G.K. Chesterton once observed that journalism largely consists of saying “Lord Jones is dead” to people who never knew that Lord Jones was alive. Thankfully, this article is not an obituary, but its purpose is to explain that diocesan law has been repealed to readers who likely (and justifiably) never knew that diocesan law existed.
Day: January 9, 2013
News of great joy: three more seminarians
We begin this New Year with news of great joy: we have three new seminarians starting school this January.
Two of these men are college sophomores and one is going into pre-theology. With the addition of these three men we now have a total of 35 men in our seminary program. This is truly a cause for great rejoicing and thanksgiving to God for his continued favors to us.
Engaging in work on the new and the old evangelization
This is the first in a series of articles to be published on the topic of engaging in the work of evangelization — old and new — and how to live out the Year of Faith by engaging in this most important task. Keep reading in the weeks to come!
We are three months in. This Year of Faith was called for with the hope of transforming our world and the lives of those living in it. What has happened?
- A synod of bishops and lay leaders in the Church met in Rome for a month to talk about the New Evangelization last October
- A few hundred people in the Diocese of Madison came out to hear Tom Peterson, founder of Catholics Come Home, speak in Madison this past November.
- A couple parishes in the area have invited back those who had fallen away from the practice of their faith.
- Catholic churches were packed on Christmas and were less than half full the following Sunday.
Reflections on pope’s Day of Peace message
In his January 1, 2013, World Day of Peace Message titled “Blessed are the Peacemakers,” Pope Benedict XVI immediately lays out for us the foundation upon which the Church’s ministry for world peace must be built.
Using a challenging proclamation from the Second Vatican Council, the pope teaches that Christians must be committed “to sharing humanity’s joys and hopes, grief and anguish.”
More than absence of war
The Holy Father is reminding us that God’s peace is much more than the absence of war — it is the universal experience of justice and love.
Decree of Abrogation
Whereas the Church, the Mystical Body of Christ, exists on earth as a visible society, which must be well and lawfully ordered in order to manifest the Lord’s presence to the world effectively; and …