boundaries.
Finally, please remember and be reminded that we at Catholic Social Services of Southern Nebraska routinely and regularly remember all of our supporters, their families and intentions in our prayers and Masses offered our chapels!
“Flora & Ulysses” by Kate DiCamillo, illustrated by K.G. Campbell.
Candlewick Press, Somerville, Mass., 2013, 233 pages, Grades 4-6.
Growing up has never been easy, and it continues to be difficult today. Many issues account for this.
First, the constant change in society can leave people unsettled. Second, economic issues cause stress in many lives. And finally, the multiple issues involved with divorce have caused great trauma in children’s lives. How do children address these problems? What damage has been done to their sense of security? How do they continue to make positive choices in these situations?
The answers are sometimes found in painful and difficult decisions. Kate DiCamillo has written a poignant novel addressing these sensitive subjects in her 2014 Newbery Award winning book, “Flora & Ulysses.”
Flora Buckman is a complicated girl. She sees beyond the usual understanding of the world and has a magnanimous heart. Her mother is a self-absorbed romance writer with little time for anyone other than herself. This has led to her divorce from her kind-hearted, accountant husband. Flora tries to make sense of her new situation by reading escapist cartoons about superheroes. These superheroes are often disguised as humble people but can turn into powerful personas to rescue the downtrodden.
While sitting alone in her room, Flora hears the peculiar family vacuum cleaner roaring across the floor and devouring some small animal. When Flora goes downstairs, she pulls a squirrel out of the vacuum cleaner. He is truly the oddest-looking squirrel she has ever seen, since half of his hair has been sheared by the vacuum cleaner. The squirrel, whom she names Ulysses, reminds Flora of the superheroes she is constantly reading about in comic books.
In short order, Flora learns that Ulysses can do magical things just like the superheroes. The first episode of this is when he flies. But Flora’s mother hates the squirrel and is determined to kill it.
Flora’s dad drives by and picks her up for the weekend and is also given a shovel and a sack, and orders to kill the squirrel. When they go back to his apartment, Flora’s timid father is attacked by a house cat named Mr. Klaus. On seeing the attack, Ulysses turns into a superhero and picks up the cat and hurls him down the hall. Flora is amazed. Does this mean that a person showing courage and determination can change their situation? Could caring for others improve people’s lives?
Mr. Buckman’s neighbor, Dr. Meescham, begins telling Flora about the importance of loving and accepting others. Dr. Meescham shows Flora how the love her husband gave her made her heart come alive. This is what is really important in life. As all these thoughts are spinning through the young girl’s mind, her father takes her back home.
On again seeing the squirrel, Mrs. Buckman goes into a robotic trance and begins chain smoking. That night she kidnaps the squirrel and heads out to the woods with a shovel. Flora wakes up and follows, trying to save Ulysses. As Mrs. Buckman gets ready to strike Ulysses, he transforms himself into an unconquerable superhero.
What happens? What can superheroes teach children about loving themselves? What does Flora’s mother finally figure out about loving her child? Why is courage able to conquer fear and doubt? To find out the answers to these questions, go to the library and check out this fine novel.
This book uses some surreal imagery that may put off some children. I can only tell them to keep reading, as the plot thickens and the climax is beautiful. The imagery begins to be covered by reality in the last quarter of the book and then everything makes sense.
Kate DiCamillo writes with great sensitivity and gently touches and helps heal the hurts in children’s hearts. So don’t give up on this book if the first 50 pages don’t make a great deal of sense. When you get to the conclusion, it will all make sense. This is a lovely book. Enjoy!
In these winter months, as we eagerly await April showers that bring May flowers, many are looking for something both fun and edifying to do. Well, look no more because “Trumpet Fest” is scheduled on Sunday, Feb. 8, and “Celebration of Caring” on Sunday, Feb.15.
At our 11th annual Trumpet Fest, we will honor the late Mac McCune, who appeared in all the previous events. I was always impressed at his effort being with us because he made the trip from Branson, Mo. There will be many talented trumpeters preforming, including Darryl White, Mac’s son Brian McCune, Bob Krueger, Barb Schmit, Taylor Cobb, Kevin Murray, Maria Pytlik and the UNL Trumpet Studio. There is no admission and a hat will be passed during intermission for a free-will offering. All proceeds will be used to assist poor and needy families. It will be held at 3 p.m. at Pius X High School located at 6000 A St., Lincoln.
Our 28th annual Celebration of Caring banquet and dinner will be held at the Cornhusker Hotel in Lincoln. The social time begins at 4:30 p.m. with the dinner / program at 6 p.m. We will be honoring Marlene Benes and her late husband, Leonard. They have both done many charitable things for CSS and the Diocese of Lincoln. The banquet gives us a chance to outline what we have accomplished by the grace of God and through the generosity of our donors this past year with a glimpse at what is new – a peek into the future, God willing.
Not only are we grateful to all of our donors, so are our clients. In the words of one of the ladies at St. Gianna’s, a home where women escape abortion and domestic violence, “I have not felt this blessed and secure in many years.”
Please never forget that we at Catholic Social Services pray for all of our donors, their families and intentions. I hope to see many of you at Trumpet Fest and at Celebration of Caring! For those who are unable to attend, please pray for the success of both.
Remember also that just around the corner are the April showers that bring May flowers!
This week, on Jan. 22, we memorialized the 42nd anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s abortion rulings in Roe v Wade and Doe v Bolton. In these companion cases, the Court effectively legalized abortion during all nine months of pregnancy for virtually any reason. The result? More than 58 million unborn human lives ended, countless mothers and fathers, grandparents and siblings wounded, human life at every stage cheapened, and the conscience of our nation dulled.
Blessed Mother Teresa said “Roe vs. Wade has deformed a great nation. The so-called right to abortion has pitted mothers against their children and women against men. It has sown violence and discord at the heart of the most intimate human relationships. It has aggravated the derogation of the father’s role in an increasingly fatherless society. It has portrayed the greatest of gifts—a child—as a competitor, an intrusion and an inconvenience.”
The pitting of “mothers against their children and women against men” is evident in the modern feminist movement as defined by Betty Friedan, Gloria Steinem, and Sarah Weddington, the attorney who argued for legalizing abortion before the U.S. Supreme Court in Roe v. Wade.
Serrin Foster, president of Feminists for Life, points out that “Weddington saw the discrimination and other injustices faced by pregnant women. But she did not demand that these injustices be remedied. Instead, she demanded for women the ‘right’ to submit to these injustices by destroying their pregnancies.”
“Weddington repeatedly said that women need ‘relief’ from pregnancy,” Foster added, “instead of arguing that women need relief from these injustices. What if Weddington had used her legal acumen to challenge the system to address women’s needs?”
Clearly, this notion—that the unborn child is the problem that must be eliminated in order for women to advance in society—has pitted mothers against their children. And it has degraded all human life by enshrining in our nation’s laws the grotesque view that some human beings are undeserving of recognition and protection under our laws.
One effect of this degradation is the continual effort of some groups to legalize physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia in states throughout our country. This effort got a major boost as the pro-euthanasia group “Compassion and Choices” has been exploiting the Brittany Maynard suicide to push for legalization of assisted suicide in numerous states this year.
Another sign of how abortion has pitted mothers against their children are the heart-wrenching testimonies of women who regret their abortions. Here is one example: “My personal journey of healing began after six long years of the most deafeningly silent pain… I remember during those dark years, I would wake up each morning, and for a few brief seconds, all was well. Then I would remember what I had done. The grief was all-consuming. But, like so many other women, I kept it locked inside. I had accepted my fate. I was unforgiveable.
“The enormity of what I had done actually made my steps heavier… I cried alone almost daily… I convinced myself that I had committed an unforgiveable act. I felt utterly alone. I desperately needed to connect with other women who were suffering as I was, and I longed to be the woman I used to be.”
The Catholic Church and the broader pro-life movement offer a polar opposite response from the culture of death’s response to those suffering from various forms of injustice in our society. Our response seeks to remedy the injustices that force mothers to choose between continuing or advancing in a job or in school and destroying their offspring.
Likewise, our response seeks to eliminate the various forms of suffering that can drive a person to seek assisted suicide, rather than eliminating the suffering person.
Thanks be to God, there are encouraging signs in some areas of our pro-life efforts. For example, public opinion on abortion has shifted in recent years toward the pro-life position; the number of abortion centers has dropped from the high of 2,176 in 1991 to 759 in 2011 while the number of pro-life pregnancy resource centers has skyrocketed.
And most encouraging for the pro-life cause is the fact that this year’s March for Life, like all in recent years, will bring together hundreds of thousands of people to stand up for the dignity of human life…and the vast majority of marchers will be young people.
“The Super Bowl: All about Pro Football’s Biggest Event”
by Hans Hetrick.
Capstone Press, Mankato, Minn., 2013,32 pages, Grades 3-5.
At the end of the pro football season, a series of playoff games are played. The final two winners of their conferences then play each other in the final title game, the Super Bowl. The Super Bowl has grown from being an interesting championship game to becoming a cultural phenomenon. It is routinely the most widely watched television event each year in the United States. The commercials are eagerly anticipated by the audience and cost millions of dollars.
So what are the reasons this football championship come about? Hans Hetrick tells us the fascinating history of the Super Bowl in a well written and photographed book entitled “The Super Bowl: All about Pro Football’s Biggest Event.”
The National Football League (NFL) had franchises in a number of cities in the 1960s. The American Football League (AFL) was founded in the 1960s and expanded professional football to many other cities in the USA. After several years, both leagues decided to play a title game between their respective champions. Following the 1966 season, on January 15, 1967, the NFL Green Bay Packers played the AFL Kansas City Chiefs. Millions of television viewers watched the game with the Packers winning 35-10. The Super Bowl had made its mark on the American psyche and began to be widely anticipated each year.
Hetrick fills the book with all kinds of interesting stories and facts. The NFL and AFL finally decided to merge into one league in 1970 and the interest in the Super Bowl continued to soar. In the 1970s the Pittsburgh Steelers became the dominant team in professional football. The author describes Coach Chuck Noll building the juggernaut with its black and yellow uniforms. He includes an exciting photograph of the Pittsburgh great running back, Franco Harris, leaving defenders in his wake. Next, Hetrick describes the powerful San Francisco 49ers. Throughout the 1980s the 49ers won four Super Bowls. He discusses the great quarterback of the 49ers, Joe Montana. As well, Coach Joe Walsh and his innovative passing game is discussed.
The next decade of the 1990s belongs to the Dallas Cowboys. Their famous quarterback, Troy Aikman, is shown holding up the championship Lombardi Trophy. In the first decade of the 2000s, the powerful New England Patriots are described.
All sorts of fun facts are included in the book as well. Which quarterback made the famous “guaranteed win” statement? What tackle on the 1-foot line saved a team from defeat? Who ran down a lumbering tackle and caused the most famous fumble in Super Bowl history? To find out the answers to these and many other questions, go to the library and check out “The Super Bowl: All about Pro Football’s Biggest Event” by Hans Hetrick.
The Super Bowl has become a national event in the United States. People plan Super Bowl parties and eagerly watch the game and the commercials. The Budweiser Clydesdale Horse Teams are particularly popular with viewers. Hetrick catches the excitement of the Super Bowl in this book. It could be effectively shared in classroom settings or the home. The writing is succinct and the photographs are exciting.
I hope you get a chance to encourage the youngsters in your family to read this book. Of course, you could be that ‘youngster’ yourself and read the book. In any event, have fun!
Ninety-five years ago, Robert Meyer, a teacher at Zion Lutheran Church School near Hampton, was arrested, charged in Hamilton County Court with violating the state’s Siman Act and fined $25. The Act, passed by the Nebraska Legislature a year earlier, in 1919, prohibited all schools, private as well as public, from teaching any subject to any student not yet finished with eighth grade in a language other than English. Meyer was “caught” teaching 10-year-old Raymond Parpart bible stories in German.
This was a time of considerable anti-German sentiment as a result of World War I. Nebraska’s law was like that of 22 other states.
Also in 1920, the Legislature expanded the prohibition to encompass all grades; it was the Reed-Norval Act, the text of which also surfaced as part of a proposed English-only amendment to the State Constitution. Voters approved the amendment by a margin of more than five-to-one at the General Election in 1920. It became Article I, section 27, as follows:
“The English language is hereby declared to be the official language of this state. All official proceedings, records and publications shall be in such language, and the common school branches shall be taught in such language in public, private, denominational and parochial schools.”
Robert Meyer appealed his conviction to the Nebraska Supreme Court, which upheld it. He then appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. In 1923, the nation’s highest tribunal issued a 7-2 ruling that reversed the Nebraska courts and overturned the conviction, for the reason that the prohibitive policy of the Siman Act violated parents’ constitutional rights to direct their children’s education.
The ruling in Meyer v. Nebraska became famous and significant.
The ruling made Art. I, sec. 27 of the Nebraska Constitution unenforceable and obsolete as applied to private, parochial and denominational schools.
For a long time, the messiness was ignored; but years later, cleaning it up, by striking the “unconstitutional remnant,” became a recommendation of a state constitutional revision commission, which met between 1995 and 1997.
The commission’s recommendation caused State Senator Elaine Stuhr, from nearby Bradshaw, who not only was familiar with Zion Lutheran Church, but had come to know Raymond Parpart, to introduce Legislative Resolution 20CA in 1999. It proposed to eliminate the English-language requirement; not entirely, but insofar as it applied to private, denominational and parochial schools and had been invalidated by Meyer v. Nebraska.
LR 20CA was passed by the Legislature on a 48-0 vote. It became Amendment 1; the only proposed constitutional amendment on the ballot for the Primary Election of May 9, 2000.
The amendment was decisively rejected by the voters. It lost in all 93 counties. The margin statewide was nearly four-to-one.
Senator Stuhr took up the clean-up cause again two years later. Her LR 1CA, which the Legislature passed 45-1, placed a slightly revised proposal on the ballot for the General Election in November 2002. The electorate said “no” again, although the margin was tighter.
No further attempt to eliminate the obsolete provision has been undertaken. The void wording is the same today as it was placed into the Constitution in 1920.
But there is another part to this story; one a bit more personal for your soon-to-retire columnist.
Two days after the proposed constitutional amendment was rejected the first time, in May 2000, a member of that constitutional revision commission, Dick Herman, wrote an on-line editorial in which he intimated a totally gratuitous suggestion that some who sponsor and operate parochial schools might have had something to do with the outcome. He ascribed a motive of schools wanting to stay firmly perceived as no different than public schools, in order to better argue for governmental aid.
Herman also was a former editorialist with Lincoln’s daily newspaper. He was known in our circles as thriving on portraying Catholic leaders as suspect actors, with sinister motives on most public-policy issues, especially those relating to education and parents’ rights.
In any event, your columnist deemed it necessary—rightly or wrongly, wisely or not—to assure Senator Stuhr that Herman’s subtle suggestion was ludicrous. I wrote this to her:
“It has come to my attention that Dick Herman has written a commentary that suggests that the Catholic Church may have organized action to defeat proposed Amendment 1, in order to (somehow) bolster efforts to obtain public assistance for our schoolchildren. That gratuitous charge is absolute nonsense. I can assure you that Catholic leaders, including Catholic-school administrators, organized nothing, said nothing and did nothing with respect to Amendment 1.
“It should be clear that most Nebraska voters did not fully understand the background and purpose of the proposition, no doubt due in part to the inadequacy of the Statement of Explanation presented on the ballot. (It used the word ‘exempt’ in describing the effect on other-than-public schools.) That explanation, in my opinion, gave the impression that private and parochial schools would be given a new advantage or an opportunity that public schools would not have. Indeed, this very well could have been a vote against special treatment for parochial schools, but not on the basis of Dick Herman’s ludicrous conspiracy theory.”
“We do not want there to be any misunderstanding based on something Dick Herman writes. Thank you.”
Ah, history.
The Holy Spirit says, “Today, when you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts” (Heb 3:7-8).
This passage is related to another passage which says, “Neither is new wine put into old wineskins; if it is, the skins burst, and the wine spilled, and the skins destroyed; but new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved” (Mt 9:17).
It is dangerous living a life under the influence of the ‘except for’ and ‘but’ factors. They are related to each other and lead to a hardened heart incapable of holding the ‘new wine,’ which is sanctifying grace or God’s divine life in the soul.
The ‘except for’ factor is as follows: “I will be faithful to you O Lord, except for something I do not agree with.” This happens because of inherent pride in which someone makes themselves their own pope.
The ‘but’ factor is a bit different. “I will be faithful to you O Lord, but I am unwilling to give up something sinful because of my attachment to it.”
Both of these are a result of a hardened heart which is incapable of holding the new wine of God’s grace.
For those affected, with true humility, a soul akin to an old wineskin can be transformed into a new wine skin capable of holding God’s saving grace. Not only that, because the soul becomes pliable, it is able to grow and hold more grace, meaning a person is able to advance in holiness.
Since starting my assignment at Catholic Social Services of Southern Nebraska the summer of 2003, I have noticed that our benefactors are, as a general rule, docile to the Holy Spirit and exhibit faith in action as described in the second chapter of James: “What does it profit, my brethren, if a man says he has faith but has no works? Can his faith save him? If a brother or sister is ill-clad and in lack of daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and filled,’ without giving them the things needed for the body, what does it profit? So faith by itself, if it has no works is dead” (Jas 2:14-17).
Each year as I reflect on the generosity of our donors during the Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons, I am grateful that the majority of them know that the poor will always be with us (Mk 14:7) and are generous through the entire year. Because of our gratitude, we not only pray for you as an agency on a daily basis, but Masses are offered for you and your intentions. There is nothing on this side of eternity as powerful as the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass because the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross and His resurrection, which happened once and cannot be repeated, is made present (1 Cor 11:26).
If you are still looking for a great 2015 resolution, for those who attend Mass once a week, please consider, schedule permitting, to attend Mass during the week as well. Because of the extra graces, you will find that the wineskin of your soul will dramatically expand this New Year. Thank you and happy New Year!
“The Secret Life of a Snowflake: An Up-Close Look at the Art & Science of Snowflakes,” by Kenneth Libbrecht
Voyageur Press, 2009, 48 pages, Grades 3-5.
St. Thomas Aquinas states in the Summa Theologicae Part 1, Question 2, Article 3 that there are five proofs for the existence of God. The Fifth Proof is that of the design and governance of the world.
There are perfect designs in nature, such as snowflakes and these beautifully-formed creations point to the existence of a First Designer. St. Thomas states that this Perfect Being is called God. When we see these lovely, six-sided (hexagon) wonders falling to the earth, we are reminded of God’s perfection.
Of course, since this is earth and not heaven, snowflakes sometimes gently fall and at other times seem to be hurled to the earth. Regardless, they come in innumerable sizes and shapes. Why is this so? Why are all snowflakes different, and why, when we look at snowflakes under a microscope is the exquisite guiding hand of God so evident? Dr. Kenneth Libbrecht, a professor of physics at Caltech, answers these questions in his beautifully photographed book: “The Secret Life of a Snowflake.”
Dr. Libbrecht begins the book by asking us to carefully look at snowflakes. Each one has an intricate pattern that is breathtaking. Each snowflake has its own shape and no two snowflakes look exactly alike.
As water rises from rivers, lakes and oceans, clouds are formed. Within the clouds, water droplets are created. Libbrecht tells us that a cloud droplet is 100 times smaller than a raindrop. As the weather gets colder, the droplets start to freeze in the clouds and become larger. Amazingly enough, it takes 100,000 droplets to make one snowflake. Because of the way water molecules freeze, they always form hexagons and are always symmetrical. However, if they collide with other snowflakes on their descent, some of the six branches may be damaged, resulting in an irregular shape.
The author meticulously photographs dozens of snowflakes under a microscope throughout the book. The shapes are surprising and fascinating. Some snowflakes look like flower petals and others look like nearly-solid hexagons.
Since snowflakes are made from pure ice, they have no color. They look white because light bounces off their crystal surfaces. Libbrecht gives an example of clear objects looking white in an experiment he gives in the book of small piles of salt, clear glass and snow. They all appear white because they have reflected light instead of absorbing it.
At the end of the book Libbrecht even shows other types of snowflakes that look like spools of thread. But to find out the answers to the many other facets of snowflakes, please go to the library and check out this beautifully written and photographed book.
This book is sure to be popular with middle school students. The text is accurate and easy to follow. The pictures are simply awe-inspiring. Libbrecht photographs and describes so many different kinds of snowflakes that it is mindboggling. This book can be read by itself or shared in a group. Your children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews will enjoy spending time with you as you pore over the many lovely photographs in the book. I hope you get a chance to check out this enjoyable book. You will just love it. Enjoy!
On Tuesday night, January 6, we honored many of our volunteers with a dinner, music and for the first time, our new game show called ‘Wheel of a Fish Fry Fortune.’ There have been other volunteer appreciation events elsewhere in the diocese.
Upon arriving, each person received a ticket with a number. After thanking them for their selfless love and dedication I started calling numbers. After picking a wrapped present they spun the wheel. The pointer on the wheel landed on slots with creative instructions on what they needed to do with their gifts. All had a great time. One volunteer mentioned she always wanted to play the game as seen on TV but “not after tonight!”
Our dinner menu included an Italian pasta salad, an Italian roast beef hoagie sandwich and our own homemade forest berry gelato. We have been experimenting as we get set to open a coffee and gelato shop in our main office later this year. The proceeds will be used to help needy individuals and families that come to us in crisis.
The music was provided by ‘Ashley and I (And the Other Guy).’ This talented trio is made up by Ashley Anderson, Drew Miller and Greg Florence. Many songs were played and sung including a touching one written by Drew about his grandparents he never met with the hope that only God gives in seeing them in the next life followed by everyone singing ‘Silent Night.’
I cannot thank our many volunteers from Imperial, Hastings, Lincoln and Auburn enough for all they do for Jesus who lives in the poor and needy. I know the only reason they volunteer at CSS is because of their love of God and His presence in their neighbor. If anyone is interested in becoming a volunteer at CSS, please contact us via our website, cssisus.org. Have a blessed 2015!
On Wednesday, Jan. 7, the Nebraska Legislature began its 104th Legislature, 1st Session. There will be hundreds of bills introduced within the first ten days of the session, which is the time limit for the introduction of bills. All of these bills, to one degree or another, will propose to impact the activities of men and women in our state.
Year after year, legislation is proposed and enacted in all 50 states and also by our federal government. But how often does a discussion about the nature of man (men and women) precede these various attempts to impact man’s actions?
In his book Society and Sanity, Frank Sheed urges this discussion. “Our treatment of anything must depend,” Sheed says, “on what we think it is: for instance, we treat people one way and cats another, because our idea of what a man is and what a cat is.
“All our institutions—family, school, trade union, government, laws, customs… grew out of what those who made them thought a man was. If you want to understand them profoundly, you must get at the idea of man that they express.”
For example, Sheed points out that “[p]eople making engines study steel, people making statues study marble, people making social systems should study man, for man is as much the raw material of social systems as steel is of engines, or marble of statues. And whereas we are not all making engines or statues, we are all involved in the making of social systems, from small ones like the family, up to the largest, the State to which we belong.”
The Nebraska Catholic Conference, which represents the collective voice of the three bishops in Nebraska, will bring the reality of human nature to our analysis and advocacy on a wide range of legislation from pro-life, to education, to anti-poverty, to immigration and healthcare.
Sheed provides us with the following summary of human nature, a nature that he said “our ancestors… arrived at… not by looking at man, but by listening to God:”
“Man is a creature of God, living in a universe created by God. But he differs from every other being in the world because God made him in His own image.
“This special likeness to God is not in man’s body, by which he is akin to the animals, but in his soul, which is spiritual, immortal, and meant for eternal union with God.
“By setting his will against God’s, man had damaged himself and lost oneness with God. God became man and died to save all men from this derelict condition.”
Sheed points out that “[i]n these three ideas—image of God, immortal spirit, redeemed by Christ—you have the dominating elements in that concept of man which went into the building of our civilization.”
In addition to considering human nature in our advocacy, Catholics bring to the public policy discussion a very long and rich tradition of moral and social teaching and the experience of Catholic institutions that put that teaching into practice in the areas of social services, education, and healthcare.
Fundamental to Catholic tradition and teaching is the inherent and sacred dignity of human life—the clearest reflection of God among us. For this reason, policy matters related to life, family and human dignity will receive priority attention as the Nebraska Catholic Conference sorts through the hundreds of bills that will be introduced this session.
The Conference, and the bishops it represents, cannot do this work alone. We rely upon the grassroots advocacy and prayers of Catholics around the state. To this end, individual Catholics can be of greatest assistance by signing up for the Catholic Advocacy Network of Nebraska (CANN) and offering your voice and prayers to the work of the Conference. Signing up for CANN is quick and easy on our website, www.necatholic.org.
“Angel Island: Gateway to Gold Mountain”
by Russell Freedman
Clarion Books, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Boston, 2013, 79 pages, Grades 4-6.
Shortly after the birth of Our Lord, the Holy Family was forced to flee into Egypt. Upon hearing from the Magi that there was a newborn king of the Jews, King Herod plotted the massacre of all the male babies, two and under that have been born in the area of Bethlehem. St. Joseph was awakened in a dream and told to take the Blessed Mother and the Infant Jesus and flee Herod’s assassins. So, Our Blessed Savior, having forsaken heaven to redeem us, now was forced to become a refugee. The Holy Family must have endured many of the hardships and sufferings of refugees. In American history, refugees and immigrants coming to the United States have always endured problems. There have been language problems, dietary issues and racial and ethnic resentment. On the East Coast, the most famous immigrant processing center was Ellis Island in New York harbor. On the West Coast there was an equally important but less known processing center. Named Angel Island and situated on an island in San Francisco Bay, this immigration center was the arrival point for most people coming to the United States from Asia. Russell Freedman tells the important story of this center in his powerful book, Angel Island: Gateway to Gold Mountain.
Freedman begins the story by describing the physical beauty of Angel Island. Picturesquely situated in San Francisco harbor, the island must have looked like a place of salvation for many desperate immigrants. And so it was for the time period for building the Transcontinental Railroad. Workers were needed and thousands of industrious Chinese flocked to build the railroad. Since most of the Chinese immigrants were young men, it was only natural for them to either send for their wives or buy a “mail order bride” through a marriage service. Since arranged marriages were common in China, this did not seem odd to the Chinese. But the rising Chinese population soon clashed with the racial prejudices of white Californians. The whites claimed that the Chinese were working for starvation wages and this would ruin the economy. As a result, the Chinese Exclusion Laws were passed in 1882 severely limiting Chinese immigration. Those coming in would now go through a desperate immigration process on Angel Island.
This process could last for months and frequently filled the frightened immigrants with depression and despair. They had to live in severely cramped spaces in the processing buildings and had to pass complicated tests to receive a visa. During these trying months, the immigrants wrote poems of pain on the walls of the processing buildings. They could see California, or Gold Mountain as the state was euphemistically called across the bay, but they had no idea if they would receive a visa or be deported to their home country. The entire process was grueling and brutal leading many to despair. But after months of difficulty, most will get to go to Gold Mountain.
Freedman tells the story of Angel Island with historical accuracy. He lets the history speak for itself which is the sign of a great biographer. Throughout the whole tortured process of American immigration, he allows the reader to experience both the racial prejudices encountered by the immigrants as well as the more uplifting parts of the American character. It is a marvelous book. As Congress attempts to reform the immigration process in 2015, we are well advised to understand what happened on Angel Island. I hope you get a chance to encourage the fourth through sixth graders in your family to read this important book. Russell Freedman is a great writer.
During our big toy giveaway before Christmas, I noticed a woman in line who appeared visibly disturbed and tearful. After greeting her, I asked how she was doing. She replied, “Do you have anything for adults? I would like something for my husband.”
I had a hunch there was more under the surface. Not wanting to get into a personal discussion in front of everyone else, I thought I would wait until she was in the St. Nicholas Toy Shoppe.
Once inside, I asked what was going on in her life. As the tears began again she said, “I think I have cancer and my husband is not working! Is there any way I can get a gift for him?”
I was amazed she was thinking of him and not of herself. I told her to wait a minute and went to my desk where I kept a stash of gift cards generous people gave me and returned to give several to her. It was then she really started crying.
She left our office with toys for her children and the ability to buy something for her husband and herself with joy in her heart. This is just one of the many stories I could relate.
As for our Christmas programs across the diocese, we were able to help almost 1,000 individuals with food (including turkeys and hams) and almost 800 families and more than 2,500 children with Christmas gifts. There are many other stories like the one related above that I could share.
I am most grateful to all of our donors for without you, none of this would have ever happened. It is our prayer that you all have a blessed and holy 2015!
You have heard it said, “The way one lives will be the way they die.”
This is true of a woman named Marge Engles. She and her husband Frank were wonderful friends of Catholic Social Services. It is because of their generosity we have our St. Francis Center in Auburn.
They were the generous couple who donated our original St. Francis Gift and Thrift Store building in Auburn. After the donation of the adjacent old Orscheln Farm and Home building, we now have a larger thrift store, emergency services and counseling offices, a food pantry, and a beautiful chapel dedicated to St. Francis.
Shortly before her death, Marge called her son Bob near to inform him of her wish to help the poor one more time before she passed away, for she knew her time was near. A few days later, we received a major donation. It was her dying wish as she passed into eternity soon afterward. I can imagine Jesus saying, “Well done, my good and faithful servant…”
On Tuesday, Dec. 16, I concelebrated Marge’s funeral Mass in Auburn. At Mass I remember praying for her and asking her for her prayers to help keep me always a holy priest.
One might be tempted to ask themselves, “What difference will my donation make?” Later that day, I attended the Christmas program put on by the children at St. Gianna’s. During the program I thought of Marge, for if it was not for supporters like her, we would not be having a Christmas program at St. Gianna’s, nor would we have any of the programs at Catholic Social Services. I also reflected on the countless families we are helping at this most holy time of year.
It will be this Christmas season and New Year that I will thank God for the greatest gift God the Father ever gave us - the gift of his Only Begotten Son, who was born in utter poverty at that first Christmas. I will also thank God for the gift of Marge and Frank Engles and for all of our countless donors who make it possible to help the countless individuals and families who come to us in crisis.
As always, please be assured of our prayers for you, your family and intentions.
“At the dawn of salvation, it is the birth of a child which is proclaimed as joyful news: ‘I bring you good news of a great joy which will come to all the people; for to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord’ (Lk.2:10-11). The source of this ‘great joy’ is the birth of the Savior; but Christmas also reveals the full meaning of every human birth and the joy which accompanies the birth of the Messiah is thus seen to be the foundation and fulfillment of joy at every child born into the world (cf.Jn. 16:21).”
As we prepare to celebrate the birth of our Lord, this introduction to Blessed John Paul II’s encyclical Evangelium Vitae provides a rich source of reflection on the God we serve and human life which He created in His image and likeness.
It is truly extraordinary to contemplate the fact that we worship a God who has experienced every stage and aspect of the human condition (except sin of course). His Son was conceived in the Virgin Mary and took the form of a human being, beginning His life like every human being—as a single cell embryo called a zygote.
According to Scripture, after the Incarnation of our Lord, Mary went in haste to visit her cousin Elizabeth, who was six months pregnant with John the Baptist. Experts say it would have taken two to three days for Mary to reach Elizabeth. Therefore, Jesus likely had not yet implanted in Mary’s womb (implantation usually occurs five to seven days after conception) when His presence caused John to stir in Elizabeth’s womb: “The moment your greeting sounded in my ears, the baby in my womb leapt for joy” (Luke 1:44).
Father Frank Pavone of Priests for Life offers these questions to ponder about the extraordinary reality of our Lord’s gestation in Mary’s womb:
“How long is it possible for believers, who meditate on the unborn child who was God, not to see that unborn children are made in God’s image? Is it likely that those who ponder that our Almighty Protector was a baby in the womb will fail to see that babies in the womb merit protection? Would it happen that Christians, who acknowledge that their Lord and Brother was an embryo and a fetus, will fail to see that every embryo and fetus is a brother and sister in the Lord?”
Another extraordinary source of reflection on human dignity comes from C.S. Lewis’s The Weight of Glory: “The dullest and most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship. … There are no ordinary people. ... Next to the Blessed Sacrament itself, your neighbour is the holiest object presented to your senses.”
Another way to celebrate Christmas is to recognize and support the amazing work being done by the more than 30 pregnancy-help centers and maternity homes in Nebraska. I never cease to be in awe and edified by the extraordinary work of these centers, which I believe represent the heart of the pro-life movement.
Among the services these centers provide or facilitate are: housing, instructional programs, provision of maternity and baby clothes, furniture and other necessities, adoption through licensed agencies, parenting classes, job training, medical care including pregnancy testing, prenatal and obstetrical care, social services, including counseling, arrangement for transportation, child health care, assistance in applying for financial help before and after the birth, child support, and chastity education.
A complete list of these centers with contact information is available from my office or online. I can’t imagine a more appropriate way to celebrate the birth of our Lord in a humble stable in Bethlehem than to support your local pregnancy-help center or maternity home.
