Dear Friends,
This past Sunday, on the Solemn Feast of Christ the King, we concluded our Year of Faith celebrations.
The occasion was marked by Pope Francis in Rome — as he completed what Pope Benedict had begun, with the inspiration of the Lord.
I marked the occasion at the celebration of my Stational Mass at St. Patrick Church in Madison, and hopefully you all marked the occasion with some particular focus upon the Creed in your own parishes and in your own families.
Dear Friends in Christ,
“Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:5).
Our Catholic schools are great treasures, both of the Church, and of our society. Many of our Catholic schools have been assisting parents in the education and formation of their children for well over 100 years, allowing generations of children to receive the extraordinary benefit of a Catholic education.
There’s a lot for U.S. Catholics to be thankful for at Thanksgiving 2013: seminaries that have turned the corner from the doldrums of the immediate past and are now full, or getting close; a reform of the liturgical reform that is bringing a new sense of the sacred back to Catholic worship; a pope who’s put a new face on the Church while holding fast to the Church’s settled teaching; the finest multimedia exposition of Catholic faith ever produced, Father Robert Barron’s Catholicism series; strong leadership from our bishops in meeting challenges to religious freedom and moral reality; a burgeoning men’s movement that draws thousands to witness for Christ; a new feminism that rejects a unisex approach to life and that is robustly pro-life.
MADISON — The St. Paul Catholic Center’s “Christ the Cornerstone” campaign to build a new chapel and student center continues to develop in exciting ways. A recently redesigned campaign website is filled with renderings and up-to-date information about one of the most important Catholic projects in our lifetime.
“It’s a little chilly, but it’s for a good cause.”
Those were the words of St. John Vianney student Genna Laesch as she walked almost five miles with about 70 of her fellow eighth-graders from Janesville’s four Catholic grade schools.
Thanksgiving is a national holiday when we Americans thank God for our blessings.
Its roots go back to the pilgrims whom the Old Testament influenced. After a severe winter when over half of the pilgrims died from scurvy, exposure to the elements, and other causes, they set aside three days to thank God for their blessings. One way that they thanked God was by sharing their blessings with Indian friends.
The pilgrims can inspire us to thank God for our blessings on Thanksgiving Day by sharing with friends, family, and the needy.
When I think of November, three things always come to mind. For Catholic Christians it has traditionally been a time when we pray for those who have died and give thanks for the ordinary saints, living and deceased, who have touched our lives. We also celebrate Thanksgiving, which is one of the favorite holidays of many Americans.
Every time I go to a wake or funeral — and I have been to many lately — and hear the beautiful comments made about the persons who died, I cannot help but wonder how many of those things were said to that person when he or she was alive?
MADISON — The St. Thomas More Society is hosting a lunch meeting featuring Jackson Fonder, president and CEO of Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Madison.
Fonder will discuss how attorneys can recognize when clients need more than a legal solution to their problems. Catholic Charities has many programs that can assist people of all faiths or no faith and attorneys can benefit from knowing how to get additional help for their clients.
MADISON — The Madison Area Chapter of The Compassionate Friends is having their 17th annual Worldwide Candle Lighting Service on Sunday, Dec. 8, at St. Peter Catholic Church, 5001 N. Sherman Ave. (across from Cherokee Country Club), at 6 p.m. The Compassionate Friends is a support group for parents who have lost a child/children.
BARABOO — St. Joseph Parish, 304 East St., in Baraboo will hold an Advent Festival of Lessons and Carols entitled “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” on Sunday, Dec. 1.
All are invited to come and pray the prophetic promises of salvation using the ancient “O Antiphons.” These have been sung with the Canticle of Mary since the sixth century.
