Author: Gordon Govier

No one has better articulated the political moment in Wisconsin than the student in my discussion section who raised his hand and asked if he could please join the walk-out. When I replied that rebels don’t ask permission, he said: “I just want to do what’s right.” This interaction embodied for me the discrepancy between the mood on the streets and the national conversation. While the media have reduced 70,000 protesters to labor activists, while the governor has cast his effort as a revival of Ronald Reagan’s union-busting, and while would-be presidential candidates have been weighing in, this conflict remains…

In the recent struggle between Scott Walker and the public sector unions, many people have asked where Catholic social teaching stands in this debate. The “both/and” nature of Church teaching yet again finds Catholics on both sides of the argument. While the Church offers “no technical solutions” (Caritas in veritate 10) it does provide the principles upon which to frame the debate. 

At Grace Lutheran Church in Thiensville, about 90 miles northeast of Madison, viewpoints on the protests at the state Capitol are all over the map, said the Rev. Jay McDivitt. The church is in Ozaukee County, which McDivitt describes as “pretty conservative,” yet he said his parishioners are OK with him personally taking more liberal stands on some issues, such as recently signing a statement by religious leaders in support of union collective bargaining rights.

Effective today, Thursday, Feb. 24, until the situation at our State Capitol is resolved, please pray each noon for our elected officials and their staffs and for those protesting. 

While Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker wrestles with the legislature and labor unions over the right course to achieve financial peace for the state of Wisconsin, about 400 Madison area residents are meeting Thursday nights at Blackhawk Church to find financial peace for their family budgets. It’s called Financial Peace University, a 13 week series of video lessons created by radio talk show host Dave Ramsey. “We know people live in an upside down world, living on more than they’re making,” said Blackhawk’s executive pastor Greg Bergman. “FPU is a practical series of lessons that offer solutions.”

The eyes of the nation, the world actually, are on Madison, WI. The demonstrations at the capitol have provoked a national dialogue. What did your pastor say about the demonstrations at church today? Was it mentioned in the pastoral pray or in the sermon? Or was it mentioned at all? Are you wondering, what would Jesus do? What should we do, as Christian believers? One person sent this letter to 40 local pastors… Dear Leaders of the Madison Faith Community, I am not writing you officially on behalf of any political organization, party, or labor union. I am a PhD student,…

When Milwaukee Archbishop Jerome Listecki lent his voice to this week’s legislative debate over collective bargaining by public employees, he was drawing on more than 100 years of Catholic social teaching, which has endorsed the role of labor unions in creating a just economy and society.

After I decided to follow Jesus my next decision was to go get a King James Bible. This was back in the sixties when there were only a few alternatives to the KJV available. Today we live in a different world. There’s not only a great multitude of translations and paraphrases available, but there’s an additional multitude of packaging options. It appears there’s a Bible for almost every conceivable situation. Yet the KJV remains a popular standard and this year there is a celebration of its 400th anniversary.

MADISON — Since she turned 18 — 12 years after her father brought her legally into the United States from Mexico— Guadalupe Mancilla has worked towards becoming a citizen. Three days before the beginning of Catholic Schools Week, that dream became a reality. Mancilla is now a citizen of the United States and a poster child for the benefits of education. She comes from a large family from a tiny town in Mexico, whose father struggled with multiple jobs to make a difference in his children’s lives. But with the help of her commitment to education, she is now married…

Thank God miracles still happen. One Madison church narrowly escaped bankruptcy last year when just the right amount of money needed for a payment arrived just before the deadline. But not every church is able to avoid foreclosure. A story last week on National Public Radio reported that “lenders foreclosed on about 100 churches last year, an enormous increase from just a few years ago.” The economy is starting to rebound and churches may be expecting that tight finances will ease in the months ahead. But not everyone believes the financial future will look at all like it used to…