Bless Our Priests: Support of retired priests demonstrated throughout Diocese of Madison

		Diocese of Madison  Office of Stewardship  and Development  Daun Maier

Unquestionably, support for the priests of the Diocese of Madison continues to surface in the minds and hearts of people in our parishes.

In 2006 the Diocese of Madison established the annual Bless Our Priests collection in support of the current and future retired priests. It was met with an enthusiastic response and helped establish the first endowed fund for sustaining priest retirement.

The wonderful display of generosity throughout the diocese is setting a firm foundation for providing perpetual support. Our priests can feel confident people are appreciative of their life long service.

Results of collection

In addition to establishing the Bless Our Priests endowment, this collection has enabled the diocese to assist our current retired priests through enhancing assistance such as a visiting nurse program, social worker aid, and in some cases, basic living expenses when necessary.

A newly formed Retired Priest Ministry provides more individual and immediate assistance meeting a wide range of needs with compassion and respect.

The rising cost of providing healthcare remains a concern for the diocese. The Bless Our Priests collection provides the means for individuals to directly contribute to the support and welfare of our retired clergy. This additional revenue helps ensure the long term care, medical, dental, and vision insurance premiums will be fully covered in future years.

Mass of thanksgiving

Bishop Robert C. Morlino will preside at a Mass of thanksgiving on Wednesday, Oct. 3, at 6 p.m. at the Bishop O'Connor Center in Madison in appreciation for those who have and continue to support the Bless Our Priests collection.

A reception will follow honoring our retired priests and all who continue to make this collection a success. A general invitation to the public is provided in this edition of the Catholic Herald (see Page 28 of print edition).

The Bless Our Priests Collection is taken throughout the Diocese each December. If you are interested in supporting Bless Our Priests or would like further information on donating from your IRA or with securities, please contact Daun Maier in the Stewardship and Development Office at 608-821-3046.

Acorns and embryos:
Beware of flawed analogies

		Making Sense  Out of Bioethics  Fr. Tad  Pacholczyk

Many present-day bioethical arguments, although intellectually fashionable and trendy, nevertheless remain flawed in their reasoning.

An impressive example of this can be seen in a recent Boston Globe article by Professor Michael Sandel, who teaches at Harvard. He begins with a reasonable analogy between acorns and embryos, but quickly confuses his terms and ultimately draws an incorrect conclusion:

". . . although every oak tree was once an acorn, it does not follow that acorns are oak trees, or that I should treat the loss of an acorn eaten by a squirrel in my front yard as the same kind of loss as the death of an oak tree felled by a storm. Despite their developmental continuity, acorns and oak trees differ. So do human embryos and human beings, and in the same way. Just as acorns are potential oaks, human embryos are potential human beings."

Embryos and acorns

The error in this passage can be summarized simply: embryos are not potential human beings; rather, they are human beings with potential. Embryos are potential taxpayers, potential pianists, and potential bank robbers, but the only reason they have all that remarkable potential (and so much more besides) is because of what they already are, namely, human beings.

Acorns, of course, become trees, even though an acorn is not itself a mature tree. The acorn and the mature tree, however, are both "oak," and the acorn is just a younger version of the mature tree - the two are different developmental stages of the same oak. Therefore, acorns are not potential oaks; instead, they are actual oaks with the potential to become mature trees with branches and leaves.

Embryos, similarly, produce adults, even though an embryo is not itself an adult. The embryo and the adult, however, are both "beings that are human," and the embryo is just a younger version of the adult - the two, in fact, are different developmental stages of the same human being.

Hence embryos are NOT potential human beings; rather, they are actual human beings with the potential to become adults with arms, legs, and checking accounts.

Loss of an acorn

Do we treat the loss of an acorn eaten by a squirrel in the front yard as the same kind of loss as the death of an oak tree felled by a storm? We don't treat them the same, because in the case of the felled tree, with its large dimensions, we need a chain saw to clear the debris, while in the case of the acorn, no chain saw is required.

Additionally, we are not likely to have much emotional attachment to a little acorn, while we might have strong attachments to the large tree that has been in our front yard for years.

But feelings and emotional attachments don't alter the fact that the loss is the same kind in both cases - the loss of an oak - a very little oak in one case, and a very big oak in the other.

Because we may become emotionally attached to a big tree, we can slip into mistakenly supposing that the acorn is not an oak. Regardless of whether we might have a personal bias or an emotional attachment to a big oak, or even a prejudice against little oaks, our prejudice cannot alter the hard biological fact that both the acorn and the mature tree are oak.

Similarly, by becoming emotionally attached to grown-up human beings, we can slip into mistakenly supposing that an embryo is not a human being. Yet any emotional response or prejudice we may have regarding human embryos cannot change the hard biological fact that both embryos, and the taxpayers they grow into, are human beings.

