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I read Michael Madden’s response (CR, Oct. 16) to my letter, which stated that I was incorrect when I said Congress “prepares the budget.” Let’s look at the recent so-called “bail out” bill that the President sent to Congress which was three pages long and rejected by Congress. However, when a 400-plus page bill designed to do the same thing was presented back to the president for his signature, it contained millions of dollars of entitlements which can be translated very loosely as “payoffs, bribes, etc.” for Congress to pass the bill. Now I ask a simple question, “who really prepares the budget?”

When College of Notre Dame of Maryland dean of education Sister Sharon Slear arrived at the school 18 years ago, there was only traditional undergraduate course-work offered for potential teachers. The School Sister of Notre Dame saw possibilities for vast amounts of growth.

When the Oblate Sisters of Providence say you can have a ball without leaving home, they really mean it.

What will be important to us 25 years after we have died? I ask that question because Nov. 10 marks the 25th anniversary of my mother’s death. The woman whom I could not imagine living without, at one point in life, is in fact someone I have lived without for 25 years!

A vast army of senior persons have to decide how to use their time. Our successes in health care have given us years – even decades – beyond the once-ironclad sixty-five, but they haven’t filled the potential void. Our generation once thought we could glide down the sunset slope, making use of the education that had come our way and keeping fairly current, while avoiding like the plague any hint of devotion to the past.

In the midst of this protracted election season, a seeming division among the Catholic leadership in our country has emerged, representing different approaches to this year’s document of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship.” Despite these differences, the Catholic bishops of the United States remain totally and universally committed to the foundational principle advanced in the document: Disrespect for any human life diminishes respect for all human life.

I can’t remember precisely when I fell in love with history, but it was surely in the first innings of my reading life.

Question: What do the economy, the presidential election and “High School Musical” all have in common?