FORT ATKINSON — St. Joseph Parish will host the Fort Atkinson Community Christmas Day Free Dinner on Friday, Dec. 25, offering a free turkey and ham dinner for anyone in the community who may be alone or who is unable to prepare a meal for the holiday.
This year’s dinner will be made available by carside pickup or carryout at the church, 1660 Endl Blvd., Fort Atkinson.
FORT ATKINSON — St. Joseph Parish will host the Fort Atkinson Community Christmas Day Free Dinner on Friday, Dec. 25, offering a free turkey and ham dinner for anyone in the community who may be alone or who is unable to prepare a meal for the holiday.
This year’s dinner will be made available by carside pickup or carryout at the church, 1660 Endl Blvd., Fort Atkinson.
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In this column, I have been reflecting on the kerygma, the essential Gospel message of salvation, love, and mercy which is the heart of our faith.
To be effective evangelizers, each of us baptized into Christ needs to effectively communicate what our Christian faith means, how we have experienced the Lord, and why everyone is invited to the abundance of Jesus’ life and grace, freely offered to all.
The third movement of the kerygma is the whole Christ event, as God’s gracious response to our existential predicament of condemnation to the power of sin and death.
Compassion is love’s response to misery and suffering, and so the Father could not bear to leave us lost in the darkness of eternal estrangement from Him. |
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Dear Santa,
For Christmas, I would like:
A case of Caffeine-Free Pepsi, a package of bacon, an Amazon gift card, and some Babcock Hall cookies ‘n’ cream ice cream.
I’d also like the energy, ambition, and desire to pray more. I want the habit of opening my Bible more and embracing God’s word. I want to make Holy Mass a centerpiece of my life and feel like every time I am going up for Communion that it’s the most important thing I’m doing that day.
I want an increase in discipleship and evangelization. I want Catholics to know and live their faith so well that leading others to Christ is a natural and normal occurrence.
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We have begun another Church year with the season of Advent. During the first part of Advent, the readings of the Mass prepare us for the second coming of Christ in his glory.
Then on December 17 to December 24, the readings focus upon preparing us for Christ’s coming at Christmas. |
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| In a video created for the online Lighting the Way event, St. John Vianney in Janesville parishioner Brenda Riley provides tips on how to make Advent wreaths using items from around the house.(Contibuted photo) |
JANESVILLE — At the start of each Advent, St. John Vianney Parish in Janesville hosts an Advent-by-candlelight event called Lighting the Way for Women.
The event is designed to help women, who are typically very busy during the holidays, start their Advent off right by enjoying a peaceful evening of prayer, reflection, and fellowship.
Each year, attendance for Lighting the Way has grown.
In 2019, more than 220 women gathered at St. John Vianney for the event.
As fall 2020 progressed, it became clear that increasing COVID concerns and limitations on gatherings would make it impossible to hold the popular event in person.
Kris Kranenburg, coordinator of adult faith formation at St. John Vianney and one of the event organizers, started to hear from women who were saddened that the gathering couldn’t take place.
“Women were sharing beautiful stories of how Lighting the Way helped them to regroup spiritually and keep their focus on the season of Advent,” said Kranenburg.
“We didn’t want to lose that, especially in 2020 when it felt like so many other things had been taken away.”
Recognizing that people were tired of tuning in for virtual events on platforms like Zoom, the decision was made to create a website that would offer a variety of content. |
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All masked up, my family and I sat 12 feet away from my elderly parents outside their apartment. Sitting side by side, my parents looked out at us from behind the screened porch.
They clasped hands, as always, embracing the odd state of the world — not knowing what the future would hold — but content to be facing it together, just as they had faced all things in their 63 years of married life.MADISON — Fifteen years ago, Syte Reitz wouldn’t have expected that the prayer bouquet she was preparing for the late Bishop Robert C. Morlino of Madison would take on the life of its own that it did.
That year, the bishop had been facing many difficulties including the destruction of St. Raphael Cathedral by arson. Reitz thought the bishop could use some prayers and encouragement.
“All I did was start a prayer effort for Bishop Morlino by inviting 30 women from Madison Catholic Woman’s Club to sign up for a monthly prayer to cover the bishop every day of the month,” she said.
It had been her son, Tom, who’d been studying computer science at UW-Madison, who came up with the idea of building a website.The following article is the next installment in a series that will appear in the Catholic Herald to offer catechesis and formation concerning end of life decisions, dying, death, funerals, and burial of the dead from the Catholic perspective.
MADISON — Spanning three weeks in January and covering five states, pro-life advocates from around the Midwest will gather in multiple locations leading up to the March for Life Chicago.
The “Moving the Movement” Tour will begin with a kick-off event in Madison, on Saturday, Jan. 2.
The Chicago march is an annual event that draws thousands from across the Midwest to celebrate all human life from conception through natural death.
This year in Madison, March for Life Chicago is partnering with the Wisconsin Catholic Conference (WCC), Wisconsin Family Council, Wisconsin Right to Life, and Pro-Life Wisconsin, the same organizations that sponsored the March for Life Wisconsin in the past.