Year: 2015

On
Abbot Marcel Rooney

Adaptation and renewal of Religious Life: Go back to the sources in the past

Reflections on Religious Life column by Abbot Marcel Rooney

Editor’s note: During this Year of Consecrated Life, this is the fifth 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.

This commentary on the Second Vatican Council’s Decree On the Adaptation and Renewal of Religious Life has already examined the council’s basic understanding of the role of Religious Life in the Church.

If this special vocation within the Church is to be renewed, just how would one go about that?

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On
Fr. Robert Barron

Experiences in Hospitalland

Recently, I spent six days at a place only about a 10-minute drive from my home, but I had entered a country as “foreign'”to my experience as Botswana or Katmandu.

I had taken up residence in Hospitalland. I was brought in for an emergency appendectomy and had to undergo a second surgery, due to complications.

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On
Tony Magliano

The courageous witness of Blessed Oscar Romero

Who would have predicted it? Who would have imagined on February 23, 1977, the day of his appointment as Archbishop of San Salvador, that the highly conservative Oscar Romero — who was suspicious of the Catholic Church’s involvement in political activism — would die a martyr’s death.

And that he would die for courageously defending his people against the murderous assaults of the Salvadoran government, military, and right-wing death squads.

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On
Mary C. Uhler, Catholic Herald Staff

Protect pain-capable unborn children

Our society today seems to be obsessed with controlling pain. Most people experiencing pain of any kind run for the nearest bottle of pain-relieving pills to stop their discomfort.

There are also people who protest the supposed pain felt by animals in scientific research (there is disagreement over how much pain animals actually feel during experiments). And there are those who don’t like farm animals to be raised in environments which cause them pain and distress.

Unborn babies’ pain

But where is the outcry about the pain experienced by unborn babies during an abortion procedure? We don’t hear much about their pain.

Yet, there is growing medical evidence that unborn children do feel pain at 20 weeks or more of gestation. It’s not surprising that a child dismembered in the womb would feel pain.

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On
Mary C. Uhler, Catholic Herald Staff

All Saints Neighborhood expands services

All Saints Groundbreaking 2015
Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Madison held a groundbreaking ceremony May 20 on the site of Phase III of the All Saints Neighborhood for seniors on the west side of Madison. The project will expand living options for seniors and develop a Main Street, providing a vibrant place to worship, socialize, exercise, and engage in lifelong learning. (Catholic Herald photo/Kevin Wondrash)

MADISON — Catholic Charities (CC) of the Diocese of Madison held a groundbreaking ceremony May 20 for an expansion of the All Saints Neighborhood, its community for seniors located on the west side of Madison.

“The All Saints journey started about 20 years ago with an idea of providing independent living options for seniors,” said Jackson Fonder, president and CEO of Catholic Charities, in his opening remarks.

He welcomed Bishop Robert C. Morlino, members of the CC Board and staff, members of the All Saints Board, and residents and staff of the All Saints Neighborhood. Also present were many of the business people who have partnered with Catholic Charities in the All Saints project.

Fonder noted that the All Saints Neighborhood began with the developments of cottages, condominiums, and apartments for seniors.

Catholic Charities, the All Saints Board, and Horizon Development worked on Phase I of the All Saints Neighborhood, with the senior apartments managed by Meridian.

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On
Kevin Wondrash

Remains of St. Maria Goretti coming to Madison

MADISON — Pope Francis and the Holy See have given permission for St. Maria Goretti’s casket containing her remains to come to the United States this fall, ahead of the Year of Mercy — which starts December 8.

Msgr. Mike Burke, pastor of St. Maria Goretti (SMG) Parish in Madison, confirmed her remains will be at the church on Friday, Oct. 16 — the 125th anniversary of the saint’s birth.

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On
Fr. John Zuhlsdorf, For the Catholic Herald

Corpus Christi Mass and procession to be held in Madison

MADISON — The Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of the Lord, or Corpus Christi, celebrates the Eucharist in more focused way than Holy Thursday. It is traditionally celebrated on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday, although in many places it is transferred to Sunday.

In 1246, Robert of Thourotte, Bishop of Liège in Belgium, had instituted a feast for the Eucharist at the request of an Augustinian nun and mystic, St. Juliana of Cornillon. Corpus Christi was established for the whole Church by Pope Urban IV in 1264. Its Mass and Office were composed by St. Thomas Aquinas (+1274).

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