Day: November 12, 2014

On
Kevin Wondrash, Catholic Herald Staff

40 Days for Life concludes life-saving vigil in Madison

Bishop Robert C. Morlino of Madison leads people in prayer at the 40 Days for Life closing vigil on Sunday, Nov. 2. For the eighth straight year, the vigil was held outside the Planned Parenthood clinic in Madison’s east side. Reportedly, two babies were saved during this year’s vigil in Madison with 528 lives saved across the country. (Catholic Herald photo/Joe Ptak)

MADISON — Bishop Robert C. Morlino was on hand to celebrate efforts to respect life as prayer warriors came out to help conclude this year’s 40 Days for Life vigil.

40 Days for Life is an internationally-coordinated 40-day peaceful pro-life campaign to end abortion.

Locally, the Madison vigil — in its eighth straight year — ran from September 24 to November 2 and consisted of prayer and fasting, peaceful vigil, and community outreach.

For 24 hours a day, volunteers prayed outside the Planned Parenthood clinic on Madison’s east side for an end to abortion.

About 50 people gathered at that site for the closing celebration on Sunday, Nov. 2.

Bishop Morlino thanked the pro-life community in Madison for its “perseverance” in praying and working toward an end to abortion.

The bishop also spoke about how everyone must continue to bring the truth on marriage to life.

Special recognition

After the closing prayer vigil, some of the group went to St. Albert Church in Sun Prairie for food and fellowship.

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On
Chris Lee

St. Ambrose Academy Benefit Dinner

MADISON — It’s become a tradition. Each Advent season, St. Ambrose Academy in Madison welcomes apostolates, organizations, and friends from every corner of the Diocese of Madison for a fun, festive Benefit Dinner in support of Catholic education.

This year’s Benefit Dinner is Saturday, Dec. 13, at the Alliant Energy Center Exhibition Hall in Madison. The cocktail hour begins at 5:30 p.m., and the dinner itself begins at 7 p.m.

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On
Bishop Robert C. Morlino, Bishop of Madison

Praying for, focusing on unity in the Church

Dear Friends,

This past Sunday we had the opportunity to celebrate a Feast Day which can often pass by unnoticed and under-appreciated by many Catholics.

November 9 is always the Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome, but for those Catholics who do not attend Mass on a daily basis, the opportunity to hear about this feast only comes about when November 9 is a Sunday.

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On
Fr. Robert Barron

Revisiting spiritual welfare

In the sixth chapter of St. Mark’s Gospel, we find the account of Jesus sending out the Twelve, two by two, on mission.

The first thing he gave them, Mark tells us, was “authority over unclean spirits.” And the first pastoral act that they performed was to “drive out many demons.”

The reality of evil spirits

When I was coming of age in the ’60s and ’70s, it was common, even in seminaries, to dismiss such talk as primitive superstition — or perhaps to modernize it and make it a literary device using symbolic language evocative of the struggle with evil in the abstract.

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On
Mary C. Uhler, Catholic Herald Staff

Tale of two dying persons

How sad it was to hear of the death of Brittany Maynard, the 29-year-old woman who ended her own life on November 1 using Oregon’s assisted suicide law.

Maynard suffered greatly from terminal brain cancer, and we can understand her wish to stop her pain and suffering.

More hopeful path

However, the story of another young person who is also facing death shows, I believe, a more hopeful way to face death.

A  Catholic News Service article reported on Philip Johnson, a 30-year-old Catholic seminarian in the Diocese of  Raleigh, N.C., who is facing the same disease as Maynard. He wrote a poignant essay in October responding to Maynard’s decision to end her own life.

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