Fr. Gary Wankerl, […]
Author: Chris Lee
For the love of God impels us
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| Fr. Gregory Ihm |
“For the love of Christ impels us, . . . He indeed died for all, so that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised . . . (entrusting to us the message of reconciliation) . . . So we are ambassadors for Christ, as if God were appealing through us” (2Cor. 5:14-20).
Saying yes to God’s will as a priest
A nearly 10-year journey has led Fr. Gabriel López-Betanzos from discernment to his role as the judicial vicar for the Diocese of Madison.
Earlier this year, he was appointed to that role by Bishop Robert C. Morlino of Madison, replacing Fr. Tait Schroeder, who will be working in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in Rome.
The Creed of the People, Part Two
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John Joy |
Last month we began looking at the Creed of the People of God, in honor of its 50th anniversary. This Creed is based on the Nicene Creed we say at Mass, but it goes into greater detail about what Catholics are required to believe in order to be ‘practicing Catholics’ and (more importantly) in order have that faith without which we cannot be saved. The opening lines of the Creed expressed our faith in God as the creator of all things, visible and invisible.
This month, we’ll continue with the Unity and Trinity of God. In the Nicene Creed, we say, “I believe in one God . . .” and then we go on to mention each of the divine Persons, “the Father almighty . . . one Lord Jesus Christ . . . the Holy Spirit . . .” All this is very compact. The Creed of the People of God expresses the same faith more completely and explicitly.
Applying ‘cleansing the temple’ to daily life
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Artistic representations of the 10 Commandments often depict two stone tablets on which there are two tables of inscriptions. This portrayal follows from a classical division of the commandments in which there are two specific categories — those that order humanity’s relationship with God and those that order human relationships with one another.
Mass of Christian Burial for Dr. Marlen Junck
STOUGHTON — A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated for Dr. Marlen Frederick Junck on Saturday, Feb. 10, 2018, at 11 a.m. at St. Ann Church, 323 N. Van Buren St. in Stoughton.
Bishop Robert C. Morlino will preside at the Mass. Fr. Randy Budnar, pastor of St. Ann Parish, will be the homilist.
Visitation will be held on Friday, Feb. 9, from 6 to 9 p.m. at Cress Funeral Home, 206 W. Prospect St., Stoughton. Visitation will also be held prior to the Mass from 10 to 11 a.m. Interment will be at St. Ann Cemetery in Stoughton.
An evening with William Lane Craig
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Ten years ago, when I was a visiting scholar at the North American College in Rome, I fell into a spirited conversation with one of the seminarians about the state of evangelization in America.
We both were bemoaning the fact that the “new” atheists — Christopher Hitchens, Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, and others — were regularly attacking religion, and I commented that no Christian spokesman had managed to engage the enemies of the faith well on the public scene.
St. Patrick School in Janesville will close at the end of school year
JANESVILLE — St. Patrick School in Janesville will be closing at the end of the current school year, it was announced at Masses on the weekend of January 27 and 28.
Currently, the school has an enrollment of 11 students in grades kindergarten through eight, in addition to 11 students in the public partnership 4K program.
This enrollment, a continued projected decline, and the fact that the operational cost of the school is over $200,000 per year led both the parish pastoral council and finance council to recommend the school’s closure to Pastor Fr. Tim Renz.
Father Renz contacted Bishop Robert C. Morlino notifying him of the recommendations being made by his parish councils. In a statement, the Diocese of Madison said that there has been ongoing conversation among the four Catholic parishes in Janesville about their schools “and the diocese anticipates the results of that collaboration with optimism.”
St. Patrick Parish is the oldest Catholic parish in Janesville. Catholic families have been praying together in the fourth ward of Janesville for over 170 years. In 1844, they learned that they would be getting a priest of their own. In 1845, the first Mass was celebrated in the church they built.
Make straight the path for Lent
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Word on Fire
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In these days, therefore, let us add something beyond ordinary expectations of our service. Let each one, over and above the measure prescribed, offer God something of his own freewill in the joy of the Holy Spirit. ~ Rule of St. Benedict, Sixth century
In roughly three weeks, Ash Wednesday will arrive and with this commemoration, the Church begins the penitential practices of Lent.
Catholic Schools Week Celebration
Catholic Schools Week is the annual celebration of Catholic education in the United States, including in schools in the Diocese of Madison. It starts the last Sunday in January and runs all week, which in 2018 is January 28 to February 3.
The theme for Catholic Schools Week 2018 is “Catholic Schools: Learn. Serve. