MONROE — Are you looking for a way to help the less fortunate in your community? Or are you considering how to take an active role in your parish community, state, or nation? Are you wondering how you can help people or your community cope with a tragedy?
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Every person who has enough nutritious food to eat and cares about the one billion people who do not, should be paying attention to the 2012 Farm Bill.
At stake are deep, heartless congressional monetary cuts to national and international food assistance programs, environmentally protective farm and ranch conservation projects, and safety net programs designed to help struggling small and mid-sized family farmers and rural communities.
Bob Gronski, policy coordinator, for the National Catholic Rural Life Conference (www.ncrlc.com) explained to me that Congress is poised to cut between $23 billion and $34 billion from current funding levels of the Farm Bill.
Some mothers claim that they would do anything for their children. Stephanie Decker, a 37-year-old Indiana mother, demonstrated this in a heroic way.
On March 2, as a tornado crushed her family home, Stephanie covered her children with her body to protect them. Debris from the tornado caused her to lose part of both legs while saving her children from the deadly 175 mph tornado.
Someone wrote that a mother carries her child in her womb for nine months and in her heart for the rest of her life. Conceiving, carrying, and giving birth to a human being is as close as any person can come to the act of creation. After birth, motherhood continues through nurturing, sacrificing, loving, and ultimately letting go.
KAUKAUNA — Biking from Louisiana to Illinois last summer was mentally grueling and oftentimes physically painful for Kevin Biese, but he is ready to do it again.
Biese and nine other cyclists will trek 1,124.25 miles from New Orleans to Chicago, May 21 to 29, as part of Biking for Babies 2012. The mission of the ride is to collect $40,000 for eight pro-life charities and raise awareness in the fight against abortion.
The new Women’s Care Center of Madison was one of the charities supported by last year’s ride, which raised more than $21,000. Biese, a sophomore at the University of Wisconsin, recently visited the facility, which provides services ranging from free ultrasounds to parenting classes.
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Queridos amigos:
En los pasajes del Evangelio de las últimas semanas, hemos escuchado varias veces cuán real es la Resurrección. Jesús resucitó, no con el mismo cuerpo físico que tenía antes, sino con un cuerpo real que podía ser tocado. Su cuerpo real y glorificado que podía ser tocado de algún modo, con las marcas de los clavos en las manos y los pies, y la herida en el costado de la lanza del soldado. Todas esas heridas eran visibles y tangibles en el cuerpo glorioso de Jesús.
Eso es algo bueno por qué rezar: las heridas de Jesús que no habían sido sanadas en Su cuerpo resucitado. No desaparecieron, pero al mismo tiempo, no eran vistas como algo que lo desfiguraría. Sus heridas estaban allí para ser glorificadas en un cuerpo real e inmortal, uno que nunca muriera nuevamente, pero que de hecho pudiera ser tocado, y que al mismo tiempo traspasara puertas y que al mismo tiempo pudiera compartir la comida con los Apóstoles. Así de real es la Resurrección.
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Queridos amigos:
¡Ha sido una gran alegría la celebración del Sagrado Triduo así como es una gran alegría esta Pascua para mí, y espero que haya sido igual para cada uno de ustedes!
Entre las alegrías que he tenido en esta Pascua estuvo pasar un tiempo con muchos de nuestros seminaristas diocesanos, que siempre me inspiran alegría y esperanza para el futuro.
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| St. Mary School in Platteville, founded in 1935, will close at the end of the current school year. (Contributed photo) |
PLATTEVILLE — Bishop Robert C. Morlino delivered his decision regarding the closure of St. Mary School in Platteville to Fr. Faustino Ruiz, pastor of St. Mary Parish, on Wednesday, April 25, after the scheduled regional celebration of the Sacrament of Confirmation in Platteville.
In his letter to the parishioners of St. Mary Parish, the bishop accepted “with tremendous sadness” the recommendation of Father Ruiz and the majority vote of the parish finance and pastoral councils to close St. Mary School.
The bishop’s letter reviewed some of the history leading up to the closure of the parish school at the end of this school year, as well as some of the steps taken by the bishop to attempt to keep this from happening, including guaranteeing the school would remain open last year, his offering of weekly prayer and fasting for the school, and assistance from the diocesan Office of Finance. He thankfully acknowledged all who worked so hard to keep St. Mary School open, if possible.
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St. Jeanne Jugan was well into her 40s when she established the Little Sisters of the Poor. Some might consider her a “delayed” or “late” vocation, but I don’t think Jeanne was delayed at all. From an early age she had a sense of her vocation.
Jeanne knew that God loved her and was calling her; she just didn’t know where the call would take her. When Jeanne turned down a marriage proposal, she told her mother, “God wants me for himself, he is keeping me for a work as yet unknown, for a work which is not yet founded.”
The 2012 Knights of Columbus State Convention will be held at Marriott West Hotel and Convention Center in Middleton on Saturday and Sunday, April 28 and 29.
Because of its nearness, as a Knight I thought that now might be a graced time to reflect upon the Christ-like life of the Venerable Fr. Michael Joseph McGivney, who founded the Knights of Columbus.
He was born on August 12, 1852, in Waterbury, Conn. His parents were Patrick and Mary Lynch McGivney, Irish immigrants. His father worked as a molder in the heat and fumes of a brass mill.
Mary McGivney gave birth to 13 children. Six died in infancy. The McGivney children knew suffering and poverty. But they also enjoyed the blessing of growing up in a devout Catholic family where they learned lessons of faith, hope, and charity. These experiences influenced Father McGivney.
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| Madison Diocesan Choir members Diane and Tom Kramer purchased a piece of music, “Give me Jesus,” in memory of family members who have died. It will be featured at the choir’s spring concert on April 27 at St. Bernard Church in Middleton. (Contributed photo) |
MIDDLETON — The Madison Diocesan Choir, under the direction of Dr. Patrick Gorman, returns to its roots at St. Bernard Parish in Middleton on Friday, April 27, with a free spring concert renewing a music ministry that has served the faithful throughout the diocese and beyond for nearly 40 years.
Not only the setting, but also the program will differ considerably from the 2011 spring concert, “Choral Masterworks of the Church,” which included guest soloists, full orchestra, and the music of Schubert and Mozart in the chapel of the Bishop O’Connor Catholic Pastoral Center in Madison.
Entitled “Give me Jesus,” the concert this spring features the choir alone in performing simple, yet beautiful, prayerful pieces, including one with the same title, either a cappella or accompanied by Assistant Director and Organist Glenn Schuster.
The free concert will begin at 7:30 p.m., Friday, April 27, in the church, 2015 Parmenter St. in Middleton, with a reception to
follow. While the concert is free, the choir appreciates free will offerings in support of its music ministry.