“The Night of Las Posadas” by Tomie DePaola.
G.P. Putnams’s Sons, New York, 1999, 32 pages, Grades 2-4.
Christmas is a beautiful holiday. On Dec. 25, Our Lord’s Birth is celebrated throughout the world. Many countries have special celebrations for Christmas. The United States, Canada and many northern European countries set up and decorate Christmas trees. Most countries have special music to welcome the Christ Child into the world. In Spanish speaking countries and the American Southwest, for nine days before Christmas, Las Posadas are enacted. The celebrated author/illustrator, Tomie DePaola has once again written and illustrated a beautiful story about Our Lord’s Life. The name of this lovely book is “The Night of Las Posadas.”
Sister Angie has directed the Las Posadas processions for many years. In fact, she has recently celebrated her Golden Jubilee as a consecrated sister. She tells her niece Lupe along with Lupe’s new husband Roberto what they must do in the processions. They are enacting St. Joseph and the Virgin Mary walking into Bethlehem on a cold night looking for a room. The Virgin is with Child and needs to get somewhere safe and warm in case the Baby Jesus is born. Together, they will walk around the city square and ask for a room at various inns (posadas). Unfortunately, there will be no room at the inns. In fact, two devils actually will answer the door and shout for the Holy Couple to leave. After much rejection, St. Joseph will find one inn that will let them in so that Jesus can be laid in the manger.
Troubles quickly arise however as Roberto’s truck dies on the way to town. In addition, snow begins to fall and there seems to be little hope that Lupe and Roberto are going to make it to town in time for the Las Posadas. While all of these problems are mounting, the local parish priest, Father Vasquez is wondering what has happened to the couple. The white bags with the lighted candles (farolitos) are lining the street. The people are playing the guitars and everyone is ready to sing and start the Las Posadas. But Lupe and Roberto are not there to play their roles of St. Joseph and the Blessed Mother. Suddenly, down the street comes a young couple. They are dressed like Saint Joseph and Mary. The beautiful young Lady is riding on a burro. St. Joseph tells Father Vasquez that his wife is about to have a Baby and that they will play the roles in the Las Posadas. The priest gratefully agrees and the Las Posadas begins. But there is something very unusual about this couple. No one can quite figure it out. The singing and processing start with everyone enjoying the night. But what ever happened to Lupe and Roberto?
Who are the two people dressed up as St. Joseph and Mary? Are they ever allowed to enter one of the inns? Do Lupe and Roberto arrive in town in time for the processions? Have you ever welcomed Our Lord into your life? Why is that such a wonderful thing to do? To find out the answers to these questions, go to the library and check out this beautiful book, “The Night of Las Posadas,” by Tomie DePaola.
This is simply a well told and beautifully illustrated story of Las Posadas. Many English speaking people are unaware of this wonderful Christmas custom from Spain and Spanish America. Read this book with the younger members of your family and relish the experience. Even better, organize the Las Posadas at your parish. It is a superb way to teach your family about the Nativity. Enjoy!
Please excuse some reminiscing. It’s an effect caused by winding down on almost four decades working for the same employer; in my instance the nine Diocesan Bishops who have served in Nebraska during that time and their association for public-policy purposes, the Nebraska Catholic Conference.
One task I’ve undertaken, and will continue to tackle in earnest for the next six months, is to review countless files and documents that have accumulated over so many years. It’s sort of a stress-expunged saunter down a pre-digital memory lane. Some of the pauses along the way reflect historical significance in a broader context. An example follows.
In February 1983, George E. Wright, a Nebraska taxpayer and resident of Norfolk, filed a lawsuit in a state district court alleging that failure by the Revisor of Statutes to publish and give effect to two sections of a 1973 state law caused the Board of Education of the Norfolk public school district to deny Wright’s request that the school district loan secular-subject textbooks to his son, Matthew, then a sixth grader at Sacred Heart Elementary, a state-approved private school. The law in question stemmed from LB 358 (1973), which was passed by the Legislature and signed by Governor Jim Exon, authorizing textbook loans just like that sought by Wright.
This was a “friendly lawsuit,” Wright v. Pepperl, arranged and underwritten by the Catholic Conference in order to determine the status of that 1973 law. Dean Lusienski, Ed. D., a masterful consultant to Catholic schools, first realized the law might still be valid and brought this to the attention of the Diocesan Superintendents. Attorney Robert B. Crosby, who was a former Nebraska Governor, and his partner, Steven Seglin, steered the litigation.
The lawsuit took the form of a petition for a writ of mandamus: to require the Revisor of Statutes to republish volume five of the statutes in a way that would give effect to the textbook-loan-authorization provisions of LB 358 (1973). All the facts came to be stipulated.
The circumstances behind all of this were unique, to say the least. The chronology of events is significant.
In 1971 the Legislature passed and Governor Exon signed LB 659, comprised of several amendments to public-school financing laws. Included was the first established authority for loaning textbooks to private-school students. It applied to grades kindergarten through seven.
That 1971 law was soon challenged, on grounds that it violated Article VII, section 2 of the Nebraska Constitution, prohibiting expenditure of public funds “in aid of” non-government entities. A final outcome in Gaffney v. Department of Education did not occur until 1974. The Nebraska Supreme Court ruled that LB 659 was unconstitutional.
But there had been intervening events between enactment and demise. One was the passage of LB 358 in 1973. It amended the law that otherwise reflected LB 659, by extending the textbook-loan authority to include grades eight to 12.
Just as significant, if not more so, was what happened in 1972. At the Primary Election in May of that year, a constitutional amendment was approved that, in part, deleted the wording “in aid of” and substituted the wording “to”.
So, arguably at least, the reason that LB 659 (1971) came to be ruled unconstitutional was eliminated. Arguably at least, the subsequently enacted LB 358 (1973) became presumed constitutional. What’s more, there were Nebraska Supreme Court rulings in 1981 (Lenstrom v. Thone) and 1982 (Bouc v. School District of Lincoln) that upheld publically funded education-benefit programs because the Art. VII, sec. 2 wording had changed.
Nevertheless, the Revisor of Statutes published the two sections in the form in which they existed immediately prior to being amended by LB 659 (1971); that is, with no textbook-loan authorization whatsoever. She took the position that the Supreme Court’s ruling in Gaffney also invalidated LB 358 (1973); she refused to give that legislation effect in publishing the statutes.
Reversing the Revisor’s refusal became a necessary step toward establishing a case in controversy, which eventually could test the constitutionality of textbook loans to private-school students under the “new,” 1972 wording in the constitution. If the Revisor of Statutes had acted correctly, then the Norfolk school board had sufficient reason to deny Matthew Wright’s loan request and there was no controversy; no textbook-loan law would exist to be litigated on its merits. But if the Revisor had acted incorrectly, then the school board’s denial of the textbook-loan request was unsubstantiated and there was indeed a justiciable controversy.
On August 16, 1984, District Judge Dale E. Fahrnbruch ruled for the Wrights, ordering that the Revisor of Statutes publish LB 358 (1973) in the Nebraska statutes. And, the Judge went further, also decreeing the law to be constitutional.
The Attorney General appealed the district court’s ruling to the Nebraska Supreme Court. The oral argument in front of the Court took place on December 4, 1985. On February 26 next following, the Supreme Court, in an opinion written by Chief Justice Norman Krivosha, unanimously affirmed the District Court’s judgment for a writ of mandamus. However, the Supreme Court dismissed the issue of constitutionality as not ripe for adjudication.
Nevertheless, with a textbook-loan law “on the books,” subsequent litigation—Cunningham v. Lutjeharms, NE Supreme Court, 1989—established the law’s constitutionality in all respects. Since then, more than 230,000 textbooks have been purchased with state funds and loaned to private-school students.
Recently, while visiting our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament in our St. Joseph Chapel, which contains a beautiful icon of the Holy Family, I overheard a tearful conversation of a woman who was sitting in the pew behind me, talking on a borrowed cell phone. I heard her say she was almost out of gas and did not have any money. She needed to pick up her daughter at school and was afraid she would run out of gas. I could not help but hear what was said in the midst of her crying.
I soon learned she was calling one of our counselors in order to get an appointment. She related how she is so depressed she can hardly get out of bed in the morning. While listening and looking at the tabernacle, I knew we needed to help her. She had no idea who I was, for I had my large overcoat on.
Before she knew it, we were at a local gas station, filling her car full of gas. As she sat in her car, I gave her some gift cards to two local stores as a Christmas present. I encouraged her to keep her appointment with her new counselor and to continue meeting with her spiritual director, one of the priests in the diocese. She drove away with tears of joy.
This is just one of the many stories of the countless families and individuals who come to us in crisis each and every day that we are open for business. As we celebrate the birthday of our Redeemer Jesus Christ, who was born in utter poverty so we could one day be infinitely rich (2 Cor 8:9), let us be reminded that the greatest gift ever given to us by our heavenly Father was the gift of His Son at that first Christmas.
Please know that we are grateful to all of our benefactors who allow us to alleviate some of the sufferings in the Mystical Body of Christ (Mt 25:31-46). Please know we will keep all of you in our special prayers this Christmas and Christmas season. Merry Christmas and have a Happy New Year!
After greeting a smiling first-grader at North American Martyrs School in Lincoln named Shea Sabata-Shreve, I noticed there were some missing front teeth. This brought back many memories when my sisters and I lost our baby teeth back in the day.
“How much did you get from the tooth fairy?” I asked.
“Fifty bucks!” she said.
“Fifty bucks!!!” I replied in a surprised tone of voice… “I used to get 25 cents per tooth when I was your age!” I informed her.
“Father,” she replied in a polite instructional tone, “That was for all six!”
Yes, things have become more expensive over the years. Some families are barely making ends meet. The pain for some families seems more acute especially during the time before and after the celebration of the birthday of our Savior Jesus Christ who came to us in utter poverty at that first Christmas. Who can blame the magi for initially searching for the newborn King in a king’s palace? How utterly amazed they must have been to find the Christ Child in a humble dwelling.
Each and every year I am amazed at the generosity of our donors during this most holy time of year. I have noticed through the years that while our donors exchange gifts to their family and friends, they never forget their brothers and sisters in the Lord who are in need (Mt 25:31-46). This is always something edifying to me personally.
Recently, I was informed of a little girl who was in need of a warm winter coat. Before the end of the day, we were able give her a beautiful coat that someone had donated to us. After putting on her new coat, she too had a beautiful smile. Sometimes it is the little things in life that are most appreciative.
As we get closer to the celebration of the birthday of Jesus Christ, please consider helping us spiritually with your prayers and penances. In addition, whether big or small, like a little girl’s coat, please consider donating any material item around your home or farm not needed. Finally, please prayerfully consider helping us financially with a cash donation according to your means so we can continue to love and serve Jesus Christ who lives in the poor and needy. Please be assured our prayers for you and your intentions.
A new form of advance directive for medical decisions is getting more attention around the country, including here in Nebraska. The document is called POLST which stands for Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatments. It is a type of advance directive that consolidates, on a single form, preferences for life-sustaining treatments purportedly at the end of one’s life.
A typical POLST form provides predetermined options for patients to indicate whether they wish to refuse or request the following life-sustaining measures: cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), medical interventions (full or limited treatment versus comfort care only), tube feeding, and antibiotics.
A significant distinction between POLST and other advance medical directives is that it includes a physician’s signature making it an immediately actionable medical order which mandates compliance by healthcare providers, including emergency responders.
Proponents say that POLST is needed because advance directives (AD) are failing to help patients retain control over end-of-life treatment. They cite the following failures:
1. Most people do not complete an AD and when they do they don’t understand the forms and the implications of their decisions.
2. Patients’ goals and preferences for care may change but ADs are rarely revisited. 3. Proxy decision makers often do not understand the patients’ wishes. 4. ADs are frequently unavailable when needed, health care providers may not know about AD or may not think they apply to patient’s situation. 5. AD language is often too vague to provide helpful guidance. [Religion and Cultures of East and West: Perspectives on Bioethics, Spring 2008]
Although I would agree that many of these failures do exist, they could and should be addressed rather than circumvented with a new and morally problematic document.
As the Catholic Bishops of Wisconsin stated very succinctly in their pastoral statement on POLST, “In general, the primary concern about POLST is that it presents options for treatments as if they are morally neutral when they are not neutral. Because we cannot predict the future, it is difficult to determine in advance whether specific medical treatments will be morally required or morally optional.
“These decisions depend upon factors such as the benefits, expected outcomes, and the risks or burdens of the treatment. A POLST oversimplifies these decisions and bears the real risk that an indication may be made on it to withhold a treatment that, in particular circumstances, might be an act of euthanasia. Despite the possible benefits of these documents, this risk is too grave to be acceptable.”
In an essay in the October 2014 issue of Ethics and Medics (a publication of the National Catholic Bioethics Center), Deacon Daniel Gannon, an attorney and ethicist in the Diocese of LaCrosse, WI, points specific concerns at that fact that POLST allows a “point in time… refusal of antibiotics, IV fluids, ventilators, and assisted nutrition and hydration.”
“The morality of refusing any of these treatments,” Deacon Gannon says, “is intrinsically connected to the pathologies and circumstances of the present moment; therefore, allowing their prior refusal is rightly characterized as in principle contrary to Catholic moral teaching.”
No advance directive (including the POLST) can assure that a person’s wishes at end of life are followed with exact precision. However, the advance directive known as the healthcare power of attorney (HCPOA) seems to be the best instrument for ensuring that one’s wishes are fully informed and one’s beliefs—as well as Catholic moral principles—are honored at the end of one’s life.
The HCPOA provides an opportunity to appoint a trusted person to make future health-care decisions in the event one would become incapable of making his or her own decisions. Of course, to maximize the HCPOAs effectiveness, we must thoroughly communicate with our proxy about our wishes and Catholic moral principles. And we must ensure that our entire family, our physician and local hospital(s) have a record of our HCPOA.
Sample HCPOA directives that reflect Catholic teaching and Nebraska law are available from the Nebraska Catholic Conference.
“Silent Night, Holy Night: A Song For The World”
by Werner Thuswaldner, illustrated by Robert Ingpen.
Penguin, Young Readers Group, New York, 2005,32 pages, Grades 2-4.
Music can elevate the hearts and minds of people. To do so, music must speak to eternal values such as love of God, sacrifice and charity. As well, hope must be present in the piece to help people see beyond their own needs. Music of this kind is rare because it is difficult to write a piece of music that will inspire people of different nationalities.
But sometimes we are gifted with such a composition. One such masterpiece was written in Austria during a cold December night. Werner Thuswaldner tells the marvelous story of how the wonderful song “Silent Night” was composed and performed in his book, “Silent Night, Holy Night: A Song For The World.”
The winter of 1818 is bitter for the downtrodden community of Oberndorf in Austria. The Napoleonic Wars have left a ravaged countryside and there is little work for the men in the community. The Salzach River runs through the town and frequently floods, leaving devastation behind. The women in the town huddle together, not knowing how they will feed their families.
Father Joseph Mohr arrives in Oberndorf to become the pastor of the local church. Father Mohr comes from the same peasant stock as those in his parish and understands their suffering and poverty. Father Joseph also knows that Our Lord came to earth to save mankind and chose to be born in a humble stable.
Father Mohr is gifted in music, writing lyrics and playing the guitar. The organist of the church, Mr. Franz Gruber, also composes music and understands the power music has to elevate people in times of difficulty. Working together, the two men want to give the weary people of Oberndorf a beautiful song for Christmas. The priest writes a poem that catches the eye of the organist. They work the poem into a melody and then into a complete song.
As the bitter winter night sets in, their troubles begin to mount. The church organ gives out right before Midnight Mass and the men are left without the primary musical instrument for the piece. Because of this, Father Mohr decides to play his guitar for the accompaniment. Word spreads throughout the town that a special piece of music is going to be sung at Mass that night. The people excitedly hurry to church to hear the piece. The organist then begins singing the song while Father Mohr accompanies on the guitar. The beaten-down people of Oberndorf are then blessed to be the first to hear and sing the beautiful song, “Silent Night, Holy Night.”
“Silent Night, Holy Night” is one of the most beloved songs in history. It is filled with beauty and a proper sense of humility. For after all, it is primarily a song of love to the Child Jesus. So powerful is its influence in history that German soldiers in World War I sing the German version during the 1914 Christmas Truce and the French and British soldiers respond by singing the hymn in French and English.
I hope you get the chance to go to the library and check out this beautiful book detailing the writing and the first performance of “Silent Night, Holy Night” in Oberndorf, Austria. Even better, teach the younger members of your family on Christmas Eve the meaning of this marvelous, grace-filled song. Then, honor Our Lord’s birth by singing it with them. May you all have a Blessed Advent and Merry Christmas!
