It was back in January of 2002 that we learned about the Boston Globe reporting on the scandal of widespread sexual abuse by priests in the Archdiocese of Boston.
It shocked me, as it did many Catholics. We didn’t realize at the time that Boston was the tip of the iceberg and that priests throughout the country — indeed the world — had been involved in abusing children. And what’s more, Church officials often covered up this abuse.
FORT ATKINSON — For the second year in a row, St. Joseph School in Fort Atkinson Principal Kari Homb gave up her seat for a day and let the students take over.
Second-graders Bray and Christian Polk were Principals for a Day on February 5 — the final day of Catholic Schools Week.
The boys won the chance to be principal when their parents — Peg and George Polk — won a raffle at the school’s annual Home and School Heart Gala Fundraiser earlier this year.
SOUTH MILWAUKEE — […]
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| Fr. Greg Ihm |
“The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; pray therefore the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”
There is a story that comes out of the Archdiocese of Chicago that asks a profound question. It is a story of a monsignor.
At his last weekend before retirement, he placed his shoes at the foot of the altar and after a long pause looked out and asked: “Who is going to fill these shoes now?”
This is a question that has been placed before us as a diocese as we have lost both Msgr. Monte Robinson and Fr. Larry Bowens within a week of each other.
In the past three years, we have also lost Fr. John Auby, Fr. Michael Richel, and Msgr. Felix Oehrlein, who were pastors at the time of their death.
At the conclusion of Lent, nearly 140 people are going to become new members of the Catholic Church in the Diocese of Madison.
The sixth in a series by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf about the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite.
By now, if you have followed this series, you are probably forming an answer to “What’s that all about?” when you hear that Bishop Robert Morlino is going to celebrate a Pontifical Mass at the Throne in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite.
In the past few columns we explored the solemn outward style of these Masses, including the elaborate symbolic vestments and gestures, the number of ministers, and detail, decorum, and reverence.
Latin is the Latin Church’s official language for teaching and for worship.
The Second Vatican Council’s document on sacred worship, Sacrosanctum Concilium, commanded that the Latin language be retained for worship (SC 36).
It required that Gregorian chant (which is in Latin) be given the primary place in our liturgical music along with polyphony (SC 116).
MADISON — “I have lived here [in the U.S.] for 12 years. I come to the CMC to learn English because I need it for my job . . . for everything, even when you go to the store. And, to know how to speak two languages is very important.”
Gregorio is a typical student coming to English as a Second Language (ESL) classes at the Catholic Multicultural Center (CMC).
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When I saw the coming attractions for the new film Risen — which deals with a Roman tribune searching for the body of Jesus after reports of the Resurrection — I thought that it would leave the audience in suspense, intrigued but unsure whether these reports were justified or not.
I was surprised and delighted to discover that the movie is, in fact, robustly Christian and substantially faithful to the Biblical account of what transpired after the death of Jesus.
My favorite scene shows tribune Clavius (played by the always convincing Joseph Fiennes) bursting into the Upper Room, intent upon arresting Jesus’ most intimate followers. As he takes in the people in the room, he spies Jesus, at whose crucifixion he had presided and whose face in death he had closely examined.
But was he seeing straight? Was this even possible? He slinks down to the ground, fascinated, incredulous, wondering, anguished.
As I watched the scene unfold, the camera sweeping across the various faces, I was as puzzled as Clavius: was that really Jesus? It must indeed have been like that for the first witnesses of the Risen One, their confusion and disorientation hinted at in the Scriptures themselves: “They worshipped, but some doubted.”
STOUGHTON — As part of Pope Francis’ declaration of an Extraordinary Holy Year of Mercy, St. Ann Parish is organizing several opportunities for people to reach out and help those in need throughout the year.
The first is to encourage Stoughton residents to donate blessing bags for the homeless.
In his strong […]
