To the editor:
After our 2012 election for president of the U.S.A., it is eminently clear to me that our Catholic leadership is faced with a daunting task.
When 70 percent of the populace of the Madison Diocese votes for an openly pro-abortion and pro-gay marriage slate that elected Obama, Baldwin, and Pocan, it is obvious that any and all teachings by Bishop Morlino and our parish priests are falling on deaf ears.
Yes, I admit to going shopping on Black Friday. There were some great deals to be had, but in retrospect I’m not sure they were worth the long lines and struggles with crowds.
However, as someone who loves shopping, I enjoyed being part of the sea of humanity on the day after Thanksgiving. Even my 86-year-old mother-in-law braved the challenges of shopping on Black Friday with me!
Another plus is that the economy got a shot in the arm. It was reported that a record 226 million shoppers spent a record $52.4 billion in stores and online on Black Friday weekend.
Besides giving gifts to family members and friends, I believe we should also be allocating a portion of our holiday giving to charitable causes. Instead of giving gifts to some people on our Christmas list, my husband and I have been giving donations to charities in their honor.
One of the great contributions of the Second Vatican Council’s Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy is the brief synthesis on Christ’s presence in the Church’s prayer.
“Christ is always present in His Church, especially in her liturgical celebrations,” (art. 7). Christ’s presence in the Mass is multifaceted and mysterious, but there are four specific ways named by the Council — in the Eucharistic species, the Word of God, the person of the priest, and in the gathered community in which “the Church prays and sings” (art. 7).
Imagine a deadly scenario like this: a successful businessman is rendered unconscious by medical professionals to help him heal after a serious car accident, using powerful pharmaceutical agents to cause a medically-induced coma.
A few days later, a business competitor, wanting him dead, enters the hospital and kills the comatose patient. During his trial, when questioned about the murder, the competitor tries to argue, with an unnecessarily detailed explanation, that, “the medically-induced coma rendered him quite incapable of feeling any pain, because those parts of his brain involved in sensory processing and pain perception were clearly decoupled from consciousness. So killing those who are unconscious, at least on the grounds that they might feel pain, should not be seen as problematic nor should it be restricted as a personal choice.”
Sister Antoinette Drabeck, OP, died Nov. 26, 2012, at St. Dominic Villa.
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| 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,
My granny often repeated to me, “Bobby, getting old is not for sissies.” Granny lived to 96 and I’m only 65, but I can confirm that in this (as in most everything) granny was right on the money.
Last week, I headed out to Baltimore for the annual gathering of the bishops of the United States. We were just getting started with our meetings when I took a spill and fell (with full weight) face-first into the pavement. In the process I suffered several cuts, a broken nose, and a bruised knee. Thanks be to God, it wasn’t worse!
Fortunately there was another bishop and two priests right there with me, and I was off to Mercy Hospital, where the doctors forwarded me on to the University of Maryland Medical Center. If we could choose the timing of our accidents, I would have preferred, of course, to be with my own outstanding doctors at St. Mary’s, but as it turned out, the care I had was really top notch, and I remain so very grateful to all of those excellent women and men — each and every one of them.
“My gratitude to Catholic Charities is beyond words. It’s my safe haven and my hope,” Laurie Christy said in a video presentation at the 17th annual Catholic Charities (CC) Awards Dinner held on November 8 at the Marriott Hotel in Middleton.
This article is excerpted from a blog post on the Camp Gray Web site. For the entire post, click here.
BARABOO — As I sit at my desk in the new Camp Gray office, surrounded by the amenities of a modern office, I am abundantly humbled. This isn’t a post about me, however. This is a post about new and old. It’s about “the Joe,” a tiny old office, and now a great retreat space and spiffy new office.
Whereas our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, in the hope of arousing in every believer the aspiration to profess the faith in fullness and with renewed conviction, of intensifying the celebration of the faith in the liturgy, and of encouraging the faithful to rediscover the content of the faith that is professed, celebrated, lived, and prayed, has proclaimed a Year of Faith from October 11, 2012, to November 24, 2013;
Sister Janice Costello, OP (Armand), died Nov. 22, 2012, at St. Dominic Villa.