A few years ago, while on retreat, I heard that when some people are asked to pray, not only do they not know what prayer is they are not sure how to go about it. This should not surprise us for even the disciples of Jesus asked Him to teach them how to pray (Luke 11:1). Sadly, prayer for so many of us is solely that of petition – namely, asking God for something, which as essential as it is, should only be a small part of prayer.
My favorite definition of prayer comes from the Catechism of the Catholic Church quoting St. John Damascene, “Prayer is the raising of one’s mind and heart to God or the requesting of good things from God (CCC 2559).” Notice that raising one’s mind and heart to God comes before the asking.
St. Therese of Lisieux offers her own description of prayer, saying, “For me, prayer is a surge of the heart; it is a simple look turned toward heaven, it is a cry of recognition and of love, embracing both trial and joy.”
For me, prayer is spending time with the one you love, namely God. In prayer, we should first tell God we love Him. When was the last time you said, Lord God, I love you? Then comes acts of adoration, praise, and worship. Next would be acts of thanksgiving for the abundant graces and gifts in our lives. Doesn’t it make sense to ask God for things only after making acts of love, adoration, praise, worship and thanksgiving?
Recently, after talking to Jesus during adoration of the Blessed Sacrament before Mass at our St. Joseph Chapel, He wanted me to remind all of our donors that we at Catholic Social Services pray for them. Not only are we thankful for your support (without which we would not exist), we pray for you, your families and intentions.
While many around us start celebrating Christmas after Thanksgiving, let us be reminded that Advent is a time of preparation for Christmas, a time for an increase of prayer, penance and almsgiving. Preparing ourselves in this manner for the spiritual coming of Jesus into our hearts is also a good preparation for the final coming of Jesus on the clouds with all of His angels. Please know that part of my own preparation for Christmas during this Advent season will be holding all of you in my heart in my Masses, prayers (especially in front of the Blessed Sacrament) and penances.
“Mousetronaut”
by Mark Kelly, illustrated by C.F. Payne.
Simon & Shuster Books for Young Readers, New York, 2012,32 pages, Grades K-2.
Wordless or nearly-wordless picture books are often used with early readers. The reasons for this are many. First, students have not developed their cognitive skills to manage text. Simply put, this means that they are just learning to read. Second, the illustrations and pictures help young students make sense of the story. The illustrations can carry the meaning of the narration. Third, wordless and nearly-wordless picture books can be great fun to read. They are particularly suited to oral reading. In these enjoyable encounters, parents and teachers share the book with youngsters. Usually, the adults will have as much fun as the students.
Mark Kelly has written a delightful book in this genre about space travel. Mr. Kelly knows firsthand about space travel, having been an astronaut on the Space Shuttle. The name of this enjoyable book is “Mousetronaut.”
The story begins with a small mouse looking longingly into the heavens. A meteor shoots across the sky and the tiny mouse is gripped with interest. Where did it come from and where is it going?
At Cape Canaveral the NASA Space Shuttle is being readied for a launch. Dozens of engineers are checking and re-checking the instruments and computers manning the flight. The astronauts are also double checking their many assignments before the launch. In a nearby room, a group of mice are also part of the mission.
The small mouse, Meteor, particularly wants to be selected for the adventure. He trains hard to be in top physical condition. While the other mice lazily wait to be chosen, Meteor constantly runs on a hamster wheel and does repeated chin-ups on a bar. He is determined to be ready. The lethargic mice are much larger than Meteor and look down on his small frame with disdain.
The Shuttle Commander walks down to the cage and begins to select the mice for the space flight. He names Meteor to be the sixth and final mouse for the journey.
All the mice are placed in a new cage called the Mouse Hotel. The five large mice are quickly frightened and awed by the coming space launch. But Meteor is excited and ready to go. He has trained and worked out. When the Shuttle is finally launched, the five big mice huddle in the corner of the Mouse Hotel.
But Meteor begins having the time of his life. He spins around in weightlessness and the Shuttle Commander announces: “Hey little guy. You’re a natural. A real live mousetronaut.”
Suddenly, the control board gets jammed and the astronauts cannot get it fixed. Who can solve this problem? Someone small and athletic is needed, as the astronauts are too big. The Commander spies Meteor. Maybe the small mouse could wiggle his way through this problem and save the mission. All the astronauts hold their breath as Meteor plunges into the control panel.
Does Meteor save the mission? What qualities does a hero have? Have you ever done anything courageous? Why is Meteor so admirable? To find out the answers to these questions, go to the library and check out this delightful story: “Mousetronaut,” by Mark Kelly.
“Mousetronaut” is on this year’s K-3 Golden Sower List. Nebraska school children vote for their most popular book from this list. I have to believe that this title has a good chance of winning. The pictures in this book are endearing. I hope you get a chance to read it with a younger member in your family. You will be laughing before you finish. Enjoy!
Father William Grant directed our annual Day of Recollection before the beginning of Advent Nov. 14. This was a great way for us to prepare for the spiritual coming of the baby Jesus into our hearts, which is a good preparation for the second coming of Jesus on the last day.
Included in our day of recollection was Eucharistic Adoration, confessions and Mass. Under the direction of Father Grant, who explained the method of Lectio Divina, we were each given a chapter in the book of Proverbs to read and meditate on before breaking up in small groups to discuss.
I came a few minutes late because I celebrated the 8 a.m. Mass at North American Martyrs School for the students, so I did not initially receive an assigned chapter. I randomly chose the 21st chapter and verse two struck a chord in my heart. It states, “The rich and the poor meet together; the Lord is the maker of them all.”
The message for me was clear. Throughout our brief earthly lives we will encounter our neighbor. We need to daily remind ourselves that they too were created in God’s image and likeness (Gen 1:26-27). In addition, some neighbors will be better off than we are and some will be worse off than we are.
As we celebrate Thanksgiving, I pray you have a free moment like our staff did to quietly meditate on the great love God has for His children. Let us thank God the Father for the greatest gift ever given – His only Begotten Son who came to us a helpless baby born in utter poverty. He went from a cave fit only for animals to die naked on a cross for the salvation of us all.
In addition to this, I will personally give thanks for our donors who help us spiritually, materially and financially for they know well that, “The rich and the poor meet together; the Lord is the maker of them all.” Happy Thanksgiving!
The ACLU of Nebraska (American Civil Liberties Union) has filed another federal lawsuit against Nebraska’s Constitutional prohibition on same-sex “marriage.” The Constitutional Amendment was approved by an overwhelming majority of Nebraska voters in 2000.
The ACLU’s first attempt to get the Amendment invalidated came in 2003. A federal district judge in Omaha agreed with the ACLU and struck down the Amendment in 2005. That judge’s ruling was subsequently overturned by the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals which upheld the Amendment.
Over the last few years, state prohibitions of same-sex “marriage” (SSM) have been overturned at a breathtaking pace. Currently, 33 states recognize SSM. Twenty-two of these states were forced to do so by Courts; eight states have legalized it by legislative votes and three by popular vote.
Many people (especially proponents of SSM) say it is inevitable that every state ban on SSM will fall, either by lower courts or by the U.S. Supreme Court. And those who oppose such efforts are impugned with accusations of bigotry and hate-mongering which, sadly, intimidates most into silence.
To be certain, the institution of marriage started down a path of decline long before SSM posed another serious threat to its meaning and dignity. Articles on marriage in recent Respect Life Programs produced by the U.S. Bishops lay out the sobering reality:
“Increasingly frequent… are stories or studies purporting to show the ‘death of marriage’ on the grounds that a sexually-active single life or cohabitation are essentially superior, or that women would do better to enjoy their newly elevated incomes alone, or that fidelity is well nigh impossible (and maybe not even desirable)” (Helen Alvare).
“Today more than 50 percent of births to women under 30 occur outside marriage. According to sociologists, the increased numbers of children in poverty, in fatherless homes, and who experience abuse and neglect all relate to changing attitudes about marriage. The phenomenon of the breakdown of marriage has spread rapidly into the segment known as Middle America and is now touching nearly every extended family” (William B. May).
The breathtaking pace at which our society and its laws are embracing SSM is yet another critical reason for the Church to embark on an unprecedented campaign to explain the meaning and sacred dignity of marriage. To start with, here is a glimpse of what our Catholic faith teaches (from the Catechism of the Catholic Church):
“‘The intimate community of life and love which constitutes the married state has been established by the Creator and endowed by him with its own proper laws. . . . God himself is the author of marriage.’ The vocation to marriage is written in the very nature of man and woman as they came from the hand of the Creator.
“Although the dignity of this institution is not transparent everywhere with the same clarity, some sense of the greatness of the matrimonial union exists in all cultures. ‘The well-being of the individual person and of both human and Christian society is closely bound up with the healthy state of conjugal and family life.’” (CCC #1603)
“Holy Scripture affirms that man and woman were created for one another: ‘It is not good that the man should be alone.’ The woman, ‘flesh of his flesh,’ his equal, his nearest in all things, is given to him by God as a ‘helpmate’; she thus represents God from whom comes our help. ‘Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and cleaves to his wife, and they become one flesh.’ The Lord himself shows that this signifies an unbreakable union of their two lives by recalling what the plan of the Creator had been ‘in the beginning’: ‘So they are no longer two, but one flesh.’” (CCC #1605)
Is our nation facing another Roe v. Wade type moment, this time with the Supreme Court purporting to “settle” the conflict over same-sex “marriage”? Whether this is the case or not, we cannot wait another moment to begin a great campaign to proclaim and promote the true meaning and sacred dignity of marriage. God is clearly knocking on our door. Will we answer it?
“The Cricket in Times Square”
by George Selden illustrated by Garth Williams.
Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York, 1960,151 pages, Grades 4-6.
Fifty years ago, adults felt that childhood should be a period of comfort and protection. To be sure, most of the problems children face today were present in those years, but children’s literature tended to reflect this idea that childhood should be a time of parental guardianship.
This innocent understanding of childhood began to end in the 1960s during the time that “problem novels” began to be published. In these novels, the protagonists often face brutal situations in which parents act irresponsibly. Of course some parents did display these awful traits before the 1960s. Unfortunately, problem novels sometimes painted the world so bleakly that it is hard to see the virtue of hope in the writing. It is still a matter of debate about how much “reality” fourth-graders need to read about.
George Selden has written a beautiful, comforting story during the late 1950s, before this new type of children’s literature appeared. The name of this lovely book is “The Cricket in Times Square.”
Young Mario Bellini works at his parents’ newspaper stand in Times Square. Nearby, Tucker Mouse carefully studies the newsstand with his friend, Harry Cat. Living next to the newspaper stand in a drain pipe, Tucker always knows what is happening in Times Square.
Mario and Tucker both hear a strange sound coming from the subway turnstile on 42nd Street. The boy listens carefully and then reaches down and picks up a cricket that has just arrived by accident on a train from Connecticut. Picking up the cricket, Mario brings him back to the newsstand and places the small insect inside a matchbox. When Mrs. Bellini comes to work, she wants the cricket thrown out. But, little by little, her son and husband get her to accept the insect. They then close up the shop and go home.
As soon as they are gone, Tucker and Harry scamper into the newsstand to greet the cricket. In a high, musical voice, the insect tells them his name is Chester Cricket and his home is in Connecticut. All three quickly become friends.
Mario is excited to have a pet cricket and teaches Chester to do tricks. There is a radio in the newsstand and for the first time, Chester begins listening to music. Mario and the animals love to hear Chester rubbing his wings together and discover that Chester has perfect musical pitch. In fact, when he hears a song on the radio, he can play it perfectly on his wings.
Mama Bellini puts two and two together and realizes that there is money to be made since no one in New York has a singing cricket. Within days, Chester begins playing arias, operas, popular songs and hymns with his wings. The Bellinis start selling all the newspapers and magazines at the stand and the money starts to roll in.
But as the cash register fills, Chester begins to get lonely for the fields and pastures of Connecticut. He is becoming the most famous musician in New York, but wants to give up his lucrative career for his beloved woods and fields in Connecticut. He makes a momentous decision and shares it with the disconsolate Harry and Tucker.
After his most beautiful concert in front of hundreds of people in Times Square, Chester acts. He jumps down on the street and leaves the newsstand. Where does he go and what is he thinking?
I hope you take the chance to encourage the middle-school readers in your family to check out this delightful book. The characters are inviting and interesting. Selden always takes the high road in encouraging honesty and charity.
I loved this title and think you will as well. Enjoy!
Many of you are aware of the life of St. Martin of Tours. He was born in the Roman province of Pannonia, which is now part of Hungary, just a few years after Emperor Constantine granted religious freedom to Christians. Before this time, Christians were routinely arrested, tortured and put to death for no other reason than for being followers of Jesus Christ.
While still a young boy, Martin became attracted to the Christian faith, to the disdain of his parents. This led him to secretly study the Catholic faith with the help of his local parish priest. Because of a law that required sons of veterans to serve in the military, he entered the army as a soldier at age 15. Three years later as an officer, he had an encounter with a half-naked beggar that changed his life forever.
While on horseback, he encountered this man on a bitterly cold and windy day. Moved with compassion, he sliced off half his expansive mantle and wrapped the poor, ill-clad man in it, to the jeers of many who were in his retinue. Later that night he saw Jesus in a dream, clothed with the garment cut from his own who said, “See this mantle that Martin, yet a catechumen gave me!”
Moved with emotion at the comment of Jesus that he was not yet baptized, he received this essential sacrament a short time afterward. He later studied for the priesthood and was ordained a priest and later a bishop.
A few days ago, the Lord Jesus inspired me to give a warm winter coat that had been hanging in my closet to a poor man. It had been hanging there for years in ‘proverbial mothballs.’ Since God seemed to want me to give it away personally, I hung it in my office and waited for God to send me someone. It did not take long.
Only a few days later, just before our first major cold snap and show of ice, I spied a raggedly-dressed man sitting against the side of our office. After introducing myself, it was evident he had mental disease and had been drinking. He owned nothing but the tattered clothes on his back. He immediately put the coat on after I gave it to him. I made sure it had a sandwich, protein bar and bottle of water in its deep pockets. Because of his mental disease, he left before I could do anything further. I knew that it was Jesus who walked away with the hood pulled up (Mt 25:31-46).
I know I am not as holy as St. Martin of Tours, but I want to be, with God’s grace. I could not help thinking what went through his mind on that cold and windy day.
Please look around your home and see if there is any warm clothing that has been hanging in your closets or laying in your drawers, that Jesus who lives in the poor might need.
In closing, please allow me to thank all of our many donors who allow us to love and serve Jesus who lives in the poor and needy (Mt 25:31-46). St. Martin of Tours, pray for us!
It’s a good time and opportunity to share some lingering observations and nagging thoughts about the recent General Election, which provides another chapter in Nebraska history.
As with each election, this one had unique and significant aspects. For Nebraskans, it featured well-contested races for Governor and a seat in the United States Senate. One of the races for the U.S. House of Representatives produced not only a politically significant result, but one sparked with intrigue; (recall the short-lived, third-rail candidacy of Chip Maxwell?) And, voters in various parts of the state decided successors for 17 term-limited state legislators.
Here’s an interesting tidbit about two of those legislative races: in districts 34 and 38, only one candidate sought the open seat—Curt Friesen and John Kuehn respectively. Now that’s how to get elected: don’t challenge an incumbent and don’t have an opponent.
Congratulations are in order for all victorious candidates. Their efforts were rewarded. They sought the public’s trust; now they face the tasks and challenges of fulfilling it.
More generally, gratitude is due from the collective body of citizens to all those who presented themselves as candidates for public office. Their willingness to express their ideas and share their visions is what makes the highly-valued political system work.
All of the important and positive elements notwithstanding, the election process also has some negative aspects, obviously. Setting aside the evident, alarming aspect of how absurdly expensive they can be (especially for the more elite offices), there are instances as well in which bogus assertions, personal attacks and downright nastiness take negativity to an embarrassing level. Many would-be voters become weary of it.
It would be hard to believe that any of the other 20 contested races for the state Legislature became nastier than that between Matt Hansen and Brent Smoyer in the 26th district. I render that opinion as a (long-time) constituent of that district.
The primary source of my chagrin is constituted of the numerous campaign flyers that were either mailed or hand-delivered to the house during the fortnight leading up to the election.
The election for Nebraska’s legislature is officially non-partisan, but this race became highly partisan. (Undoubtedly, there were other legislative races similarly infected.)
The Nebraska Republican Party put money behind a repeated charge that Hansen fits among those who are “forcing Obama’s immigration laws on Nebraskans.” The “Obama liberals of Nebraska believe illegal immigrants deserve the same rights and benefits as hard working Nebraskans.” The “Hansen plan” included “a pathway to citizenship, amnesty.”
