For example, last June, on the Solemnity of Pentecost, I issued a pastoral letter, “Called to be Holy, Fully Engaged, Fully Alive,” in The Compass. The pastoral letter outlined six pastoral focus areas that I have called parishes to implement: Evangelization; Youth, Young Adults and Family; Leadership; Education; Eucharist and Dignity of Human Life.
As parishes continue to implement these areas of pastoral focus, The Compass will share some of the best practices taking place.
While The Compass helps me to share the Good News, it also provides the means for me to defend our church against secular attacks. As you know, the U.S. bishops are currently waging a campaign to defend our religious freedom. Our Catholic institutions have been told that they must provide sterilization and contraceptives, many of which are abortifacient in nature, in their health care plans. These methods are not in concert with our church teachings and we must defend our rights to oppose them.
This battle has been characterized by many in the secular media as an attack by the church on women’s health. Nothing could be further from the truth. Through our Catholic press, I and my fellow bishops have been able to present the church’s position on contraceptives, on health care and on religious freedom.
I echo the words of Greg Erlandson, president of the Catholic Press Association of the United States and Canada, who says, “Only the Catholic press gives Catholic leaders a voice with which to be heard by their people — unmuted, uncensored and independent of the preconceptions and prejudices of too many secular media outlets.”
Please join me in giving thanks to The Compass for the valuable service it provides to our local church here in northeastern Wisconsin. And please remember that your support, through annual subscriptions, keeps The Compass the strong, award-winning newspaper that we have come to expect and appreciate.
