Thumbs up: A solemn remembrance

Thumbs up to the Dakota and others who again marked a solemn anniversary in Mankato.

The annual Dakota ride, featuring a group that rides horses from Lower Brule, S.D., to Mankato, as well as runners who come form Fort Snelling, is to honor the 38 Dakota Indians who were hanged in Mankato on Dec. 26, 1862. 

The somber event, held in Reconciliation Park in downtown Mankato, is a valuable way to remember those who were executed following the U.S.-Dakota War and to renew and create new bonds between Native Americans and other southern Minnesota residents.

Kids spread information

Thumbs up to St. Louis Park High School students for starting a sexual health education club.

A group of students there recognized  health class wasn’t enough to give students the information they need. The students knew they could use a different structure to talk about issues that affect them, such as sexually transmitted diseases, relationships, birth control, abstinence and other topics.

This is exactly the kind of group that gives kids the extra help and information they need to make good decisions. The principal and the school club committee decided sex is something students talk about already, so they should have a place to find good information. The club, for students in 9-12 grades, will have an adult adviser.

In our own community we have teens who mentor younger students through the nonprofit group Project for Teens. This award-winning group has proven that getting kids to talk each other about high-risk behavior gives youth the tools to become better decision makers.

Heated language from pope

Thumbs up to Pope Francis and his impassioned warning to the troubled Vatican bureaucracy.

It has been evident for sometime to outsiders that the Vatican needed a managerial shakeup. The previous popes, St. John Paul II and Benedict XIV, had little interest in supervising the complex machinery of the Catholic Church’s hierarchy. It may well be that Benedict’s abdication was prompted by his realization that he was not capable of reining in the Curia.

This week Francis issued a stinging rebuke to his underlings in a speech longtime observers found noteworthy for the angry rhetoric. It is fitting with the tone of his papacy that he couched his warning less in terms of managerial reform than of spiritual reform.

Francis’ message to the Curia: You are failing the church because you are failing yourself. To fix what ails the Vatican, its people must remember the purpose of their faith and their vocation.

It is, perhaps, a message many outside the church bureaucracy can take to heart.

Editorial staff

Honesty still prevails

Yes Virginia, good people live in Mankato.

Recently, my husband lost his money clip. After searching the house, car and all his pockets, we went to Cub West knowing there was a nearly impossible chance of finding it. But there it was, with all the money still in it. It have been carefully held by the very honest employees of the store — who refused a reward. 

A true Christmas miracle.

Nadine Sugden

Mankato

Early Xmas at McDonald’s

Last Saturday, my wife and I were in St. Peter and stopped at McDonald’s for two ice cream cones. They were busy, and while in line to pay, we noticed the car in front of us was from the state of Missouri, with one lady in the car.

It took a little longer to pay. When the young man opened the window so I could pay, he said the car ahead of us had paid for our cones.

We don’t know anyone from the state of Missouri, but some beautiful people live there.

Jerry and Rosalle Haber

Eagle Lake

Thumbs up: A solemn remembrance