Day: April 14, 2016

On
Kevin Wondrash, Catholic Herald Staff

Care Team volunteer builds relationships through home visits

cc volunteer
Mary Nellis (right) and her husband, Bob (center), visit Betty Bormett (left) at Bormett’s home in Madison. The Nellises are part of the Parish Care Team through St. Thomas Aquinas Parish in Madison and Catholic Charities Madison. Care Team members volunteer to help the homebound or those living alone to preserve a rich and independent lifestyle through home visits and other means. (Contributed photo)

MADISON — “It’s a very personal ministry, taking care of people.”

For the past 10 years, Mary Nellis of Madison has been involved in that “personal ministry.”

She is one of two team leaders of the Parish Care Team at St. Thomas Aquinas Parish in Madison.

Nellis said the mission of the care team is “to be able to keep [those homebound or living alone] as independent as possible with a little bit of support from the parish and from fellow parishioners.”

Team members offer friendly visits and phone contacts; assistance with shopping, errands, and household tasks; along with emotional support, prayer, and home Communion visits.

“We will go in and bring the Eucharist to them and visit with them,” said Nellis, “and share something from the Mass the previous weekend, or just do a social visit with somebody who is lonely and who would appreciate somebody within the parish coming and just being a friend.”

The team also offers respite, relief, and support to family caregivers so they may rest and relax.

Catholic Charities Madison partners with the team to provide training and on-going consultation.

Getting involved

Nellis said she comes “from a long line of volunteers in my family,” and saw a need to get involved in the care team ministry as her own parents eventually needed respite care and realized some people don’t have anyone to come and check on them.

Her husband, Bob, got involved with the ministry first, and she soon followed.

One of her first partners was a wife suffering from dementia and nearing death.

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On
Bishop Robert C. Morlino, Bishop of Madison

Some initial comments on Amoris Laetitia

Dear Friends,

There is a great deal to consider and to speak of this week. However, I want first to comment on the readings of this past weekend and specifically upon the Second Reading (Rev 5:11-14), which provide us with a beautiful image of heaven.

In that reading we hear of the vision that St. John had of all creation singing eternally: “To the one who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor, glory and might, forever and ever!” A beautiful, glorious hymn of praise for all eternity is one very reliable picture of what heaven is like.

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On
Bishop Robert Barron

The spiritual legacy of Mother Angelica

Mother Angelica, one of the most significant figures in the post-conciliar Catholic Church in America, has died after a 14-year struggle with the after effects of a stroke.

I can attest that, in “fashionable” Catholic circles during the ’80s and ’90s of the last century, it was almost de rigueur to make fun of Mother Angelica. She was a crude popularizer, an opponent of Vatican II, an arch-conservative, a culture-warrior, etc., etc.

Effective evangelizer

And yet, while her critics have largely faded away, her impact and influence are incontestable. Against all odds and expectations, she created an evangelical vehicle without equal in the history of the Catholic Church.

Starting from, quite literally, a garage in Alabama, EWTN now reaches 230 million homes in over 140 countries around the world. With the possible exception of John Paul II himself, she was the most watched and most effective Catholic evangelizer of the last 50 years.

Read Raymond Arroyo’s splendid biography in order to get the full story of how Rita Rizzo, born and raised in a tough neighborhood in Canton, Ohio, came in time to be a nun, a foundress, and a television personality.

For the purposes of this brief article, I would like simply to draw attention to three areas of particular spiritual importance in the life of Mother Angelica: her trust in God’s providence, her keen sense of the supernatural quality of religion, and her conviction that suffering is of salvific value.

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On
Kevin Wondrash

Youth Service Council raises money for the poor in Lebanon

MADISON — The Madison Society of St. Vincent de Paul (SVdP) Youth Service Council (YSC) recently sent more than $1,000 to St. Vincent de Paul-Lebanon to assist the poor, unemployed, and refugees there.

While attending a national St. Vincent de Paul meeting in Providence, R.I., last fall, YSC members Claire Finucane and DC Morris heard Julien Spiewak, the society’s international secretary general, outline the struggles the country of Lebanon currently faces and how the Society of St. Vincent de Paul is trying to help.

Challenges in Lebanon

The SVdP has been active in Lebanon since 1860 but has recently faced greater challenges than usual.

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On
Mary C. Uhler, Catholic Herald Staff

Thank you to all volunteers!

When I’ve helped prepare and serve a meal at the Catholic Multicultural Center (CMC) in Madison, I always come away with a feeling of satisfaction.

I’ve played a role in providing a nutritious meal which the guests appreciate. And I have spent some time volunteering in our community. Hot meals are served every day of the week at the CMC, thanks to hundreds of volunteers who supply the food, get it ready, and serve it to the guests.

The CMC — like so many Church organizations — depends on volunteers. Volunteers are essential in our Catholic parishes, schools, hospitals and health care facilities, and other agencies such as Catholic Charities and the Society of St. Vincent de Paul.

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