That’s bogus and ludicrous, if for no other reason than that a pathway and amnesty are inapposite concepts: amnesty doesn’t need a pathway, it’s granted; and a pathway doesn’t conform to the immediacy of a declaration of amnesty. As as a matter of political tactics, though, it was crucial to get that word “amnesty” printed on an attack piece.
The Smoyer campaign also pushed the exaggerated, fear-mongering rhetoric that the candidate would fight to stop “the flood of illegal aliens pouring into our state” and that illegal immigration is “a threat to the safety of our families and communities.”
The Nebraska Democratic Party put money behind attacks on Smoyer that were just as offensive, if not more so. Labeling him an “extremist,” the obvious tactic was to manipulate the legitimate policy debate over governmentally coercing employers and other taxpayers to pay for sterilizations and contraceptives—including drugs that can induce early abortions—to encompass other health issues.
The obvious strategy was to make District-26 voters believe that “Smoyer’s backers oppose making affordable mammograms and other lifesaving preventive care available to women at risk for cancer” and “will allow insurance companies to continue to deny health coverage for those who have pre-existing conditions, even children, making it impossible for many of them to access the care they need.”
Anyone moved to look into such accusations was advised to check with the state’s Accountability and Disclosure Commission about Nebraskans United for Life, which endorsed Smoyer.
Bogus and ludicrous hardly begin to describe such a tactic. District 26 residents apparently were supposed to accept as truth a presupposition that Nebraskans United for Life not only opposes coerced payments for abortion-inducing drugs, sterilizations and contraceptives, but also for affordable mammograms, cancer-preventive care and coverage for the pre-existing conditions of children. And Smoyer, by virtue of the endorsement, holds the same views.
Just manipulative, reprehensible tactics.
Earlier, some organization that identified itself as Citizens for a Better Tomorrow sent a flyer that called Smoyer a “serial liar” and falsely accused him of going for “three government paychecks,” as if concurrently.
By the way, Hansen won the election, comfortably. Nonetheless, shame on both campaigns.
And finally… along a much different vein, here’s a final election observation: U.S. Senator-Elect Ben Sasse’s victory speech, i.e., the one televised from the celebration site, was, well, rather odd. It struck me as more a philosophical admonition, with a political bent, than a yay-team, we-did-it, now-let’s-celebrate-and-then-proceed-to-make-a-difference message.
“Time for Bed” by Mem Fox, illustrated by Jane Dyer
Gulliver Books, Harcourt Brace & Company, New York, 1993, 32 pages, Preschool.
Early childhood should be a time of innocence. For preschool children these years should be one of protection and affection. It is during these all important times that children develop their personalities, and begin understanding the world. Hopefully, these will be happy experiences that will strengthen children’s sense of confidence and security. One of the pleasant ways to build this positive world for youngsters is to read to them before they fall asleep. In addition to feeling comfort from their parents or older family members’ presence, children inadvertently learn how to hold books and discover the importance of reading. All of these skills are needed to be successful in the early grades and nighttime reading is one of the most pleasant ways to achieve this. Mem Fox has written a delightful book for this nighttime reading entitled “Time For Bed.”
The book begins with a mother mouse singing to her baby mouse. The next scene has a goose putting her wing around her chick. The baby goose is stretching his wings and is so tired that he nearly falls over. Then a cat cradles a kitten and tells it to snuggle tight. The mother cat licks the fur of the baby as it falls asleep wrapped in the mother cat’s love. Now, Mem Fox cleverly begins to plant questions in the text that older family readers can ask the nodding off youngsters. A darling picture follows of a young calf looking up with tired eyes at her mother. “What happened today that made you laugh?” This is followed by a knock kneed colt trying to stand up at the end of the day. The older horse asks the colt: “It’s time for bed, little foal, little foal, I’ll whisper a secret, but don’t tell a soul?” A little fish is now told to go to bed and the large fish tells it “to hold its breath and make a wish.”
Next we see a baby lamb kneeling down in a pasture with the mother sheep telling him it is time for bed because “The whole wide world is going to sleep.” The author then continues the cycle of parent animals gently calling their young to go to bed.
This is simply a darling picture book. The pictures are very comforting and the colors are those that will quiet children down. In most of the pictures we see stars coming out and the animals begin to stretch and lay down. The mother and father animals then protect their babies and ensure that they are safe. The poetry and perceptive questions that the adult animals ask their babies are enjoyable to read. I hope that you get the chance to go to the library and check out this fine picture book, “Time For Bed” by Mem Fox.
Mem Fox (1946-Present) is a highly acclaimed author from Australia. She taught at Flinders University in Australia for many years. After she retired, Mrs. Fox has traveled to many countries to encourage reading and literacy. Her books are delightful, funny and her characters show a variety of emotions. One of her most famous books, “Koala Lou,” is a very good example of her writing. I hope that you get a chance to share “Time For Bed” with the younger children you love in your family. Just don’t nod off yourself! Enjoy!
On October 20, 2014, the Most Reverend Charles Chaput, O.F.M. Cap., Archbishop of Philadelphia delivered the 27th Erasmus Lecture entitled, Strangers in a Strange Land, which can be seen by going to First Things. It was masterful and I encourage all to read it.
The idea that we Christians are strangers in a strange land is not something new. Jesus Himself said it moments before He was arrested and condemned to death. Speaking to God the Father, He said, “I have given them your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world” (Jn 17:14).
One might ask, if we are in the world but not of the world, how are we supposed to act? Jesus answered this question by saying, “You are the light of the world …. Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” (Mt. 5:14-16).
According to Archbishop Chaput, we are to remember three things: first, “We’re a people of worship first, and action second.”
Second, “There are no unhappy saints. Pope Francis says that ‘a Christian without joy is not a Christian.’”
And third, “We’re in the world but not of the world. We forget that at our peril. Henri de Lubac wrote many years ago that “when the world worms its way into the life of the Church, the Church becomes not just a caricature of the world, but even worse than the world in her mediocrity and ugliness.”
As for our duties in the world, Archbishop Chaput states, “As I’ve said many times before, we have serious obligations as believers to care for the poor, the immigrant, the elderly and persons with disabilities. Those duties belong personally to you and me, not just to the government -- though government clearly has an important role. If we ignore the poor, we will go to hell. If we blind ourselves to their suffering, we will go to hell. If we do nothing to ease their burdens; then we will go to hell. Ignoring the needs of the poor among us is the surest way to dig a chasm of heartlessness between ourselves and God, and ourselves and our neighbors.” Tough words, these. I can only imagine he was thinking of Jesus’ words outlined in Mt. 25:31-46 concerning the general judgment, and in Lk. 16: 19-31 concerning the rich man and Lazarus as he wrote these comments.
When I read his lecture, I thought of our many donors who selflessly support us spiritually with their prayers and penances, materially with items not needed around their homes and farms and financially. I am confident they do so, not for motivations of fear but of love. Our donors use Catholic Social Services as a vehicle to help needy individuals and families because they love Jesus and His presence in our neighbors. Finally, the archbishop of Philadelphia states, “Religion only works its influence on democracy if people really believe what it teaches.”
I am grateful that our benefactors believe what Jesus teaches and for this I am proud of all of you.
I mentioned in a previous column that too many Catholics are disengaged from participation in the political life of our society. Some are disengaged because of pure neglect, others because of cynicism about “politics.” Regardless of the reason, disengaged Catholics fail to understand and live our mission as disciples of Christ.
Our Catholic faith teaches that “responsible citizenship is a virtue, and participation in political life is a moral obligation. This obligation is rooted in our baptismal commitment to follow Jesus Christ and to bear Christian witness in all we do.
“As the Catechism of the Catholic Church reminds us, ‘It is necessary that all participate, each according to his position and role, in promoting the common good. This obligation is inherent in the dignity of the human person. . . . As far as possible citizens should take an active part in public life (nos. 1913-1915).’” [Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship #13]
The clergy and laity have different but complementary roles in public life. Our faith teaches that the role of the clergy is to sanctify the laity and the role of the laity is to sanctify the temporal order (i.e. the world).
In Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship the bishops teach that the clergy’s role is “to teach fundamental moral principles that help Catholics form their consciences correctly, to provide guidance on the moral dimensions of public decisions, and to encourage the faithful to carry out their responsibilities in political life.”
In his first encyclical, Deus Caritas Est, Pope Benedict taught that “The direct duty to work for a just ordering of society is proper to the lay faithful.”
“This duty,” the U.S. bishops state, “is more critical than ever in today’s political environment, where Catholics may feel politically disenfranchised, sensing that no party and too few candidates fully share the Church’s comprehensive commitment to the life and dignity of every human being from conception to natural death.
“Yet this is not a time for retreat or discouragement; rather, it is a time for renewed engagement. Forming their consciences in accord with Catholic teaching, Catholic lay women and men can become actively involved: running for office; working within political parties; communicating their concerns and positions to elected officials; and joining diocesan social mission or advocacy networks, state Catholic conference initiatives, community organizations, and other efforts to apply authentic moral teaching in the public square.” [Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship #16]
The “Introductory Note” to Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship mentions that we are called to a “dual heritage as both faithful Catholics and American citizens. We are members of a community of faith with a long tradition of teaching and action on human life, and dignity, marriage and family, justice and peace, care for creation, and the common good.
“As Americans, we are also blessed with religious liberty which safeguards our right to bring our principles and moral convictions into the public arena. These Constitutional freedoms need to be both exercised and protected, as some seek to mute the voices or limit the freedoms of religious believers and religious institutions.”
Whether as individual Catholics or as an organization representing the Catholic Church (e.g. the Nebraska Catholic Conference), we have a Constitutional right and a Christian duty to participate in the public life of our society. And we should be bold and unapologetic in our participation in the public square because, as Catholics, we bring “important assets to the political dialogue about our nation’s future. We bring a consistent moral framework—drawn from basic human reason that is illuminated by Scripture and the teaching of the Church—for assessing issues, political platforms, and campaigns.
“We also bring broad experience in serving those in need—educating the young, caring for the sick, sheltering the homeless, helping women who face difficult pregnancies, feeding the hungry, welcoming immigrants and refugees, reaching out in global solidarity, and pursuing peace.” [Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship #12]
“Reflections” by Ann Jonas
William Morrow & Company, New York, 1987, 32 pages, Grades 2-3.
Children’s literature is an extremely creative world in which text, art and ingenuity intersect. Unlike adult books in which the story is carried by text, children’s books often use a variety of media to achieve this task.
One of the first children’s books to establish this mode was the 1963 picture book, “Where the Wild Things Are,” by Maurice Sendak. This book was revolutionary in that the pictures in the book start large, taking up the entire page and then began progressively shrinking as the story reaches the climax. During the falling action of the book, Sendak then ingeniously enlarges the characters until the pages are completely filled again at the conclusion of the story.
Ann Jonas is one of the first author/illustrators to paint inverted images. By this process, readers can read the story from start to finish holding the book in the normal position. Then, readers can turn the book over and read the book backward. All the pictures become new images. It is really very clever and shows extraordinary talent to be able to paint pictures that can be viewed right-side-up or upside down. “Reflections” is the name of this famous book.
The story begins with a child lying in bed. The family home is near an ocean and they get up early to see the sunrise. As they go to the ocean, the fishermen are all hard at work. The sea gulls fly by the fishing boat as the pinks of sunrise give way to the beautiful blue sky of the morning. The family goes to a boatyard but don’t see anyone in the area because they are all having a picnic on the beach. It is so crowded that the child decides to go for a walk past an old mill. There is a carnival train next to the mill, so the youngster begins to wonder what is about to happen.
The child then walks through an orchard filled with ripe fruit and spies a deer hiding in a nearby stand of trees. The deer is so cleverly camouflaged that it blends into the forest background. Eventually, the youth nearly gets lost in the deep forest. One can only see the sky by looking straight up through the trees. So the child turns around and begins to walk out of the forest.
Of course, now you have to turn the book upside down and read the story a second time to see how the child and the family return to the beginning.
What happens on the trip back? Is there an airplane involved? What happens when all the pictures are turned upside down? How is it possible for Ann Jonas to create such amazing pictures? To find out, go to the library and check out “Reflections.”
Ann Jonas opened a new and exciting vista in children’s literature with this book. When you read the story and then turn it upside down and look at the inverted picture, you will be amazed.
Children love reading this book together because they are charmed and entertained by the artwork. The paintings are very colorful and bright and you will want to keep turning the pages to find out what is coming next.
I hope you take the chance to check out this title and read it with the younger members of your family. It is simply great fun. Enjoy!
On Saturday, Nov.15, St. Gianna’s Women’s Homes will be celebrating “Charity in Bloom 2014,” a floral design and wine event for the benefit of St. Gianna.
This event is scheduled every other year in an alternating fashion with our cake-decorating celebration. The event will be held at Pius X High School, 6000 “A” St., Lincoln, from 5 to 7 p.m.
There will be professional and celebrity divisions. The arrangements will be auctioned off for those who wish to take them home, and I will once again attempt to make another floral arrangement. In case anyone is wondering, no, I will not be in the professional division. However, I plan on two surprises guaranteed to satisfy at least three of the senses….
Back by popular demand will be our ‘wine pull.’ Corks will be available for purchase with a number. These numbers will correspond to a bottle of wine. Some of the wines are valued between 50 to 100 dollars, so everyone will have a chance to leave with a great bottle of wine for that special dinner. Remember what St. Paul said to Timothy, “Stop drinking only water, but have a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent illnesses” (1 Tim 5:23).
There are, once again, opportunities for corporate sponsorships. Tickets are available for $50.
All of the proceeds will be used to assist the many women who come to us escaping abortion and domestic violence. By the grace of God and the generosity of our donors, we have saved almost 30 babies from abortion. The stories are all tear-provoking.
In one case, a young mother was ‘urged’ strongly to abort her unborn baby by her father, the grandfather of the unborn baby. He told her she would have to leave home if she refused. In the end, she scheduled the abortion, but aided by the prayers and penances of many on our prayer chain, changed her mind at the last moment at the abortion mill. She was at St. Gianna’s throughout her pregnancy and for months afterward. When she graduated, she informed us that her father, the child’s grandfather, had fallen in love with the baby and had a change of heart. This is one of the many success stories at St. Gianna’s.
I would like to thank our board members, volunteers and benefactors for their help. Please visit cssisus.org for more information about this event.
If you are unable to attend this year’s event, please pray for its success, and remember, we will keep you, your family and intentions in our prayers. St. Gianna, pray for us!
Next Tuesday, Nov. 4, is General Election Day. Although an increasing number of voters are casting early ballots, the majority still vote on Election Day. If you have not yet voted, please spend some time over this weekend reviewing the Nebraska Catholic Conference’s Candidate Survey and other election information online at necatholic.org.
The NCC survey was sent to all candidates for Governor and for State Legislature. Unfortunately, nearly half of the candidates did not respond to the survey, despite being mailed three reminder notices. Nonetheless, I urge Catholics to go to the website and if a candidate you seek to assess did not respond to the survey, call or email the candidate and question him/her directly. The NCC questions can be seen by clicking on any link where a candidate did respond to the survey.
It should be made clear that neither the Nebraska Catholic Conference nor the Archdiocese of Omaha, the Diocese of Lincoln, or the Diocese of Grand Island, endorses or opposes any candidate for public office. The NCC survey merely provides voters with the positions and views of the candidates for Governor and State Legislature on a variety of important issues.
This survey is the last component to the Nebraska Catholic Conference’s Voter Education Project that began weeks ago. The project’s objective has been to provide Catholics with information helpful in forming consciences according to Catholic moral principles and applying these principles to our evaluation and selection of candidates for public office.
As the U.S. Bishops acknowledge in the document “Faithful Citizenship,” Catholics often face difficult choices about how to vote because few candidates fully embody the Church’s social doctrine. “This is why it is so important to vote according to a well-formed conscience that perceives the proper relationship among moral goods,” the bishops advise.
In another document, Living the Gospel of Life (#22, #33), the U.S. Bishops provide important guidance on the “proper relationship among moral goods.” I pray that this guidance resonates in the minds and hearts of voters as they exercise the very serious civic and moral responsibility of voting.
“Adopting a consistent ethic of life, the Catholic Church promotes a broad spectrum of issues ‘seeking to protect human life and promote human dignity from the inception of life to its final moment.’ Opposition to abortion and euthanasia does not excuse indifference to those who suffer from poverty, violence and injustice… Therefore, Catholics should eagerly involve themselves as advocates for the weak and marginalized in all these areas.
