While these past almost 12 months have been filled with reasons and methods to “distance” ourselves from one another, dozens of people growing in their faith recently had a chance to come closer to something.
Day: March 2, 2021
40 Days for Life mid-point prayer vigil on March 7
MADISON — “On March 8, our spring 40 Days for Life campaign will have completed 20 days with 20 days to go of praying and fasting for an end to abortion,” said Gwen Finnegan, co-leader of the Madison campaign.
“It’s time to gather members of our pro-life community at our vigil location, Planned Parenthood, 3706 Orin Rd. in Madison, to thank God for how far we’ve come and to pray for the endurance to finish strong. So far, we know of one baby and mother saved from abortion on the sidewalks outside of Planned Parenthood in Madison from this campaign.”
40-day vigil
40 Days for Life is a peaceful, highly-focused, non-denominational initiative that focuses on 40 days of prayer, fasting, and peaceful witness outside abortion facilities, as well as on grassroots educational outreach.
The 40-day time frame is drawn from examples throughout Biblical history.Teens visit Religious communities
MADISON — Getting away for the weekend can often include a fun road trip, a new-to-you destination, and a lot of great memories, but for a local group, a recent weekend included something a bit atypical: Religious Sisters.
Last month, Fr. Greg Ihm, Diocese of Madison vocations director, led a group that included 10 St. Ambrose Academy students, a mother of one of the teens, and four other Madison-area women on a journey of prayer and discernment.
A ‘Nun run’
While Father Ihm’s primary role is supporting men in their discernment of the diocesan priesthood, he also seeks to make other opportunities available, especially for women.Only Jesus can show us how to carry our crosses
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“Look!” my husband said proudly one evening. “I fixed it for you!”
He held up my favorite handheld kitchen tool, the stainless-steel pastry cutter, and pulled on it to illustrate that he had fixed its broken handle.
To his dismay, the handle pulled apart in his hand.
No pork hock and sauerkraut dinner this year
MADISON — No pork hock and sauerkraut dinner will be held this year in the St. James Church basement.
The annual event that started decades ago with sauerkraut made by former Dane County Sheriff John Haas is taking a year off.
Haas’ son John continued the tradition of making the sauerkraut and offering it to the parish for the dinner usually held in February or March.
Madison Catholic Woman’s Club to celebrate Religious and hold donation drive
MADISON — All women of the diocese are warmly invited to join Madison Catholic Woman’s Club (MCWC) members as we celebrate our parish priests, Religious, and staff on Tuesday, March 9, at Blessed Sacrament Church, 2116 Hollister Ave., Madison.
Mark your calendars to join us in person at 11:10 a.m. to pray the Rosary followed by Mass at 11:30 a.m. with Bishop Donald J. Hying of Madison presiding.
For those wishing to participate virtually, the event will be livestreamed on the Blessed Sacrament YouTube channel.Bishop O’Connor travels to Rome for ad limina visits and to attend the Second Vatican Council
Eighth in a series on the 75th anniversary of the Diocese of Madison
Bishop William P. O’Connor traveled to Rome several times after becoming the first bishop of the Diocese of Madison.
Ad limina visits
Bishop O’Connor made three ad limina visits to the Vatican. These visits are called ad limina apostolorum (“to the threshold of the Apostles”) because they are traditionally pilgrimages made by bishops to the tombs of the Apostles Peter and Paul. The bishops in the United States are required to make visits to Rome personally or through authorized delegates about every five years to present a report on the state of the diocese.
‘Don’t know what you got (till it’s gone)’
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“These are the good old days” — William Powell as “Nick Charles” in The Thin Man (1934).
Someday, Lent will pass and spring will have arrived. Someday, winter will be back. Someday, I’ll hit age 40. Someday, I will no longer be the editor of the Catholic Herald. Someday, I will die. (Well, that escalated quickly.)
Everything we know, love, and treasure on this Earth will be lost to us or will pass away.
Despite the initial emotional reactions to those statements, they are facts.
All of our “stuff” will either leave us or we will leave it. The same goes for our friends and loved ones. For life to go on, ob-la-di, ob-la-da, someone has to depart from someone.
That’s not a bad thing
Because it is Lent, you get to read the obligatory “but that’s not a bad thing . . . because Heaven” spiel.Msgr. James Bartylla receives award from Warhawk Catholic
WHITEWATER — Warhawk Catholic, the campus ministry for Catholic students at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, is pleased to announce the winner of its Distinguished Alumni Award is Msgr. James Bartylla.
He is being recognized as part of an extended celebration of the 50th anniversary of Warhawk Catholic.
Many UW-Whitewater graduates are Catholic, one notable alum being Monsignor Bartylla ‘83, the vicar general of the Diocese of Madison.