SINSINAWA –– Sr. […]
Day: September 25, 2014
Priests for Our Future capital campaign seeks $30 million to endow education and formation of future priests
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| There are now 33 seminarians in the Diocese of Madison, up from six in 2003. Six were missing for this photo, taken at the seminarian gathering in Madison in August. Also pictured are Bishop Robert C. Morlino and Fr. Greg Ihm, director of vocations. A capital campaign seeks to raise $30 million for the education and formation of priests. (Catholic Herald photo/Pam Payne) |
MADISON — Both by lay people and priests alike, it’s been talked about, studied, and identified as the top concern facing the Diocese of Madison for several years now: the vocations crisis.
With a continuous line of faithful senior priests reaching retirement and a decidedly thinner lineup of priests ordained in the 1980s and ’90s, it would be hard to deny a crisis brewing.
Number one priority
In fact, so serious was the concern in the mind of Bishop Robert C. Morlino, and so clear was the message that he received from around the diocese, that he made the fostering of vocations to the priesthood his number one priority upon arriving in Madison in August of 2003.
The bishop, priests, and faithful of the diocese together initiated a program of fostering a “culture of vocations,” of inviting young men to consider the call God might be making to them, and to prayer — especially in Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament — asking that more and more might answer the call of Jesus Christ.
Increasing numbers
And increasingly, men have been answering this need and God’s call with a profound “yes.” From six seminarians in 2003, the diocese has seen a near six-fold increase.
This year, the diocese is blessed to have 33 men studying for the priesthood, and the good news is that hopes remain high that (with continued prayers) growth in seminarian numbers will continue.
Ten years of praying bears many fruits
MADISON — It was 10 years ago that three diocesan seminarians began a Holy Hour for Vocations in the chapel of the Bishop O’Connor Catholic Pastoral Center in the summer of 2004.
Knowing that the seminarians would be returning to their studies in fall, members of the Serra Club of Madison — along with then Fr. Jim Bartylla, the club’s chaplain and director of vocations for the Diocese of Madison — decided to institute daily Eucharistic Adoration for Vocations weekdays in the chapel from 9 to 11:45 a.m.
God will be generous in our obedience
Dear Friends,
As with most anniversaries and milestones, it’s hard to believe it was 15 years ago, this past Sunday, that I knelt on the floor of the Cathedral of St. Helena, with the Gospel book opened over my head, being commissioned and ordained a bishop.
In some ways, that morning in Helena, Mont., seems like an eternity ago, and in other ways, it seems like just yesterday.
Sauk City parish joins 40 Days for Life efforts
SAUK CITY — Divine Mercy Parish is joining with volunteer efforts in Madison and around the world by involving students and parishioners in pro-life opportunities during 40 Days for Life.
From September 24 to November 2, Madison and surrounding communities are uniting with hundreds of locations across America, as well as other countries, for the largest and longest coordinated pro-life mobilization in history — the international 40 Days for Life campaign.
Mass and Rosary at Wiesbrook Farm
MINERAL POINT — […]
Badger Catholic Swing Dance
MADISON — Badger […]
Parishes sponsor ‘Caring for Our Aging Parents’ series
MADISON — As our parents age, they may experience some decline. That can cause a sometimes difficult transition from being their child to being their primary caregiver.
How do we address these changes and challenges with love, strengthened and supported by our Catholic faith? How do we care for ourselves and remain grounded in hope?
Calvary: portrait of a priest-shepherd
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St. Pope John Paul II said that a priest should have the heart of Christ the Good Shepherd.
Far too many saccharine paintings of effeminate Jesuses in the midst of delicate lambs have conduced toward a misconstrual of this image as something sentimental and harmless.
But shepherds not only had the smell of their sheep (to use Pope Francis’ language), but they also wielded a stick to bring back strays and fend off threats. Real shepherding was, and is, a dirty, hard-edged business.
John Michael McDonagh’s film Calvary shows, with extraordinary vividness, what authentic spiritual shepherding looks like and how it feels for a priest to have a shepherd’s heart.
The truth about climate change
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“Can we remain indifferent before the problems associated with such realities as climate change . . . loss of productivity in vast agricultural areas, the pollution of rivers and aquifers, the loss of biodiversity, the increase of natural catastrophes, and the deforestation of equatorial and tropical regions?”
These aren’t the radical words from the leader of a secular environmental organization, no; these are the radical words from the former leader of the Catholic Church!
In his 2010 World Day of Peace message titled, “If You Want to Cultivate Peace, Protect Creation,” Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI wrote that “it would be irresponsible not to take seriously” the signs of a growing environmental crisis.