Month: July 2010

On
Tom Nelson

The sacred act of eating

Guest Column

Our sacred scriptural traditions convey the message that we humans were created by a loving Creator-God and assigned the mission to prosper, to steward all the resources of the planet, and to subdue, or cultivate the earth. And God has said he will provide food for our subsistence.

Bishop Giampaola Crepaldi, secretary of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace has recently written, ” . . . People’s fundamental orientation toward the created world should be one of gratitude and thankfulness. The world, in fact, leads people back to the mystery of God who has created it and continues to sustain it. If God is forgotten, nature is emptied of its deepest meaning and left impoverished.”

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On
Brent King

Local men sponsor six seminarians at World Youth Day

Guest Column

The ways in which we act out our Christian charity in the Church, for the love of God and neighbor, is evident in a number of ways throughout a given year.

Often it is through volunteering at our parishes or parish-related projects — things we feel attached to and with which we want to assist in a specific way. Other times it is through monetary donations to similar local campaigns, projects, or funds, benefiting things that we know, in faith, we need to support. Always, it includes our prayers!

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Kathryn Maas

Using a financial GPS

Guest Column

I could get lost trying to find my way out of a paper bag, so I use a GPS for successful navigation. So long as I tell it where I want to be, it gets me there with step-by-step directions and even detours if I come up on obstacles like construction or closed roads.

I can view my whole route in advance, make changes should I stop along the way, or even change my destination mid trip! I don’t have to constantly monitor it — it updates as we go and keeps me informed of the right direction.

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On
Mary C. Uhler, editor

Rethinking the food we eat

Editorial logo

We all need food to survive, but do we really think about the food we’re eating: where it came from, who grew it, how it was prepared?

There are many aspects of food production that have moral and even spiritual dimensions, points out Tom Nelson, coordinator of the Rural Life Office for Catholic Charities in the Diocese of Madison. Nelson’s reflections on “the sacred act of eating” can be found in this week’s Catholic Herald. He points out that we humans serve as stewards of creation and we must take care of the resources God has provided.

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On
Kat Wagner, Catholic Herald Staff

Love begins here

Bridget, an incoming junior at St. Ambrose School in Madison, brushes accumulated grime off of the crucifix in St. Andrew Parish Cemetery in Verona, before painting it July 14 during the Love Begins Here service project. (Catholic Herald photo/Kat Wagner) Click here for more photos of Love Begins Here.

VERONA — The final week of Love Begins Here could have been called “Extreme Church Makeover.”

Working outside in uninterrupted sun and what felt like enough heat to cook their dinner that night, groups of high school students painted the outside walls of St. Andrew Church in Verona and scrubbed the accumulated grime from the crucifix in the cemetery July 14. Another set of students was likewise engaged with cleaning and painting and other tasks at St. Bridget Church in Ridgeway.

These students had come from parishes and families around the Diocese of Madison to do work for those in need within the diocese.

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