Day: November 3, 2016

On
Fr. Gregory Ihm

Three ordinary men with extraordinary priesthoods

Fr. Gregory Ihm

Fr. Michael McGivney, Blessed Jerzy Popieluszko, and St. John Paul II all have several things in common. They were ordinary men called to a life of holiness as parish priests and through their priestly ministry had significant historical impact on the Church.

The Vocational Booth sponsored by Diocesanpriest.com at World Youth Day in Poland this year highlighted these three priests in order to help ordinary men consider the impact that their “YES” to the Lord’s call can have on the lives of others.

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On
Bishop Robert Barron

What to make of Simpsonization of men

Two recent films, Deepwater Horizon with Mark Wahlberg and Sully starring Tom Hanks, represent something of a breath of fresh air, for both movies feature men who are intelligent, virtuous, and quietly heroic. If this strikes you as a banal observation, that just means you haven’t been following much of the popular culture for the past 20 years.

Homer Simpsonization

One of the distinctive marks of films and television programs the last couple of decades has been the Homer Simpsonization of men. Don’t get me wrong: I’m a big fan of the The Simpsons and laugh at Homer’s antics as much as the next guy.

But the father of the Simpson family is stupid, boorish, drunk most of the time, irresponsible, comically incompetent, and childish. In the cartoon world, he is echoed, of course, by Family Guy’s Peter Griffin, who is similarly buffoonish.

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On
Kevin Wondrash

Andrew Showers ordained transitional deacon at St. Peter’s Basilica

ROME — Andrew Showers, a seminarian from the Diocese of Madison, was one of 30 seminarians from the Pontifical North American College in Rome who were ordained to the transitional diaconate during a celebration of the Eucharist on Thursday, Sept. 29.

Cardinal Seán O’Malley, OFM. Cap., archbishop of Boston, was the ordaining prelate at the Ordination Mass, celebrated at the Altar of the Chair of St. Peter, in the Papal Basilica of St. Peter, in the Vatican.

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On
Dick Jones, For the Catholic Herald

Food pantry gardens seek leaders to sustain mission

Third and last in a series on the Madison Area Food Pantry Gardens.

MADISON — The Madison Area Food Pantry Gardens (MAFPG) has a pressing need for two garden leaders, and replacing them poses a major challenge for the nonprofit organization in growing fresh produce for the poor.

Tom Parslow and Phil Cox are seeking new recruits to run the gardens they manage. Both worked as volunteers alongside Emmett Schulte, who founded the food pantry gardens with Ken Witte in 2000. In time, Schulte asked them to become garden leaders.

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On
Kevin Wondrash, Catholic Herald Staff

Students share messages of love, anti-bullying

MADISON — Kindness, acceptance, and inclusion were the words of the day recently at Our Lady Queen of Peace (QP) School in Madison.

October 19 marked a national Unity Day where students would “make it orange” and “make it end”.

Students across the nation, as well as those at QP, participated in the day by wearing orange and showing a message of support, hope, and unity to show that they are united against bullying and for kindness, acceptance, and inclusion.

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On
Kevin Wondrash

St. Rose School celebrates 100 years

CUBA CITY — In September 1916, St. Rose School opened its doors to 128 students in four classrooms.

The Sinsinawa Dominicans were instrumental in starting the school and educating the students. In the original school, they resided on the third floor.

The first school was next to the old church which stood where the present day school is now.

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On
Gregory L. Sheehy, M.D.

One candidate is best prepared for presidency

To the editor:

Recent letters to the editor have tried mightily to avoid saying the name, but encourage us, just the same, to vote for the Republican candidate. The plea is to support the Republican Party platform and to view abortion above all other issues. There appears to be little concern about electing a man to the most important position in the world despite his racist, sexist, xenophobic, and anti-religious views. Likewise, his election would allow his finger to be on the nuclear button that could eliminate all life on earth.

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On
Timothy Rookey

One candidate stands up for life and religious liberty

To the editor:

Catholics will be very influential in determining who will become our next president. The choice is really only between the candidates of our two major parties. Though neither candidate this year is ideal, I would argue that one of them is far superior to the other from a Catholic point of view.

One of the candidates now substantially embraces the pro-life position and has promised, as president, to only appoint pro-life justices, like the late Antonin Scalia, to the Supreme Court. The other candidate wants no restrictions on abortion and is the darling of America’s largest abortion provider-Planned Parenthood.

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