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As the Christmas song goes: “It’s the most wonderful time of the year.”
While Easter is the most important time of the year, Christmas ranks very close. And when we consider in the broader sense that Christmas and Easter are theologically linked, it is true to say that in many ways Christmas is indeed the most wonderful time of the year.
But first comes Advent — that time presently upon us of preparation for Christmas.
MADISON — St. Dennis School in Madison recently held its annual food drive to benefit St. Vincent de Paul.
This year, donations were also collected for victims of the typhoon in the Philippines (several school families have relatives there), including food, clothing, flashlights, toiletries, batteries, and soap.
Principal Matt Beisser set a goal of 4,000 items to be donated during the two-week drive.
EVANSVILLE — St. Paul Parish in Evansville will hold an ecumenical Service of Remembrance on Sunday, Dec. 15, at 7 p.m. at St. Paul Church on the corner of First St. and Garfield Ave.
The service is intended for people of all faiths who wish to remember, honor, and celebrate their loved ones who have passed away. It will include readings, music, prayer, quiet reflection, and a candlelight ceremony to recall each person loved and honored this season. The service will be led by Rev. Luke Bocher, pastor of the Congregational United Church of Christ in Evansville.
MADISON — Openings […]
Most of us don’t know what real hunger is. We may get some hunger pangs when we skip a meal or wait awhile to eat. But we probably have never experienced the pain, weakness, fatigue, and other symptoms of excessive or chronic hunger.
If you check for symptoms of hunger on the Internet, you find that there are many other affects of extreme hunger, especially in children. Hunger hits children physically with delayed growth and development, as well as greater susceptibility to diseases. Hunger also affects children’s learning and impacts their social interactions.
One Human Family, Food for AllOfficial prayer from Caritas O God, you entrusted to us the fruits of all creation so that we might care for the earth and be nourished with its bounty. You sent us your Son to share our very flesh and blood and to teach us your Law of Love. Through His death and resurrection, we have been formed into one human family. Jesus showed great concern for those who had no food — even transforming five loaves and two fish into a banquet that served 5,000 and many more. We come before you, O God, conscious of our faults and failures, but full of hope, to share food with all members in this global family. Through your wisdom, inspire leaders of government and of business, as well as all the world’s citizens, to find just and charitable solutions to end hunger by assuring that all people enjoy the right to food. Thus we pray, O God, that when we present ourselves for Divine Judgment, we can proclaim ourselves as “One Human Family” with “Food for All”. AMEN. |
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What is really sad is that since over 40 percent of households in the United States live below the poverty level, approximately 13 million American children live with hunger or are at risk of experiencing hunger.
What can we do to help those who are hungry? This week Pope Francis helped launch a global campaign of prayer and action against world hunger, according to a Catholic News Service (CNS) article.
Organized by Caritas Internationalis, the Vatican-based federation of Catholic charities, the global “wave of prayer” began at noon on Tuesday, Dec. 10, on the South Pacific island of Samoa and headed west across the world’s time zones.
Pope Francis offered his blessing and support for the “One Human Family, Food For All” campaign in a five-minute video message released on the eve of the global launch (go to food.caritas.org for his message and more information and resources on this campaign to end world hunger).
Caritas Internationalis invited its 164-member organizations and local churches to pray for an end to hunger and malnutrition as well as to act on a local, national, or global level against food waste and promote food access and security worldwide, said the CNS article.
In the United States, Caritas works with Catholic Charities USA (Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Madison is an affiliate) and Catholic Relief Services.
JANESVILLE — The […]
MADISON — The seminarians of the Diocese of Madison will hold their 67th annual Caroling Tour on Sunday, Dec. 22, and Monday, Dec. 23.
The seminarians extend an invitation for everyone to join them this year at any of their stops on the caroling tour. The times and locations are listed below.
MILWAUKEE — School Sister of St. Francis Celia Schulte, who lived her religious vocation in education and administration for more than 50 years, died December 9, 2013, at St. Luke’s Hospital in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Sister was 84 years old.
The daughter of Henry and Anna Schulte, she was born June 13, 1929, in Jefferson City, Missouri. She was received into the School Sisters of St. Francis June 13, 1947; made her first profession of vows June 21, 1949; and final (perpetual) vows June 21, 1955.
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| Esta columna es la comunicación del Obispo con los fieles de la Diócesis de Madison. Cualquier circulación más amplia va más allá de la intención del Obispo. |
Queridos amigos:
El domingo pasado – nuestro segundo de Adviento – seguimos leyendo del profeta Isaías cuando anunció la venida de Jesús. Escuchamos sobre la venida del Mesías y cómo “el Espíritu del Señor vendrá sobre Él Is 11:2)” en la primera lectura. El Espíritu del Señor trae el Espíritu de la sabiduría y de inteligencia, de consejo, fortaleza, ciencia, piedad y temor de Dios.
Los que somos más viejos seguramente recordamos que estos son los siete dones del Espíritu Santo: que todos hemos recibido en nuestra Confirmación, también. Pero los que no son lo suficientemente mayores seguramente tuvieron que memorizarlos del Catecismo Baltimore. Los memorizamos porque eran (son) donde tremendamente esenciales para nosotros: sabiduría, inteligencia, consejo, fortaleza, ciencia, piedad y temor de Dios.
Fr. Gary Wankerl, a priest of the Diocese of Madison, has presented a portrait of Pope Francis he painted recently to Bishop Robert C. Morlino and the diocese.
