Year: 2020

On
Bishop Robert Barron

Film should be called The One Pope

The new and much-ballyhooed Netflix film The Two Popes should, by rights, be called The One Pope, for it presents a fairly nuanced, textured, and sympathetic portrait of Jorge Mario Bergoglio (Pope Francis) and a complete caricature of Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI).

This imbalance fatally undermines the movie, whose purpose, it seems, is to show that old grumpy, legalistic Benedict finds his spiritual bearings through the ministrations of friendly, forward-looking Francis.

But such a thematic trajectory ultimately does violence to both figures, and turns what could have been a supremely interesting character study into a predictable and tedious apologia for the filmmaker’s preferred version of Catholicism.

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On
Julianne Nornberg

Brighten your own island by the virtue of kindness

During my childhood, my family spent many summer days on a mile-long island on a lake in southeastern Wisconsin.

Boating, sailing, canoeing, fishing, waterskiing, tubing, and swimming were part of everyday life there. Knot tying, outdoor cooking, handling boats, hauling gear, reading the weather — all of these were a part of learning the value of hard work and gaining a deep appreciation of nature.

Memories

Among my many memories of the island there was someone who loved everyone on it.

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On
Bishop Donald J. Hying

The power of Baptism

This Sunday, we celebrate the Baptism of the Lord, the closing of the Christmas season and an opportune moment to thank God for the remarkable grace of our own Baptism.

Jesus receives the Baptism of repentance from John, not because He needs it, but to sanctify the waters of Baptism and to identify with us in our sinful, fallen state, without ever having sinned Himself.

This compassionate identification with our weakness and death reaches its ultimate saving conclusion in the mystery of the crucifixion and resurrection.

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On
Cathy Lins, Catholic Herald Correspondent

Bishop Hying to speak at dinner

MADISON — The 2020 St. Thomas Aquinas Dinner and Lecture is scheduled for Thursday, Jan. 23, at Blessed Sacrament Parish in Madison.

Bishop Donald J. Hying will be the program speaker. He will focus on St. Catherine of Siena, her work with the Church, and her example of discipleship.

The event marks the feast of St. Thomas Aquinas and is part of the parish’s annual four-part series to honor Dominican saints on their feast days.

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On
Mary C. Uhler, Catholic Herald Staff

Remembering Rabbi Swarsensky’s example

Editor's View by Mary C. Uhler

As I’ve been hearing about the recent incidents of violence fueled by anti-Semitism in our country, I remembered the life and example of the late Rabbi Manfred Swarsensky.

I had the privilege of meeting the smiling, soft-spoken rabbi a number of times, primarily when he served as Chair of Jewish Learning while teaching at Edgewood College in Madison. He was a friend and colleague of the late Sr. Marie Stephen Regis, OP, a Dominican Sister who served on the faculty at Edgewood College.

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On
Kevin Wondrash

Appointments (12-3-2019)

Msgr. James Bartylla, Vicar General, announces the following priest appointments made by Most Reverend Donald J. Hying, Bishop of Madison, effective as specifically stated below.

The following nine priests are reappointed to the office of vicar forane, per canons 553 and 554, effective December 3, 2019, for a term ending October 2, 2022, in the vicariates forane listed below:

• Very Rev. Fr. David Greenfield, V.F., vicar forane of the Columbia North Vicariate Forane

• Rev. Msgr. Duane Moellenberndt, V.F., vicar forane of the East Dane Vicariate Forane

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