“Catholic public officials are obliged to address each of these issues as they seek to build consistent policies which promote respect for the human person at all stages of life. But being ‘right’ in such matters can never excuse a wrong choice regarding direct attacks on innocent human life. Indeed, the failure to protect and defend life in its most vulnerable stages renders suspect any claims to the ‘rightness’ of positions in other matters affecting the poorest and least powerful of the human community.
“If we understand the human person as the ‘temple of the Holy Spirit’—the living house of God—then these latter issues fall logically into place as the crossbeams and walls of that house. All direct attacks on innocent human life, such as abortion and euthanasia, strike at the house’s foundation. These directly and immediately violate the human person’s most fundamental right—the right to life. Neglect of these issues is the equivalent of building our house on sand. Such attacks cannot help but lull the social conscience in ways ultimately destructive of other human rights.”
“We encourage all citizens, particularly Catholics, to embrace their citizenship not merely as a duty and privilege, but as an opportunity meaningfully to participate in building the culture of life. Every voice matters in the public forum. Every vote counts. Every act of responsible citizenship is an exercise of significant individual power.
We must exercise that power in ways that defend human life, especially those of God’s children who are unborn, disabled or otherwise vulnerable. We get the public officials we deserve. Their virtue—or lack thereof—is a judgment not only on them, but on us. Because of this, we urge our fellow citizens to see beyond party politics, to analyze campaign rhetoric critically, and to choose their political leaders according to principle, not party affiliation or mere self-interest.”
“Vote: Eyewitness Book” by Philip Steele.
DK Publishing, New York, 2008, 72 pages, Grades 4-8.
The leadership in a democratic society depends upon the will of the governed. Wars have been fought over this concept and many have risked their lives to secure this great gift.
In some countries, people still face coercion and extremism during elections. Voting is the foundational block of the American political system. Unfortunately, Americans all too often take this privilege for granted: in the 2010 national elections, only 45.5% of those capable of voting actually went to the polls and voted. (U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Reports, “Voting and Registration in the Election of November 2010.”)
While sometimes people are unable to get to the polls, these numbers indicate that large numbers of voters are apathetic about the democratic process. Philip Steele has written an excellent book on why we should care about this critical and honored process. The title is, “Vote.”
Steele points out the word “democracy” comes from two Greek words. The first is “demos,” (people) and the second is “kratia," (rule). One of the first early democracies is established in Greece about 450 B.C. The reason that democracies can be effective is because they reflect the will of the people. But this is only possible if the people will participate in voting for its leaders.
In early Greece, the assemblies of the Greek city-states were comprised of citizens throughout the society. They established the principle that law must be founded on popular will. The author points out that this idea continues throughout history and finds itself enshrined in the great English document, “The Magna Carta.” For the first time in English history, the king’s power is limited. This means that the king must rule with the consent of the governed.
Unfortunately, democracies can go awry. During the French Revolution, we see the popular will being viciously used against certain groups in France. Among these were the nobles, the Catholic patriots in the Vendée, and many Royalists. The French Revolution shows that democracies can devolve into “mob rule,” one of the worst forms of tyranny. However, democracies can enable nations to live in freedom. One of the recurring themes of the American Revolution is “no taxation without representation.” The colonists were willing to go into rebellion to secure this basic freedom from Great Britain.
Steele concludes the book with numerous modern day examples of elections throughout the world. In many of these countries, people have even risked their lives to vote in the political process. I would encourage you to go to the library and check out this outstanding book on the formation of democracies and the voting process.
The only way to direct a government in a democracy is to actually participate in the election process. “Vote” will be particularly useful to teachers of social science in Grades 4-8. Similar to other Eyewitness books, this title has wonderful pictures and sidebars depicting elections in the United States and in other countries.
As Philip Steele shows in this fine book, democracy demands that the citizenry engage in governmental elections. I hope you share this fine book with the younger members of your family. This will teach them why voting is so important and why you yourself will go to the polls and vote in the upcoming elections.
On Saturday, Nov. 1, the Catholic Church will be celebrating the solemnity of All Saints Day. It is a wonderful opportunity to remember the many saints in heaven whose names are unknown to most of us. It is the perfect day to ask for their prayers and intercession as they enjoy the beatific vision of Almighty God along with the angels and canonized saints whose names we do know. For members of the former group, there is St. Mary Lou, my little sister who died after her baptism (which was done by the obstetrical nurse) shortly after her birth on July 9, 1961. She entered eternal life shortly afterwards.
The day after, we will be celebrating the memorial of All Souls Day, in which we commemorate the faithfully departed in Purgatory, who died with sanctifying grace in their souls but are in need of temporal punishment after death and further purification of any defects needed before achieving the vision of God face to face (Mt 12:32; 1 Cor 3:11-15; Heb 12:14; Rev 21:27). This is a day in which we priests, thanks to Pope Benedict XV in his 1915 Apostolic Constitution, Incruentum altaris sacrificium, have the privilege of offering three Masses, one for the faithfully departed in Purgatory, one for the intentions of the Pope, and one for a particular intention. In my family, these two days were always very important.
While at Mass not only during these two days, but at every Mass we assist at, let us remember that God pushes aside the veils that separate time and eternity and not only is the Lord’s Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross and His resurrection made present (not repeated) but we are together with the angels and saints in heaven and the souls of the faithful departed (1 Cor 11:26; Mal 1:11; CCC 1330; 1363; 1366; 1367; 1368; 1370). Want to be with a departed friend or loved one? Assist at Mass! It is there we are all present together in a unique and privileged way as the Mystical Body of Christ.
In reading the lives of the saints we know about, namely those who have been canonized, one will find they consistently shared two things in common while on earth, an intense love for Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, and the poor. This makes perfect sense since we know that God is love, and the evidence of our love of God is our love of neighbor and the evidence of our love of neighbor is our acts of charity to them (see the first letter of John). I have seen these characteristics in our donors ever since I started at Catholic Social Services – which is no surprise. For this, I am most grateful. This is why we at Catholic Social Services promise our prayers for you, your families and intentions. Holy Saints of God, pray for us! And may the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace! Amen.
On September 1, I officially began my new role as executive director of the Nebraska Catholic Conference. Until next summer, I’m also maintaining my role as the pro-life director for the bishops of Nebraska.
As pro-life director for the last 23-plus years, I represented the Nebraska bishops on issues pertaining to the Bishops’ Pastoral Plan for Pro Life Activities (e.g. abortion, euthanasia/assisted suicide, embryonic stem cell and cloning research). As executive director, I represent the bishops on public policy matters ranging from pro-life issues to Catholic education, healthcare, death penalty, housing, public assistance and even state budget and tax policy.
One of my first objectives as executive director is to re-introduce and promote the Nebraska Catholic Conference (NCC) to Catholics across this state. Even though the Conference has existed since 1969, I’m fairly certain that most Catholics in Nebraska have no idea what we do and why we do it.
Simply put, NCC is the collective voice of Nebraska’s three Catholic Bishops on public policy matters. The NCC staff communicates and interacts with all three branches of state government as follows:
Legislative Branch: NCC monitors the activities of the Nebraska Legislature and advocates for or against legislation in accord with the Church’s social doctrine and other interests of the Church as a large, multi-dimensional institution.
Executive Branch: NCC monitors the administrative activities of the Governor’s office and state agencies, giving special attention to rules and regulations that may impact areas of interest to the Conference.
Judicial Branch: NCC monitors court rulings and other legal advisories such as Attorney General opinions. The Conference occasionally facilitates intervention in court cases or files legal briefs on behalf of positions or constituencies it represents.
In addition to its advocacy in Nebraska’s public policy arena, another critical role of NCC is to educate Catholics about the legislative process, about Church teaching on a range of moral issues, and about every Catholic’s moral obligation to participate in the political life of our society.
Many Catholics question why the Church would get involved in the political or public policy arena. Sadly, too many Catholics have accepted the patently false assertion that our Constitution requires “separation of Church and State.” Although the Church cannot and should not get involved in partisan politics (supporting or opposing candidates for office), She has a right and an obligation to bring her voice to the public discussion about public policy.
In its document “Faithful Citizenship,” the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) point out that “the Church’s obligation to participate in shaping the moral character of society is a requirement of our faith, a part of the mission given to us by Jesus Christ… As people of both faith and reason, Catholics are called to bring truth to political life and to practice Christ’s commandment to ‘love one another’.”
In its document “Living the Gospel of Life,” the USCCB says: “Every Catholic, without exception, should remember that he or she is called by our Lord to proclaim His message. Some proclaim it by word, some by action and all by example. But every believer shares responsibility for the Gospel.
“Every Catholic is a missionary of the Good News of human dignity redeemed through the cross. While our personal vocation may determine the form and style of our witness, Jesus calls each of us to be a leaven in society, and we will be judged by our actions. No one, least of all someone who exercises leadership in society, can rightfully claim to share fully and practically the Catholic faith and yet act publicly in a way contrary to that faith.”
You may have noticed a new title for this column. It came from our Catholic responsibility to be “faithful citizens” and from the admonition chiseled above the front entrance to our State Capitol: “The Salvation of the State is watchfulness in the citizen.”
At the last two “Celebration of Caring” banquets, we auctioned off dinners prepared by Lane Rosenberry, who is the corporate chef for Sysco, with Bishop James Conley, at his home. I am grateful to Scott and Jane Felber, Jim and Anne Larsen, Steve and Libby Jaros, and Ruby (Lane’s wife), for not only making this happen but for serving and cleaning up. Finally, I am grateful to Bishop Conley for gracing us with his presence and opening his home to us.
Because of a twinge of guilt for just showing up and eating the great food at these dinners, I offered to prepare a fancy meal for the entire crew (including Bishop Conley), which happened just days ago on a sunny Sunday afternoon at our St. Joseph Center located near downtown Lincoln.
Thanks to my assistant, Pat Walbrecht, my only job was preparing the main course, paella, which is considered by some the national dish of Spain.
In the midst of it all, a homeless man walked in on our ‘celebration.’ As we live in a fallen world and are all affected by the effects of Original Sin, the thought immediately came to mind in a split second was, ‘I need to get rid of this man,’ followed by, ‘No, I have to be nice to him, because Bishop Conley is watching!’
Thanks be to God, after dispelling those thoughts as quickly as they came, I greeted him. He immediately asked if we had any showers to clean up. I learned he was sleeping on the streets because of a drinking problem. I asked him to wait in our chapel while I looked for a sleeping bag. As it always happens, I returned to see his moist eyes filled with tears of joy as Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament had soothed his aching heart.
I pointed to the tabernacle and said, “Ultimately only Jesus, can help you overcome.”
Minutes later, I served him hors d’oeuvres, salad and a dish full of piping hot paella. He related his gratitude for the sleeping bag and said he couldn’t believe he was eating such a delicious meal. As he left, I informed him he was always welcome to spend time with Jesus in our St. Joseph Chapel.
It was Jesus present in the homeless man that visited us that sunny Sunday afternoon. It is for Him present in the poor that Catholic Social Services exists (Mt 25:31-46). Thanks to all of you for your spiritual and material support!
Social media has been abuzz about the video of 29-year old Brittany Maynard who has terminal brain cancer and has announced that she intends to commit suicide Nov. 1. Mrs. Maynard and her husband moved from California to Oregon where physician-assisted suicide is legal.
I viewed her video and, as one would expect, it is heart-wrenching. Facing a terminal illness would be scary for anyone, perhaps especially for someone so young, and a newlywed to boot.
As hard as it is to see someone facing their mortality at such a young age, it is even more heart-wrenching to see her surrender to a culture of death that proclaims our lives as a possession over which we have total control. This view that we own our lives is a fundamental principle of organizations seeking to legalize assisted suicide and euthanasia.
Derek Humphrey, founder of the Hemlock Society, now euphemistically called “Compassion and Choices” wrote the following at the beginning of his suicide how-to manual: “If you consider God the master of your fate, then read no further.” The Final Exit Network (www.finalexitnetwork.org) has proclaimed this simple message: “My Life, My Death, My Choice.”
These pro-euthanasia groups are exploiting Brittany Maynard’s story to increase public acceptance of assisted suicide and euthanasia and, eventually, to legalize it throughout the country. Currently, physician-assisted suicide is legal in Oregon, Washington and Vermont.
In addition, Courts in Montana and New Mexico have ruled against those states’ laws against assisted suicide. A handful of other states have recently considered legalizing assisted suicide (through legislation or ballot measures) and, for now, have rejected such measures. But, as is evident in the Maynard case, pro-assisted suicide groups will keep pushing for public and legal acceptance of their agenda.
Our Catholic faith teaches that every human life has sacred dignity as a precious gift of a loving God. In response to God’s precious and sacred gift of human life we are called to be responsible stewards of our own lives and for the lives in our care.
In the Vatican Declaration on Euthanasia, the Church reminds us that “Human life is the basis of all goods, and is the necessary source and condition of every human activity and of all society. Most people regard life as something sacred and hold that no one may dispose of it at will, but believers see in life something greater, namely, a gift of God’s love, which they are called upon to preserve and make fruitful.”
Being responsible stewards of God’s gift of life, the Declaration continues, “gives rise to the following consequences:
“1. No one can make an attempt on the life of an innocent person without opposing God’s love for that person, without violating a fundamental right, and therefore without committing a crime of the utmost gravity.[4]F-20
“2. Everyone has the duty to lead his or her life in accordance with God’s plan. That life is entrusted to the individual as a good that must bear fruit already here on earth, but that finds its full perfection only in eternal life.
“3. Intentionally causing one’s own death, or suicide, is therefore equally as wrong as murder; such an action on the part of a person is to be considered as a rejection of God’s sovereignty and loving plan. Furthermore, suicide is also often a refusal of love for self, the denial of a natural instinct to live, a flight from the duties of justice and charity owed to one’s neighbor, to various communities or to the whole of society - although, as is generally recognized, at times there are psychological factors present that can diminish responsibility or even completely remove it…”
Let us pray for Brittany Maynard that she (and others like her) will experience the love of Christ, change her mind, and choose to join her suffering to the One who suffered and died to redeem us.
“The Little Engine That Could”
by Watty Piper illustrated by George and Doris Hauman.
Platt & Munk, New York, 1930, 32 pages, Grades Preschool-2.
Perseverance is one of the greatest qualities people can develop. Usually, this trait grows through difficult life experiences in which failure is quite possible. While it is easy to simply give up when faced with challenging problems, maturity only comes to people taking responsibility for their own lives and addressing these issues. Since this type of change comes through a series of demanding events, perseverance is the virtue needed to be successful. Watty Piper wrote one of the all-time favorite books in children’s literature on this subject. It features a small train trying to accomplish a large feat. Beloved for over 80 years, Piper’s tale is named “The Little Engine That Could.”
A red train is loaded with toys, fruit, stuffed animals and other presents for the children living on the other side of the mountain. All of the animals and toys are excited to be given to the eager children the next morning. As they are cheerfully chugging along the railroad tracks the train comes to an abrupt halt. The toy clown and other stuffed animals jump down and quickly see that the train is broken down. They don’t know what to do. The clown thinks quickly and decides to ask another train to pull them over the mountain. The first train they see is a powerful, massive passenger train. They explain their plight to the passenger train only to be laughed at. The passenger train scornfully tells the stuffed animal that he is much too important to concern himself with such an insignificant train as theirs. With that he pridefully chugs away, leaving them abandoned. But another train soon appears on the horizon and the toys and dolls begin to hope that they will be helped. This train is a large, shiny black locomotive. Clearly, it would have no trouble pulling the red train over the mountains. The clown and dolls plead with the black locomotive to help them. The black train looks at the stuffed animals, fruit and presents and dismisses their request. He states that he is a freight train that has just crossed the mountain carrying important things like paper and printing presses. Looking at all the pleading faces, the freight train tells them that they are not important enough for him to waste his time pulling them over the mountain.
Another train comes by, but this train is tired and defeated. When the clown and dolls ask for help, the old train regretfully states that it cannot pull the train over the mountain. With this he leaves sadly saying “I cannot, I cannot.” The toys and dolls are almost crying when they look up and see a small blue train appear on the horizon. They stop the train and ask for help. The blue train says that she is just a small train but will do what she can. It hooks up to the red train and slowly tries pulling the larger train with its many cars. All the time she says: “I think I can, I think I can.” It begins to gain speed.
What happens? Does the little blue train cross the mountain with the toys and presents for the children on the other side? How does the little train’s attitude make all the difference in the world? How is the train’s perseverance rewarded? To find out, go to the library and checkout this delightful title, “The Little Engine That Could,” by Watty Piper.
The powerful message of this book continues to endure through the generations. Since the little blue train told herself that she could, she did. The pictures are enjoyable and the story is refreshing. I encourage you to read this to any child having struggles. The book is simply lovely. Enjoy!
