STOUGHTON — St. […]
Year: 2015
Jesuit priest’s photography displayed
MADISON — Fr. […]
Laity bring light of Christ to the world
Although it dates me to admit it, I was a high school student during the Second Vatican Council.
In our daily religion classes at Aquinas High School in La Crosse (yes, we had daily classes all taught by priests at that time), we studied the documents of that council.
One of those documents had a special impact on me. It was the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church also known by its Latin title, Lumen Gentium.
This document — promulgated by Blessed Paul VI on November 21, 1964 — talks about the hierarchical structure of the Church, including the role of bishops, priests, deacons, and Religious. It also has a full chapter on the laity, which was especially interesting to me 51 years ago.
St. Thérèse Lecture on November 20
MADISON — The fall presentation in the St. Thérèse Lecture Series presented by the Diocese of Madison will be Friday, Nov. 20, at 7:30 p.m. in the chapel of the Bishop O’Connor Center in Madison.
It will be entitled “A Treasure of Inestimable Value: The Beauty of Liturgy,” and will be given by Abbot Marcel Rooney, OSB.
Abbot Rooney is president of the Orate Institute of Sacred Liturgy, Music, and Art. The institute is dedicated to the renewal of the sacred liturgy in our churches and other Catholic institutions.
Diocese of Madison seminarians
Seminarians from the […]
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
 |
|
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
 |
| 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.