Seminarians from the […]
Day: November 4, 2015
Rolling cookies for pfefferneusse sale at St. James Church
MADISON — Last November, all of the nearly 3,000 bags of pfefferneusse were sold out by mid-morning at the Good Shepherd Parish family festival at St. James Church, located off of Regent St.
Disappointed prospective buyers were told they could guarantee getting pfefferneusse next year if they helped make the traditional German cookie. Rolling cookies is done Monday and Wednesday evenings and Tuesday afternoons from August through October in the St. James Church basement, and all are welcome to help.
Answering our call to holiness
Dear Friends,
As I write this column, we are in the midst of two days of the Church year, which call us both to hope and rejoicing, and also to deep prayer and reflection upon the core reality of Christianity.
The Solemnity of All Saints and the Commemoration of All Souls are, for the Church, where the rubber meets the road.
It is the time when we, who make up the Church Militant — the Church still fighting and struggling in this life — recall the whole Church Triumphant and Church Suffering.
Preaching the strange word
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About 15 years ago, I prepared an elective class at Mundelein Seminary which I entitled “The Christology of the Poets and Preachers.” In this course, I endeavored to explore the Catholic tradition’s non-technical, more lyrical manner of presenting the significance of Jesus.
I studied the literary works of Dante, Gerard Manley Hopkins, and G.K. Chesterton, and I also investigated in detail the sermons of many of the greatest masters: Origen, Augustine, Chrysostom, Bernard, Aquinas, Newman, and Knox, among others.
What struck me with particular power, and caused me, I confess, to re-think things rather thoroughly was this: none of these figures — from the late second century to the 20th century — whose sermons we specially revere and hold up for imitation, preached the way I was taught to preach.
Mary is model of every vocation
This week, the Catholic Church in the United States is celebrating National Vocation Awareness Week.
It is an annual week-long observance dedicated to promoting vocations to the priesthood, diaconate, and Consecrated Life through prayer and education. It is also a time to renew our prayers and support for those who are considering one of these particular vocations.
This week’s Catholic Herald includes a special section with information on Church vocations. I hope people will read this section and perhaps share it with others who might not receive the paper, especially our young people.
The power of forgiving sins
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| Fr. Gregory Ihm |
In 1793 began the Reign of Terror in France known as the French Revolution when many priests, Religious, and Catholic lay faithful were murdered because of their association with the Church.
One man had a particular hatred for priests and was famous for his style of execution: slitting their throats. Several years after the Reign of Terror, this man grew old, sick, and weaker.
His wife, a hidden Catholic, called in a priest she knew to anoint her husband because she feared for his soul.
Seminarians visit students in Jefferson
JEFFERSON — Seminarians Vincent Racanelli and Phil Klaas visited the eighth graders at St. John the Baptist School in Jefferson on October 16.
The students have “adopted” Racanelli as their prayer partner and “parish son” who has embarked on the road to the priesthood.
The students in Margie Schels’ seventh and eighth grade classes have been praying for all seminarians, especially for Racanelli, since last year. He has visited the students several times to share about his vocational journey and his life as a student at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit.
Badger Catholic hosts speaker, swing dance
MADISON — Leah Darrow, former America’s Next Top Model contestant, will speak to University of Wisconsin-Madison’s students Thursday, Nov. 12, at 7:15 p.m. in the Humanities Building, Room 3650. Badger Catholic invites all students and their guests to attend the speaker event, “College Through a Different Lens.”
Students will have the opportunity to learn more about Darrow’s personal experience in the modeling industry. She will share personal failures and wins in life as she stumbled out of the pop culture industry and into a faith-driven life.
TV Mass marks fifth anniversary of Monsignor Campion’s death
MADISON — The weekly Mass airing on WISC-TV on Sunday, Nov. 8, at 7 a.m. will commemorate the fifth anniversary of the death of Msgr. Thomas Campion.
Monsignor Campion was the founding director of the Apostolate to the Handicapped of the Diocese of Madison in 1967. He served as the director until he died on November 12, 2010.
Msgr. Larry Bakke, the current apostolate director, will preside at the TV Mass, which will include many persons involved with the apostolate over the years.
Adaptation and renewal of Religious Life: Chastity and charity linked
Editor’s note: During this Year of Consecrated Life, this is the eighth in a series based on the Second Vatican Council’s document, Perfectae Caritatis (Decree on the Adaptation and Renewal of Religious Life) written by Abbot Marcel Rooney, OSB, former abbot primate of the Benedictine order who now resides in Madison.
In this commentary on the Decree of the Second Vatican Council, On the Adaptation and Renewal of Religious Life (Perfectae Caritatis), we have been reflecting on how the council fathers envisioned a deep renewal of what the Church calls “the Consecrated Life.”
Number 12 of the decree speaks of one of the evangelical counsels, chastity, as at the core of that life.