The U.S. Supreme Court took the odd and alarming step last week of quickly denying all seven petitions it had to review appellate-court rulings that had struck down state prohibitions on recognition and/or re-definition of marriage as other than a man and a woman.
The denials directly impact policies of not allowing or recognizing same-sex marriages in Virginia, Indiana, Wisconsin, Oklahoma and Utah. Those states are in the Fourth (Virginia), Seventh (Indiana, Wisconsin) and Tenth (Oklahoma, Utah) federal court circuits. Since these are circuit-court rulings that are being allowed to stand, most likely same-sex marriage will soon become constitutionally required in the otherwise prohibiting states also located in these circuits; that would be North Carolina, South Carolina and West Virginia in the Fourth Circuit and Colorado, Kansas and Wyoming in the Tenth Circuit.
Adding the 11 aforementioned states to the list of those that already allow for same-sex marriage raises the total to 30. What’s more, a day after the Supreme Court’s announcement, a panel of Ninth-Circuit judges ruled in favor of same-sex marriage in cases that had originated in Idaho and Nevada. Those rulings aren’t final, but are likely to also affect Alaska, Arizona and Montana, which could push the total to 35 (plus the District of Columbia).
Nebraska, which is in the relatively quiet Eighth Circuit, is not one of those. Nonetheless, it’s a good time to review the situation here, both historically and policy-wise.
In 1997, the Unicameral considered LB 280, which proposed creation of a state statute to clearly define marriage as the union exclusively of one man and one woman—that traditional definition had been presumed as a matter of law by virtue of statutory inferences and implications—and to prohibit any governmental recognition of any other definition of marriage.
LB 280 was filibustered by Senator Ernie Chambers. Even though the bill had 33 co-sponsors, when a first-round vote to invoke cloture was taken—right before a lunch break—it fell one vote short. That ended consideration of LB 280. A similar bill was introduced in 1999, LB 513, but the threat of another filibuster was enough to keep it bottled up in committee.
The Legislature’s failure to act, as well as rapidly growing concern about what was happening in other states both judicially and legislatively, motivated a coalition of Nebraskans to take this serious policy issue directly to the people. Spearheaded by the Nebraska Family Council, with significant participation by Evangelical churches and individual Mormons and Catholics, Nebraskans for Marriage quickly formed and launched a citizens’ initiative petition.
The amendment proposed for the Nebraska Constitution was formulated as follows: “Only marriage between a man and a woman shall be valid or recognized in Nebraska. The uniting of two persons of the same-sex in a civil union, domestic partnership, or other similar same-sex relationship shall not be valid or recognized in Nebraska.” It was considered a strong formulation: the first sentence reaffirming what marriage is; the second sentence establishing what it is not, including any equivalent of or substitute for marriage using another title.
Between May 24 and July 7 of 2000, volunteers collected more than 155,000 signatures of Nebraska-registered voters, comfortably exceeding the threshold to qualify the proposed constitutional amendment for the General Election. It was certified as Initiative Measure 416.
A spirited campaign took place that fall. In addition to the organizations and individuals involved in the petition drive, the Nebraska affiliate of Focus on the Family, the LDS Church (Mormon) and the Catholic Diocesan Bishops formed the Nebraska Coalition for the Protection of Marriage, which advocated for IM-416. There also was organized, formidable, vigorous opposition; and a lot of media coverage.
The final tally from the General Election Nov. 7, 2000, was 477,571 votes in favor of IM 416 and 203,667 votes against—a margin of 70 percent to 30 percent. IM-416 became Article I, Section 29 of the Nebraska Constitution.
In 2003, a federal lawsuit, Citizens for Equal Protection v. Bruning, was filed against I-29, alleging that it violated the U.S. Constitution on several grounds, including denying equal protection. On May 13, 2004, with a poorly reasoned, sloppily written opinion of nearly 40 pages, a judge of the federal district court in Omaha struck down I-29.
Attorney General Bruning appealed that ruling to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. On July 14, 2006, a three-judge panel of the Eighth Circuit unanimously reversed the district-court judge’s ruling and reinstated I-29 in full. No further appeals were undertaken.
The constitutional amendment stands today as Nebraska law prohibiting any state or local government recognition of same-sex marriage or marriage-equivalent same-sex relationships.
In the current aftermath of all this history, it is at least arguable that some tax-supported governmental entities in the state, most notably the Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska, but also including at least two counties and probably some school districts as well, are thumbing their noses at I-29 and Nebraska law by means of their employment-benefits policies. More on that sticky wicket another time.
Just days ago, Molly Cummings, my 8-year-old grand-niece wrote—unsolicited—the following poem:
Love is in the air
The Church bells are ringing
A woman in white
A man in black and a tie
A priest in the middle
And yes is the answer in the church
And the people are crying
We Americans will be going to the polls to exercise our right and privilege to vote Nov. 4. This is something we must not take lightly or for granted. According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, we have a moral obligation in exercising this right (CCC 2240).
For those who have not seen it, I encourage you to check out the booklet by Catholic Answers entitled, Voters Guide for Serious Catholics. It reminds us that “our voting cannot be arbitrary.” The guide further re-iterates something the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith has said, “A well-informed Christian conscience does not permit one to vote for a political program of an individual law that contradicts the fundamental contents of faith and morals.” And the same goes for voting for a politician who supports actions which are inherently evil.
The mistake many uninformed voters make is the assumption that all issues are equally important. This could not be farther from the truth. This document lists five non-negotiables. They are: abortion, euthanasia, embryonic stem cell research, human cloning and homosexual ‘marriage.’ Although I cannot support any particular candidate, I am able to say it is grave matter to vote for a candidate who supports one for these non-negotiables when there is an alternative.
Another mistake often made is assuming all issues carry equal weight. Let us be clear —ANY other issue is a distant second to the sanctity of human life (abortion, euthanasia and embryonic stem-cell research). I’ve heard someone ask this rhetorical question a number of times, “Whose fault is it that abortion is legal in the United States?” The answer, of course, is, ‘voters.’ And we voters will have to answer to Almighty God for every vote we cast, whether we voted to promote the common good or not.
Even an 8-year-old girl knows that marriage is between one man and one woman, and that life is a gift from God and is precious in His eyes. Let us be determined to put our faith into action in the voting booths this Nov. 4.
Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us. Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us.
It is hard to believe our fantastic, fabulous, flavorful, fancy, fun, First Friday Fish Fry (outside of Lent) to benefit St. Gianna Women’s Homes has started its sixth year! Can I say ‘fabtastic’? Since the ladies who are escaping abortion and domestic violence come to us without the resources to support themselves, the proceeds from this program are a help.
Our menu has slightly changed over the years, as the cheesy potatoes have edged out my potato pancakes. I will get over it someday. Our latest menu includes, baked cod, fried pollack, shrimp, tuna noodle casserole (from scratch), baked or cheesy potatoes (from scratch), coleslaw (from scratch) with tartar and cocktail sauces (from scratch) with a complementary dessert. Because of popular demand, we have available frozen tuna casserole and cheesy potatoes for two which can be cooked in your oven at home at your convenience.
As many know, we have one rule which we enforce strictly, no one may leave without first having consumed dessert. This rule is easy to enforce because we have installed a high tech ‘dessert-o-scanner’ at the exit. Fortunately, no one (to my knowledge) has ever left without having exercised their sweet tooth. The only challenge is making a decision on what dessert item to choose, since the choices are legion.
During our last fish fry, one of our volunteers took a break in our back parking lot and was met by man on a bicycle who was interested in talking. After a few minutes, our volunteer learned it was a man who had previously been unemployed and was fortunate enough to have found a job. His bike was his way of getting around town. He did not ask for money but rather for any food we could give him. He explained he would not be paid for a week. Little did he know we were in the midst of our monthly fish fry. He was given a premium meal in a ‘to-go’ box. Since he was on a bike, he ate it on the spot and rode away happy.
Did not our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ say, “Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me” (Mt 25:40)?
Please keep the continued success of this fun fish fry in your prayers as we keep you in ours. St. Gianna, pray for us!
I received a call recently from a Catholic friend who expressed a particular concern about the upcoming General Election Nov. 4. He had talked to several people from his parish who told him “it doesn’t make any difference, Republicans and Democrats are all the same... they are all crooks, nothing gets done... it’s a waste of my time to vote.”
My friend pleaded with me to get the word out that our vote does make a difference and that we have a responsibility as Christians to vote and to be engaged in the political process. I agree completely with his concern. And, if fact, this is the main purpose of the Nebraska Catholic Conference’s Voter Education Project.
This frustration and cynicism toward politicians is understandable. Even a casual observer of the political process can be “turned off” by the negative campaign ads, demonization and personal attacks and the hyper-partisanship that dominates and impedes the legislative process.
This negative view toward politicians and politics in general is undoubtedly a major reason for the shamefully low voter turnout for most elections. According to the Nebraska Secretary of State, about 30 percent of eligible voters are not even registered to vote. For the May 2012 primary election, only 29 percent of registered voters cast a ballot. In the upcoming general election, the estimate is that about 40 percent of registered voters will vote. These numbers are irresponsible and shameful, period.
It is absolutely imperative that we resist the temptation to let our frustration and cynicism cause us to disengage from the political process. Disengagement is dangerous because the void it creates will be filled by someone—perhaps someone who cares little for the sacredness of human life or the common good. Disengagement is also dangerous to our souls because it is a dereliction of our duty as Christians, and something for which we will account before God.
The U.S. Bishops, in their statement on political responsibility entitled “Faithful Citizenship,” said: “In the Catholic Tradition, responsible citizenship is a virtue, and participation in political life is a moral obligation.”
Pope Francis, in a homily he gave in Rome one year ago said, “Citizens cannot be indifferent to politics: None of us can say ‘I have nothing to do with this, they govern.’ No, no, I am responsible for their governance. I have to do the best so that they govern well; I have to do my best by participating in politics according to my ability. I cannot wash my hands…We all have to give something!”
The U.S. Bishops, in Faithful Citizenship, acknowledge that “This duty is more critical than ever in today’s political environment, where Catholics may feel politically disenfranchised, sensing that no party and too few candidates fully share the Church’s comprehensive commitment to the life and dignity of every human being from conception to natural death. Yet this is not a time for retreat or discouragement; rather, it is a time for renewed engagement. Forming their consciences in accord with Catholic teaching, Catholic lay women and men can become actively involved: running for office; working within political parties; communicating their concerns and positions to elected officials…”
In their statement Living the Gospel of Life, the U. S. Bishops said, “We encourage all citizens, particularly Catholics, to embrace their citizenship not merely as a duty and privilege, but as an opportunity meaningfully to participate in building the culture of life,” the Bishops continue. “Every voice matters in the public forum. Every vote counts. Every act of responsible citizenship is an exercise of significant individual power.
“We must exercise that power in ways that defend human life, especially those of God’s children who are unborn, disabled or otherwise vulnerable. We get the public officials we deserve. Their virtue—or lack thereof—is a judgment not only on them, but on us. Because of this, we urge our fellow citizens to see beyond party politics, to analyze campaign rhetoric critically, and to choose their political leaders according to principle, not party affiliation or mere self-interest.”
If you are not registered to vote, GET REGISTERED! Registration forms and information are available online at www.sos.ne.gov or at your county election office. Then prepare yourself to vote with a Catholic conscience through, at least, the means provided by NCC’s Voter Education Project, which has appeared in the Register. Watch for more articles in this newspaper and check out other useful resources at www.nebcathcon.org.
“Madeline” Story and pictures by Ludwig Bemelmans.
The Viking Press, New York, 1939, 32 pages, Grades K-2.
Sometimes, an author creates an unforgettable character. The reason for this is that this character possesses such attractive qualities that generations of readers keep being drawn to her. Usually books bridging generations do not play to current fads but rather look at enduring values, and 75 years ago, such a character was created.
Ludwig Bemelmans graced the world with his charming and mischievous character, Madeline. Children since then have clapped their hands to the cadence of the story and enjoyed Madeline’s fearlessness.
The story begins with one of the most famous sentences in children’s literature: “In an old house in Paris that was covered with vines lived twelve little girls in two straight lines.” What else do these little girls do?
Their teacher is Miss Clavel and she takes the 12 little girls all over Paris to visit the many fascinating sights in the city. On their adventures they see all the life events that are happening in Paris.
First they go in stormy weather past the Eiffel Tower. Second, they smile cheerfully as they walk to the Opera House. But they all frown when they see a policeman chasing a thief. And on their way home they are all sad when they see a wounded soldier on crutches.
But of all the girls, the bravest and most daring is Madeline. When the little girls see some mice, all except Madeline run back to Miss Clavel. But Madeline crawls under the table to touch the small creatures.
On one of their journeys, Miss Clavel takes the girls to the zoo. There, a ferocious tiger growls at the children and all but one run to the safety of their teacher. Madeline stares down the tiger and fearlessly stands in front of the cage.
Needless to say, everyone is impressed with the little firebrand. But late one night, a serious problem develops in the girls’ dormitory. Madeline lies moaning in her bed. Miss Clavel hurries up to the room and tries to figure out what is going on. She quickly understands that Madeline is very ill. Quickly she calls Dr. Cohn and he rushes to the scene. He calls his nurse and wraps up Madeline and takes her to the hospital. Late that night, she goes into surgery.
What happens to Madeline? How do the rest of the little girls handle the situation? Does Madeline quickly recover from the operation? What happens when the girls visit her in the hospital? Have you ever acted with courage and daring? Why do you think Madeline has these characteristics? To find out, go to the library and check out this children’s literature classic, “Madeline” by Ludwig Bemelmans.
This is one of the great picture books to read out loud with children. There is a fascinating cadence to the story that is endearing to children. The pictures are simple but very enjoyable. You root for Madeline and applaud her plucky personality. The ending of this story is absolutely delightful.
Bemelmans published a total of seven Madeline books and each title has its own charm. Bemelmans was twice awarded the Caldecott Medal by the American Library Association for the outstanding contribution of art in a children’s book. This book, “Madeline,” won the Caldecott Honor Medal in 1940, and the second in the series, “Madeline’s Rescue,” won the Caldecott Gold Medal in 1954. Make sure you read one of these books to the young children in your family. They simply can’t be beat. Enjoy!
A few weeks ago, I stopped at a local grocery store and struck up a conversation with the cashier while checking out.
She asked, “What are you doing today?” I replied, “We have a furniture and appliance drive!” She then proceeded to briefly tell me her story.
Her husband and children recently moved here from a state in the western part of the United States because of the lower cost of living. They were in desperate need of furniture but didn’t have the means to purchase what was needed.
“Is your husband working?” I inquired. I was told he is working at a local fast-food restaurant, earning a minimal wage. I asked for her contact information and said we would give her what she and her family needed. She was elated beyond description.
We ended up having a successful drive, but it will not take long before what we have collected will be used to help needy individuals and families who are living on the edge. We are constantly in need of furniture, appliances, kitchen items and literally everything that helps make a house a home.
There is man I know who is getting released from prison in a few weeks. He has lost everything, including his wife, children and job. He is literally starting from scratch. I assured him that we would help him start over by furnishing his new apartment as he starts to put his life back together.
I am reassured that his first priority is not a job, an apartment, or even the furniture, but his relationship with God. I pray that his faith will always remain number one in his life.
I like to remind our donors that many of the graduates of St. Gianna’s are also in need of furniture when they graduate.
Responding in this fashion is one of the major efforts at Catholic Social Services, as we are constantly assisting those who need help with material items. Please consider donating any material items that you are not in need of including warm winter clothing, furniture and working appliances, kitchen items, vehicles, food and literally anything you are not using or plan to use.
When someone donates something to CSS, the items are either given to someone or some family in need or sold in one of our four thrift stores and the proceeds used to directly help individuals and families with emergency services or grants for counseling for those who are un-insured or under-insured. Please be assured of our prayers for you, your family and your intentions!
A Voter Education Project by the Nebraska Catholic Conference
Voting is vitally important as an exercise in Faithful Citizenship and political responsibility. This privilege and responsibility should not be wasted or taken lightly. Registration is required in order to be eligible to vote in Nebraska but it is a very easy process.
What are the requirements for registering to vote?
The conditions for registering to vote are quite basic. You must be a United States citizen, a Nebraska resident and at least 18 years of age on or before the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. You must not have been convicted of a felony, or if convicted, at least two years must have passed since completion of the sentence. You must not have been found to be mentally incompetent pursuant to an official process.
The information required to register is also quite basic: name, address, date of birth and either the applicant’s driver’s license number and/or the last four digits of his/her Social Security number. In addition, at the top of the application form there are two questions required by Federal law: are you a U.S. citizen and are you of the age to register? There is space for optional information, including your e-mail address, phone number, previous name and/or previous address. At the bottom of each application is an oath to be signed, that the information provided by the applicant is true and correct. (Election falsification is a Class V felony in Nebraska.)
