Month: October 2012

On
Lindsay Becher

Resolutions for the year of faith

Year of Faith column logo

Most Americans are familiar with New Year’s resolutions; many embrace them with enthusiasm for the first two weeks of January each year. As winter trudges on, those resolutions lose some of their fervor. Almost all Catholics are familiar with the practice of fasting from things they enjoy each Lent; the good majority stay strong throughout those 40 days.

Based on the success rates of keeping resolutions, it seems like the better and more serious a reason to make one in the first place, the more enthusiasm and effort is put forth in keeping it.

As this Year of Faith began in early October, the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, in his opening homily spoke of a “desertification” happening throughout the world. Many people have found themselves drifting away from the practice of the faith, putting stake in the world’s definition of happiness and no longer desiring the beautiful.

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On
John F. Uhler

Support mission efforts

To the editor:

Throughout our lives as Catholics we’ve learned about and supported the Church’s efforts to spread Catholicism to the rest of the world. The Society for the Propagation of the Faith is one of four pontifical mission societies that seeks to inform Catholics of the life and the needs of the Catholic Church in the missions, and to encourage prayer and financial help for those mission churches.

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On
Adam Lewandowski

Sing with joy before God

To the editor:

In the article “Rebuilding Catholic Culture,” Sr. Joan Roccasalvo, C.S.J., argues that much contemporary liturgical music is of lower quality than traditional forms and has a destructive effect on the human spirit. Her complaints against the contemporary liturgical songs are that they are “trite,” “romanticized,” or having “jerky, heavy, frenzied rhythms or dance rhythms.”

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On
Timothy Rookey

Election will decide future

To the editor:

The election of 2012 will decide what kind of future our children and grandchildren will have: one based on Christian moral principles or one based on the wholesale discarding of them. The Obama Administration champions no limit on abortions up to nine months of gestation, gay marriage, and limitations on our religious freedom.

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On
Mary C. Uhler, Catholic Herald Staff

Pick up the Rosary: Rediscover its power during the Year of Faith

Editor's View by Mary C. Uhler

We are beginning the Year of Faith in the Catholic  Church during October, the month traditionally dedicated to the Rosary.

Pope Benedict XVI formally entrusted the world Synod of Bishops and the Year of Faith to Mary during an October 4 visit to the Shrine of Our Lady of Loreto in Italy.

It is interesting to recall that another pope visited this same Marian shrine 50 years ago.  Blessed John XXIII visited Loreto to entrust the Second Vatican Council to Mary’s care in 1962.

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On
Abbot Marcel Rooney, OSB

Why the Church has sacraments

Year of Faith column logo

When the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity became incarnate on earth, in Jesus Christ, He became the most perfect Way that the God could communicate with us humans.

God had communicated since the creation of human beings. God did this, first of all, through nature: human beings could simply look on the greatness of the natural world about them and be led to the knowledge of God.

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On
Nico Fassino

Why I hate bad church music

Guest Column

Recently, the Catholic Herald published two excellent articles by the incredibly well-educated and well-formed Sr. Joan L. Roccasalvo, entitled “Rebuilding Catholic Culture.”

In these essays, Sister Roccasalvo vigorously defends the teachings of the popes and the Second Vatican Council concerning what music is proper for use during the sacred liturgies of the Church, while simultaneously arguing against the use of modern folk-style music commonly found in many parishes.

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On
Bishop Robert C. Morlino, Bishop of Madison

Gratitude for harvest time and our farmers

This column is the bishop’s communication with the faithful of the Diocese of Madison. Any wider circulation reaches beyond the intention of the bishop.

Dear Friends,

It really is a joy and a blessing to experience the change in seasons. It’s hard not to be thankful for creation in this time of so much color and in this time of harvest. This time of year should provide us with no end of seeds for reflection, but I’m always drawn to reflect upon the lives of our farmers in a particular way.

By nature of it’s being the “seat” of the diocese, the center of state government, the largest city, more-or-less the geographic center of these 11 counties, and the home of a world-class university, so much of our attention in the diocese is often focused upon Madison. And indeed, Madison is all of the things I just listed, but we should never fall into the trap of thinking that the Diocese of Madison is mostly Madison. To do so would not only mean missing out on some of the richest aspects of our diocese, but would also make for a very monotonous, hyper-political existence! And that’s the furthest thing from my mind or my heart.

As such, in addition to getting out of the gravitational pull of Madison as frequently as possible, I also cherish the opportunity I’ve had over the past few years to gather in a specific way with some of our farming communities to pray and to give thanks for the gift of “rural life.” I was able to do that recently in Footville. And as we are still in the harvest season, I’d like to share a few of the thoughts that I shared with those gathered.

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On
Paul Matenaer, For the Catholic Herald

Vicariates Forane created in the Madison Diocese
What is a Vicar Forane?

A vicar forane, sometimes called a dean, is a priest appointed by the bishop in order to promote a common pastoral activity in a region of the diocese and to provide spiritual and pastoral counsel to the other priests in that region.

History of Vicars Forane

The term “vicar forane” comes from Latin, meaning a representative (vicarius) who is outside (foras), because these priests were considered representatives of the bishop outside of the cathedral city. The office of vicar forane probably dates back to the fourth century when Christianity began to spread beyond the major cities to rural areas. Seeing the need to send representatives to these communities which had embraced the faith, bishops would send an “archpriest” with special delegation and responsibilities to act as a kind of overseer in the region who also was in charge of communication between the bishop and the local priests.

The 1917 Code of Canon Law mandated the establishment of vicars forane in every diocese. However, the understanding of this office experienced a pastoral renewal in the period following the Second Vatican Council. The fathers of the Second Vatican Council saw the vicar forane as a preeminently pastoral office, as a way to bring presbyters together in order to promote and direct a common pastoral activity in their territory. The 1973 directory for bishops likewise affirms the pastoral nature of the office and speaks of the vicar forane as one who animates and enlivens the local presbytery in pastoral action.

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