MADISON — The […]
Month: October 2014
Program for caregivers offered
BELOIT — Rock County Council on Aging will be offering “Powerful Tools for Caregivers®,” a nationally recognized education program to help family and friends caring for older adults and anyone who cares for someone with a chronic health concerns.
“Taking Care of You — Powerful Tools for Caregiving” is designed to help family caregivers take care of themselves.
This class teaches the caregiver necessary emotional tools to reduce guilt, anger, and depression; how to deal with difficult feelings; taking care of yourself; help you relax; set goals; solve problems; and effective communication with family members and health service providers.
The sciences and God
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Given the ruminations of Stephen Hawking, Richard Dawkins, and Daniel Dennett, one might have thought that the absolute limit of scientistic arrogance had been reached. But think again.
Sean Carroll, a theoretical physicist at the California Institute of Technology, has asserted that “science” is on the verge of providing a complete understanding of the universe — an explication that precludes the antiquated notion of God altogether.
Limitations of the sciences
Before addressing the God issue, let me make a simple observation. Though the sciences might be able to explain the chemical make-up of pages and ink, they will never be able to reveal the meaning of a book; and though they might make sense of the biology of the human body, they will never tell us why a human act is moral or immoral; and though they might disclose the cellular structure of oil and canvas, they will never determine why a painting is beautiful.
Catholic Library Association holds conference
WISCONSIN DELLS — The Wisconsin Chapter of Catholic Library Association (WCLA) will hold its annual fall conference on Friday, Oct. 18, in Wisconsin Dells.
The chapter was originally formed in Milwaukee to encourage development in the fields of Catholic literature and Catholic library work and has grown in size to include school librarians, technology directors, paraprofessionals, educators, principals, religious education directors, parish librarians, and volunteers interested in media related to education, library, and technology from all parts of Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Illinois as members.
Catholic women hold fall gatherings
Meetings of the Council of Catholic Women (CCW) are scheduled in Columbia North, Grant, and West Dane Vicariates this month.
These half-day meetings provide women an opportunity for prayer, service, and learning together. Women are invited to attend with others from their parish. If their parish isn’t affiliated with the CCW, women may join individually. Membership information is on the Madison Diocesan CCW web site at mdccw.com
Columbia North Vicariate
BERLIN — All Saints Council of Catholic Women (CCW) is hosting the Columbia North Vicariate meeting Tuesday, Oct. 14, at All Saints Church located at N5966 State Hwy. 49.
Rosary Crusades scheduled
FORT ATKINSON/GREEN LAKE — Area residents are invited to participate in the 2014 Public Square Rosary Crusade to be held in Green Lake and Fort Atkinson.
They are part of over 12,000 rallies to be held on the weekend of Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 11 and 12, throughout the country.
Upcoming events from the Office of Evangelization and Catechesis
The Seat of Wisdom Diocesan Institute is a program of adult faith formation and catechetical certification in the Diocese of Madison.
Fr. Dennis Hickey, CSP, dies at 74
NEW YORK CITY — Fr. Dennis William Hickey, CSP, 74, of New York City died on September 29 at Mary Manning Walsh Home in New York City after a valiant battle with Parkinson’s Disease.
St. Thérèse Lecture answers, ‘Who is Pope Francis?’
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| Alejandro Bermúdez, the speaker at this fall’s St. Thérèse of Lisieux Lecture at the Bishop O’Connor Center in Madison, speaks on “Who is Pope Francis? What is his mind?” on September 19. Bermúdez is the director of ACI-Prensa, the world’s largest Catholic news agency in Spanish, as well as the executive director of Catholic News Agency. (Catholic Herald photos/Kevin Wondrash) |
MADISON — On a near-autumn Friday evening in Madison, hundreds of people arrived at the Bishop O’Connor Center’s auditorium to learn more about current successor to St. Peter — Pope Francis.
It was the second of 2014’s St. Thérèse Lectures presented by the Office of Evangelization and Catechesis of the Diocese of Madison.
The topic on September 19 was “Who is Pope Francis? What is his mind?” The speaker was Alejandro Bermúdez, director of ACI-Prensa, the world’s largest Catholic news agency in Spanish, as well as the executive director of Catholic News Agency and the Portuguese agency ACI digital.
Bermúdez, who spent part of his life in Argentina, met and interviewed Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio (now Pope Francis) on several occasions. Bermúdez recently compiled a book of interviews regarding Pope Francis shortly after his election titled Pope Francis: Our Brother, Our Friend: Personal Recollections about the Man Who Became Pope, which has since been adapted into a show on EWTN.
As Bermúdez began his talk, he said Pope Francis is the next pope in a streak of “incredibly virtuous human beings at the head of the Catholic Church.”
Bermúdez outlined what he called “three crucial factors” to understanding Pope Francis: his background as an Argentinian, his background as a Jesuit, and understanding his intellectual mentors.
Pope Francis as an Argentinian
Bermúdez said Argentina has a major Catholic culture with a great number of Catholic theologians and writers. He said this creates of culture of “very lively debates” among Catholics.
La Crosse couple presenters at synod
MENOMONIE — Alice and Jeff Heinzen will not only be serving as auditors for the upcoming Extraordinary Synod on the Family that Pope Francis has called for October 5 to 19 at the Vatican but also they will make a presentation before the general assembly at the historic event.
In their main role as one of 14 married couples from around the world selected to serve as auditors for the synod, the Heinzens will observe all of the general assembly sessions and participate in group discussions with the English-speaking delegates.