One step further

Sometimes the acorn analogy is taken one step further, in an attempt to suggest that human embryos do not become human beings until they implant into the uterus.

The argument runs like this: an embryo is like an acorn that has not yet been planted in the soil. That acorn is only a potential oak tree, not an actual oak tree. It will become an actual oak tree only after it is planted and grows, and the human embryo will become a human being only after it implants into the uterus and begins to grow.

While it is true that acorns don't become mature trees until after they are planted in the ground, it is false that those acorns are not "oak" until they are planted. The reason the acorn can produce a tree at all is that both are already instances of the same thing, namely "oak."

The young oak grows and eventually turns into an old oak with the help of nourishment from the soil, water from the sky, and sunshine. The soil, sunshine, and water permit it to grow to a more advanced stage of what it intrinsically is.

Are human beings

Similarly, while it is true that embryos don't become adults unless they are implanted in a uterus, it is incorrect that those embryos are not human beings unless that implantation occurs. When an embryo is not implanted, it is rendered unable to nourish itself, and it gradually starves to death.

If a newborn were locked alone in a room where it couldn't ever reach its mother's breast for nourishment, it would eventually die of starvation and dehydration. Because the baby never succeeded in attaching to its mother's breast, this does not imply that it never became a human being. It only implies that it never became an adult human being.

Similarly, it would be false to say that an embryo that never attached to its mother's uterus had failed to become a human being. That embryo was clearly a human being, but one who couldn't find nourishment, and ended up dying before he or she could reach a later stage like infancy, adolescence, or adulthood.

The breast and the uterus are really nourishment-delivery systems for helping little human beings during the early stages of their existence - tender maternal mechanisms for sheltering and nourishing them as they grow towards more mature stages.

These examples remind us of the regrettable situation we encounter ever more frequently today, a situation where clear thinking becomes the first casualty of agenda-driven positions. As lawmakers, Hollywood figures, and even well-educated intellectuals become convinced that we must harvest embryos for parts, they scramble for arguments that may seem seductive at first, but ultimately lack rigor, substance, and truth.

Fr. Tadeusz Pacholczyk earned his doctorate in neuroscience from Yale and did post-doctoral work at Harvard. He is a priest of the diocese of Fall River, Mass., and serves as the director of education at the National Catholic Bioethics Center in Philadelphia. For more information see www.ncbcenter.org

Sacramental marriage:
Receive power to grow in holiness

		A Culture  of Life  Kimberly Hahn

I overheard several college students respond to the question, "Do you have a vocation?" with the reply usually, "Oh, no. I want to get married."

I wasn't Catholic at the time, but I remember asking Scott, "Is that a Catholic answer? That doesn't sound like a Catholic answer."

"No," Scott assured me, "that's not a Catholic answer."

Sacramental grace

A vocation is a call to holiness in a specific state in life. Either we submit our sexuality to the Lord in chastity through singleness, consecrated life, or Holy Orders - or we submit our sexuality to him in chastity within marriage. There's no double standard. God is holy, and he wants his children to be holy, too.

Marriage is a sacrament, in part, because we need extra grace to live this vocation in a way that pleases God. Some people mistakenly think that cohabitation (living together as if they were husband and wife before they truly are husband and wife sacramentally) is a helpful test of a relationship. They set themselves up for failure in at least two ways.

First, since they are not married, the couple lacks the very sacramental grace of matrimony that they need to be successful. Second, a couple who experiences the act of marriage outside of marriage leads each other into mortal sin. Unless they repent, they also block access to the very sacramental graces from Confession and Communion which they need to truly love each other.

Does a relationship failure after cohabitation prove that a marriage would not work? No, it only proves that nonsacramental cohabitation does not work.

God builds the family

No one gets married expecting to fail. We all want successful marriages and happy, healthy families. The psalmist gives us the key:

"Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep" -- Psalm 127:1-2.

To build one's house is a poetic reference to establishing a family. The Lord himself is the One who builds each family so that it can withstand the storms of life. He is the rock on which we must build rather than on the shifting sands of public opinion and pop culture. Otherwise, our work to have a strong family will be in vain. The Designer of marriage has a blueprint and a way to build that will work. He has all of the resources needed to complete the house.

Immediately after these verses, the psalmist speaks of the blessing of children (see Ps 127:3-5). God's gift of children to us is critical to building our house solidly. Marriage and the act of marriage are his idea, after all.

'To grow in holiness'

God shares his divine life with us, enabling us to experience communion as spouses and then extending that communion to include children. The goal of each family is thus to be, as Pope John Paul II calls it, "a civilization of love."

Since marriage is a sacrament, we receive power to grow in holiness even through the most mundane activities we do each day. Sometimes I am jealous of the nun blissfully kneeling in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament for an hour before supper, while for me, dinner is late, the children are whiny, the phone is ringing, and Scott is late from work. Yet God wants me to be holy just as much as he does that sweet nun. He has built into my vocation many opportunities to die to selfishness, to serve my spouse and children sacrificially.

