Bishop Donald J. Hying has returned from what he described as a “whirlwind” week in Rome for his “ad limina” visit.
Day: December 25, 2019
Working for peace in the new year
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We begin each new year with the feast of the Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God. The World Day of Peace also occurs on January 1.
Mary, the mother of God, gave birth to the prince of peace, who helped the human race to begin anew to work for peace.
Be persons of peace
Since New Year’s is a time to make resolutions, one resolution might be to continue to try to be persons of peace during the new year.
Cardinal Raymond Burke is special guest at St. Ambrose Academy Dinner
Six hundred exuberant friends of St. Ambrose Academy gathered on the Feast of St. Ambrose, December 7, to further the St. Ambrose Academy mission of leading young people to the light and truth of Christ.
The Crown and the ‘primacy of grace’
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Like, I daresay, most of the English-speaking world, these past couple of years I’ve been watching episodes of The Crown, the beautifully filmed, marvelously written program on the life and times of Queen Elizabeth II.
The series deals with the psychological dynamics within the royal family as well as with the cultural changes and political challenges that the Queen has faced in the course of her long reign. But what has been, at least to me, most surprising has been the insightful and sympathetic way in which it has addressed issues of faith.
Especially in the first season, we saw the fairly frequent conflicts between Elizabeth’s devotion to her family and her role as head of the Church of England.
In season two, there was a deeply affecting episode on the visit of Billy Graham to the UK in the mid-50s. We saw that, despite reticence regarding the American evangelist on the part of some in the British establishment, the Queen found his preaching illuminating and uplifting.
May Holy Family bless, strengthen, and heal us
This Sunday within the Octave of Christmas, we celebrate the feast of the Holy Family, honoring the beautiful truth that God entered into the world through a family, an extraordinary one at that, but a human family.
Pondering this remarkable truth for 2000 years, the Catholic Church has a highly developed theology of marriage and family, seeing each Christian home as a domestic church, a sacred place where children are conceived, born, nurtured, and raised to know, love, and serve God.
New Year’s resolutions for Catholics
The year 2020 is just around the corner. It’s time to make some New Year’s resolutions. How about making a few resolutions to become a better Catholic in 2020?
I found 10 suggestions to improve our spiritual life on the website https://www.beliefnet.com and included some of my own ideas. Even selecting several of these resolutions would be a good start to the new year:
Speaker to share conversion from Islam to Catholicism
MADISON — Fariba Roughead, a convert from Islam to Catholicism, will share her personal testimony to facilitate interfaith dialog.
She will speak on Monday, Jan. 13, at 7 p.m. at Holy Name Heights, 702 S. High Point Rd.
Following the model of New Evangelization, as encouraged by the Magisterium and modeled by Saint John Paul II, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, and Pope Francis, Fariba’s intention is to deepen mutual understanding and respect, the first essential step to evangelization.