MADISON — The Diocese of Madison will offer a free seminar on the Catholic approach to funerals, burial, and estate planning on Tuesday, March 31, at 1 p.m. at Holy Name Heights. The Office of Worship led similar seminars periodically over the last five years. This time, personnel from the Office of Stewardship and Development and the Department of Cemeteries will present and answer questions as well.
“These seminars have always been popular,” said Dr. Pat Gorman, director of the Office of Worship. When the seminar was held last November, about 60 people from all over the diocese attended. “I especially focus on the liturgical rites — vigil, funeral, and committal, and what can be done now to plan them. With this new format, we have a chance to address a broader range of topics,” said Gorman.Day: March 12, 2020
She sent a hundred love letters
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In a recent essay in the Wall Street Journal, Kimberly Cutter chronicled the death of her father by suicide. As he struggled with rapidly progressing prostate cancer, he lost more than 30 pounds, becoming gaunt and emaciated. Back pain and nausea forced him to spend much of his time in bed.
A few days before Christmas, he shared with Kimberly that he was thinking about shooting himself. Kimberly argued with him, stressing that she and her sisters couldn’t accept a violent ending: “If he shot himself, my father would die alone. Someone in our family would have to find him,” she wrote.
Looking into options
His daughters convinced him to look into other options. When he started investigating lethal drugs, he ran into questions of reliability. He encountered horror stories about “wrong dosages and unreliable contents, painful, drawn-out demises.”Obedience to Christ, Church will always be a blessing
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Throughout the Gospels, Jesus steadfastly reiterates a central theme of his mission: He has come to earth to do the will of His heavenly Father.
His long nights of intimate prayer, the extended days of ministering to the crowds, His fasts and feasts, His tears and laughter all express Jesus’ fundamental desire to fulfill what the Father has asked of Him. This radical obedience to the Divine Will culminates in the events of Holy Week.