Kimberly Hahn is co-author of Roman, Sweet Home, Our Journey to Catholicism, with her husband Scott. This column is syndicated by www.OneMoreSoul.com and reprinted from Hahn's book, Life-Giving Love (St. Anthony Messenger Press).

The entrapment:
A confession after 60 years of marriage

		Grand Mom  Audrey  Mettel Fixmer

My ears are still ringing from all of the "Happy Anniversary" greetings of last weekend. Our daughters surprised us by submitting our 60th anniversary photo, along with the original bridal picture, to the local paper as well as the Wisconsin State Journal.

Six of our 10 children and lots of grandchildren made it home for the occasion too, making it a great day.

One thing kept bothering me, though, during the Mass in which Fr. Bill Nolan gave us an anniversary blessing: the way it all started. Was entrapment a crime 60 years ago? Or was that something new that came along with terrorism?

Anyway, I was guilty of plotting, luring, and trapping that poor boy from the moment I laid eyes on him. . . . in a ladylike, socially acceptable manner, of course.

'Do you know Bob?'

It was 1947 and I was a sophomore at the College of St. Benedict in Minnesota that year. I had returned to my home in Aurora, Ill., for Christmas vacation and became ill, making it impossible to return to school on time.

By mid-January I was pretty bored already. I guess that's why I agreed to accept a date with "Art," a guy I had dated the previous summer, but no longer cared for. The clincher was that he was inviting me to "a party at Bob Fixmer's house." Now that was appealing!

The previous summer in Aurora my friend from college, Gen, had come to stay with our family and work in Chicago with me. We had a blast commuting on the Chicago, Aurora, and Elgin, and giggling about the weird guys we had met the night before.

They were a group of friends who attended the University of Chicago, very intellectual, and (alas!) atheists. This was a whole new world for us, and an opportunity to use our Thomas Aquinas Seven Proofs for the Existence of God. Every time we made a strong point, one of them would say, "You sound just like Bob Fixmer. Do you know Bob?"

No, I didn't, but it sounded as if I should. Bob was recently discharged from the Army, I learned, and was, according to them, "searching for God." Hmmmm! Maybe I could help him. He had been in a seminary for two years, so he was probably better material to work with than his Godless buddies. I wanted to meet him.

The other brother

Meanwhile, I returned to school and Christmas break came. I dated Art on Christmas Eve just to get out of the house, and at a party I met Bob's brother, Warren. He sat across the table from me, in fact. He was really handsome, but obviously nothing like his brother.

Several times when I would mention God or religion, he would say in a disgusted tone, "Geez, you sound just like my brother." When he reached for some chips after midnight, I slapped his hand, reminding him he couldn't go to Communion if he ate that. He gave me a withering look and said, "So what?"

First impressions

I learned later that when Bob got home from the service, the first thing he did was go to visit his friend, George, across the street. He saw a tuxedo hanging in George's bedroom and said, "Well, George, looks like you've come up in the world."

"Don't remind me of that awful blind date I had with Audrey Mettel."

"Why? Was she ugly?"

"No, that would have been better. Do you know the first thing she said to me when she got in the car? It was, 'Do you believe in God?'"

So that was Bob's first impression of me. I was a kook. Art's aunt, however, asked Bob if he knew me and then showed him an article with my picture I had published in a Chicago magazine. He was less than impressed.

The fateful party

When Art and I arrived at "the party" on that January day, we learned that Bob had gone to bed already, but his grandfather was willing to wake him. While we waited for him, I had a chance to look over the books in his bookcase on the stairway landing: Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas, all the great philosophers. I was impressed.

And then he came down the stairs and I was awestruck. He was tall and handsome, and when he spoke he had this incredibly resonant voice that made my heart pound. And his hands! They were large and graceful and so expressive that they had me mesmerized.

We sat listening to him talk brilliantly for a couple of hours. His folks came home, but I wouldn't leave without learning where I might see him again. At Mass? "What Mass do you go to?" I asked coyly.

'The rest is history'

That night I went home starry eyed and wrote in my diary, "Tonight I met the man I am going to marry."

In those days nice girls didn't ask boys out. I was nice. I no longer was enrolled in a girls' high school where inviting boys to a prom was okay, so I did the next best thing. I got together with a few friends and we organized a Madonna Alumnae Sweetheart Dance for Valentine's Day!

The rest is history. With God as my co-pilot we were flying high for the next 60 years! Thank you, Lord, for Bob and the 11 beautiful children that followed.

"Grandmom" likes hearing from other senior citizens who enjoy aging at P.O. Box 216, Fort Atkinson, WI 53538.