There is no minimum term of residency in order to register to vote in Nebraska; the first day of residency can be the day for voter registration. For purposes of registration, your residence is that place at which you have established a home, where you are habitually present, and to which, when you depart, you intend to return. Leaving for temporary purposes, such as military service, school attendance, hospital stays or missionary work need not result in a change-of-residence for voting purposes.
Do I have to designate a party affiliation when I register to vote?
Voter registration does not require designation of a political-party affiliation. Nevertheless, registrants may choose from one of the three statewide parties currently recognized in Nebraska: Republican, Democratic and Libertarian, or may choose to not affiliate with any party (by checking the “non-partisan” box on the application). Registering without a political-party affiliation can cause an effect in a Primary Election, but not in a General Election (e.g., upcoming Nov. 4).
Where can I register to vote?
There are varied and numerous opportunities for registering to vote. [Editor's note: Online Voter Registration is available at nebraska.gov.] Applications can be obtained from any county election office, state public-assistance offices and at local offices of the Nebraska Department of Motor Vehicles. In some areas, the county election official facilitates voter registration at schools, libraries or other public venues. In some locations, there are trained, deputized registrars, who operate pursuant to rules set forth in Nebraska law. In some instances, interested individuals distribute voter-registration applications. This method is not regulated and should be approached cautiously; some ask for information that is not required by law and then use it for purposes other than voter registration.
Registration can be accomplished by submitting a completed, signed application in person at the local County Clerk/Election Commissioner’s office or by submitting such an application via mail. Using mail for a first-time registration additionally requires inclusion of a copy of a current and valid photo ID, or a copy of government document (issued within the immediately preceding 60 days).
What are the deadlines for registering to vote in the Nov. 4 election?
Pursuant to Nebraska law, mailed-in voter registrations must be postmarked by the third Friday preceding an election. That day is Oct. 17 for the General Election upcoming Nov. 4. That same date, Oct. 17, is also the deadline for registering at any of the offices operated by the Nebraska Department of Motor Vehicles and other state agencies. The last-available deadline applies to in-person registration at a county election office; that deadline is 6 p.m. the second Friday preceding an election. Therefore, for the General Election upcoming Nov. 4, registration can be accomplished at a county election office up until 6 p.m. Oct. 24.
Important Dates
Oct. 4—First day for in-person Early Voting at a County Election Office (CEO)
Oct. 17—Postmark deadline for mailed-in Voter Registration
Oct. 17—Last day for Voter Registration at agencies/offices other than a CEO
Oct. 24—Deadline for in-person Voter Registration at a CEO, 6 p.m.
Oct. 29—Deadline to apply for an Early-Voting Ballot to be mailed out, 4 p.m.
Nov. 3—Last day for Early Voting in person at a CEO, 5 p.m.
Nov. 4—Election Day!
Nov. 4—Deadline for receipt of all Early-Voting Ballots, 8 p.m. CT; 7 p.m. MT
Are there circumstances that would require me to re-register to vote?
Once registration is accomplished for the first time, there is no need to re-register, except in some limited circumstances.
Re-registration becomes necessary only when you change your name or your permanent residence/address, or if you wish to change your political-party affiliation. Failure to vote in a previous election does not trigger a requirement to re-register.
What are my options for voting prior to election day?
Nebraska law allows any registered voter to vote prior to Election Day regardless of the reason for doing so. Formerly, this was known as absentee voting, which typically required disclosure of a reason.
You can apply for an early-voting ballot in person at the county election office (County Clerk or Election Commissioner), by personal agent, by mail or by fax. For mail and fax, an on-line application form is available from the Secretary of State’s website: www.sos.ne.gov/elec/ele_forms.html.
If you want an early-voting ballot mailed to you, you must make such a request by 4 p.m. on the Wednesday preceding an election. So, for the General Election upcoming Nov. 4, that deadline is 4 p.m. Oct. 29. The day before the election, November 3, is the deadline for obtaining an early-voting ballot in person, or by personal agent, at a county election office.
There also is a special process to assist military and overseas citizens in obtaining Early Voting ballots. Nebraska participates in the Federal Voting Assistance Program for these purposes.
The deadline for all early-voting ballots to be returned to the respective county election office is the hour set for the polls to close on Election Day; that’s 8 p.m. Central Time and 7 p.m. Mountain Time.
Where can I find voting and election information for Nebraska or my county?
The Secretary of State serves as Nebraska’s chief election officer. The Elections Division in his office works with election officials in the state’s 93 counties and oversees the conduct of elections, tabulation equipment and the state voter-registration system. County election office contact information is available at www.sos.ne.gov/elec/clerks.html or by calling 888-727-0007 (toll free) or 402-471-2555.
In addition to voter forms, the Secretary of State’s website (www.sos.ne.gov/elec/2014/elections.html) provides detailed information regarding the voting process, addresses and phone numbers for county election officials and a look-up tool that allows would-be voters to verify their registration status.
As the Secretary of State says, “Voting in Nebraska is a very user-friendly process.”
“Sailing With the Wind” by Thomas Locker
Dial Books, New York, 1986, 32 pages, Grades K-3.
Fortunate children have a favorite uncle or aunt. Usually, this person shares exciting adventures with the children. Not having the responsibilities of parenthood, this relative can often do the “fun” things of childhood with the children. Since they can leave the disciplining of the children to the parents, these family mentors are very popular. And of course, they should be since they bring joy into the children’s lives. Thomas Locker has written a delightful story of such a relationship entitled “Sailing Into The Wind.”
Elizabeth is a young girl living in a warm family. She loves her Uncle Jack, a sailor. Uncle Jack’s adventures stir the child’s imagination. The places he has travelled to, such as China, seem too exotic to be believed. She knows Uncle Jack is about to return from a voyage and climbs up a hill overlooking a nearby river to glimpse his boat coming ashore.
Suddenly, she catches a glimpse of a white sail and runs down to meet her uncle. Coming home with her, Jack and Elizabeth’s parents have a pleasant visit. Finally, Jack asks a question Elizabeth has long waited for: “Don’t you think Elizabeth’s old enough now to sail to the ocean with me?” (p.10)
Elizabeth’s father is unsure since the trip down the river is quite far and not without its own dangers. But the girl’s mother reassures him and plans are made for the next day. Elizabeth can’t believe her good luck and eagerly goes to bed after setting the alarm clock for 5:30 a.m.
Early the next morning, when the mists are still rising from the river, Elizabeth and Uncle Jack launch the boat. The child is jubilant since she is going on an adventure with her favorite uncle. At first there is no wind so Jack rows the boat, aided by the current. After several hours they land on a small island and eat breakfast. Elizabeth pours her uncle some coffee but is eager to get started again. After all, how exciting must it be to sail a boat from the mouth of the river into the ocean?
Finally, several hours later, they glide from the river into a bay that leads out to the spectacular blue ocean. It is more thrilling than she could have ever imagined. But suddenly, a storm sweeps across the water and Uncle Jack turns the boat around and heads back across the bay to the safety of the river. But the wind picks up and the storm seems to be chasing them. Elizabeth tightens her life jacket and prepares for the danger. The boat and the storm race each other.
What happens to Elizabeth and Uncle Jack? Do they outrun the storm? Have they prepared well? Have you ever had an adventure change suddenly? What did you do? To find out the answers to these questions, go to the library and check out “Sailing Into The Wind” by Thomas Locker.
Thomas Locker writes interesting children’s books and paints sumptuous landscapes and personal portraits. His drawings are some of the most beautiful paintings you will see in picture books. His painting of Elizabeth and Uncle Jack entering the ocean is a lovely example of this. I hope you get a chance to read this book with the younger members of your family. The artwork is sometimes poignant and endearing and at other times stunning and spectacular. I hope you get a chance to read this book or any of his other fine titles. Enjoy!
It’s hard to believe but on Saturday, Oct. 11, Catholic Social Services of Southern Nebraska will be holding our seventh annual Bishop Glennon Flavin Memorial Sporting Clays Tourney at the Oak Creek Sporting Club near Brainard.
There is still room for teams to sign up. If you do not have a team, we will place you with others to form a team!
For those who do not know what sporting clays are, I like to describe it as ‘golf with a shotgun.’ When walking from station to station, the clay targets fly in from multiple directions which makes it all the more fun.
Registration, shooting and games start at 9 a.m. with lunch at 1 p.m. The last team will begin at 3 p.m. This means teams will begin shooting at different times from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. In other words, each team will receive a ‘tee time.’ Teams will start at 10-minute intervals. Shooters are asked to arrive 30 minutes before their ‘tee time.’
The individual registration fee is $125. This includes a buffet meal, 100 sporting clays, shotgun shells and one free ticket to be used for one of the shooting games, or for use in one of the raffles. Shooters are asked to wear glasses and ear plugs. All the proceeds will be used to help needy individuals and families.
To find the registration form and for more information as well as for sponsorship opportunities, please visit our website, www.cssisus.org.
I am happy to announce that we will be auctioning off ‘Patches,’ who is half Brittany Spaniel and English setter, via a silent auction. It looks as though this may be a new breed. She is 10 weeks old and is already pointing. She will come with her shots and whoever is the lucky winner may want to give her a different name. We named her ‘Patches’ because of the black patch of hair over her left eye. She’s a real cutie!
In addition to praying for the success of this year’s event, please pray for the happy repose of the late Bishop Glennon Flavin who was an outdoor enthusiast.
For those who are planning to participate, I not only promise that you will have a great time, you will have a ‘blast!’ May the soul of our late beloved Bishop Flavin rest in peace, Amen! Bishop Flavin, pray for us!
“Paddle to the Sea” by Holling Clancy Holling
Houghton Mifflin, Boston, 1941, 64 pages, Grades 4-5.
Five great bodies of water comprise the Great Lakes. Bordering both the United States and Canada, the Great Lakes are both aesthetically beautiful and commercially valuable. From lumbering to shipping, to vacationing and fishing, these marvelous lakes have long held people’s fascination.
While Lake Superior, with its wolf head shape is the largest lake and carrot shaped Lake Ontario is the smallest, all of the Great Lakes have their special attraction. Holling Clancy Holling has written a classic in children’s literature about the Great Lakes. In this beautifully written and illustrated story, a Native Canadian child carves a canoe with a tribal voyageur. He takes the foot-long canoe with its fearless paddler and places them on a snowy hill above a frozen river. On the bottom of the craft he writes: “I Am Paddle to the Sea, Please Put Me Back in Water.” He tells them to go through the five Great Lakes to the sea. The spring melt soon happens and the pair are launched on their adventure.
Crashing down into the river the little canoe bobs along as it is swept downstream. Hundreds of logs are floating nearby and they all come to a massive log jam. The tiny boat is wedged in a log that is lifted onto a belt at a lumber mill. The log is guided to a massive saw which almost cuts the canoe in half. At the last moment, a sawmill worker sees the canoe and rescues it from the saw. Looking on the bottom, he sees the writing and puts the boat back into the stream.
Paddle to the Sea floats down the river and is soon riding the massive, foamy waves of Lake Superior. Birds and fish wonder if they should eat the canoe and paddler but quickly realize they are made of wood. Saved from bird and fish attacks, the boat is carried by the currents around the hundreds of miles of Lake Superior’s shores. Paddle to the Sea is picked up by a sailor at the giant water locks at Sault Ste. Marie and placed on a freighter heading down Lake Michigan to the steel mills in Gary, Indiana. The canoe is accidentally dropped overboard and must slowly drift up the western coast of Michigan. Over and over again, people pick-up the tiny canoe and marvel at its beauty and the character of the paddler. Each time they return the boat to the water. There are three more Great Lakes and then the immense St. Lawrence River. The years begin to pass and many dangers continue to rise. What happens on the rest of this arduous journey?
Does Paddle to the Sea ever arrive at the Atlantic Ocean? Is it possible to survive the huge distance and massive waves of the Great Lakes? How does the little canoe withstand the ice and snow of the winter? Have you ever done something difficult? What gave you the strength to finish the task? What do we learn about the canoe and its fearless paddler? To find out the answers to these questions, go to the library and check out this fascinating story, “Paddle to the Sea” by Holling Clancy Holling.
Classic books have compelling storylines. To continue to be admired generation after generation, these books have to grip readers and speak to important values in their lives. This is such a book. Besides just being a very interesting read, “Paddle to the Sea” is an outstanding book for the classroom. Only a rare book such as this title can beautifully combine the instruction in geography with the excitement of a novel. You simply can’t miss with this title. I hope you encourage the younger members of your family to savor this book and that you take the time to read it as well. Enjoy!
On September 4, a special investigative committee of the Nebraska Legislature conducted an hours-long hearing on the mind-boggling debacle of erroneous sentence-length calculations by the Department of Correctional Services. The entire proceeding at the State Capitol was live-streamed via Nebraska Educational Television. It was worthwhile viewing.
The subject matter was the mess that came to light when newspaper reporters discovered that DCS for years had been using an incorrect formula. This was happening because bureaucrats failed to follow interpretive guidance set forth (twice) by the Nebraska Supreme Court. The consequences were errors involving hundreds of prisoners, including some 300 premature releases (15 or so of whom were re-incarcerated) and the addition of more than 2,000 years aggregate to the otherwise anticipated sentences of more than 750 prisoners.
To describe the nearly 12 hours of questioning and testifying as “riveting” would be a bit much, perhaps. To describe it as “entertaining” would be insensitive and underserving. To describe it as interesting and compelling seems adequate and fair. It was theatre at the Capitol: tragedy, comedy (of errors) and drama wrapped together.
The Legislature’s special committee draws its origin and authority from Legislative Resolution 424, which was passed without dissent on March 7. It stemmed from the involvement of DCS with notorious criminal Nikko Jenkins. In addition to specific authorization to study those circumstances, the seven-member committee also was authorized to address more generally: good-time laws; administrative segregation of inmates; rehabilitation programs; mental-health care; and transition from incarceration to community.
So, some irony is at play in this scenario; irony with some strangely positive implications. The Legislature already had a special investigative committee established for corrections issues when the release-date-calculation fiasco was brought to light in mid-June. It landed in the committee’s lap. The agenda expanded. The recent hearing came onto the schedule.
Two current DCS employees and three recently retired employees were subpoenaed to testify and given limited immunity from prosecution. A retired attorney who served as a consultant to DCS for the state Attorney General’s office also testified.
Much of this testimony was uncomfortable, to say the least. Responses to both basic and sharply pointed questions from committee members constituted the interesting theatre.
The only witness who seemed to enjoy testifying was a former records administrator who retired in 2008. He had little reluctance or hesitancy to expound upon his answers (or to cite his own experience and expertise). His recollections helped to make a record.
Each person “on the hot seat” revealed that, to some extent, he or she had relied on someone else. There was “buck-passing” and not much of that concept termed “plausible deniability.” Each one, especially the lawyers, pointed out a large and distracting workload.
No one directly admitted as much, but the specter of pressure stemming from overcrowded facilities hovered over the testimony. The legislators obviously were thinking about that as a possible factor. That possibility is likely to have attention in the report the committee will issue.
Rather clearly, calculating sentence release dates got messed up in the bureaucratic structure. The best example of this: the head lawyer, who testified that he did not even read the Supreme Court’s 2013 opinion when it was released, unconvincingly explained that he did what he thought he was expected to do by asking and relying upon the records administrator.
As one editorialist aptly observed in commenting on the debacle: “We can’t use ‘bureaucracy’—even with its obvious challenges—as an excuse for ineffective government.”
And finally… on another important front:
Irrespective of the merits, or lack thereof, associated with expanded gambling and whether or not machines that allow players to bet on the outcomes of already-run horse races—a bemusing concept—are akin to slot machines, the Nebraska Supreme Court re-taught a good lesson in ruling unanimously that the gambling amendment proposed by 30 legislators, doesn’t qualify for the General Election ballot. That lesson: legislators, honor the Constitution.
Article XVI, Section 1 of the Nebraska Constitution provides that if the two or more amendments are submitted at the same election, they must be so submitted as to enable the electors to vote on each amendment separately. In other words, a proposed amendment cannot have more than one subject. (A similar provision in the Constitution governs legislative bills.) With LR 41CA (Amendment 1), supportive legislators proposed not only the subject of authorizing a new form of gambling, i.e., “historic horseraces” on instant terminals, but also the subject of distributing the state’s proceeds from horse-racing, i.e., property-tax relief and K-12 education.
The latter subject was motivated by the desire to attract votes for the former.
The Supreme Court ruled unanimously that Amendment 1 ended up with two subjects and was, therefore, invalid. The Court issued a mandamus order, that the Secretary of State keep it off the ballot.
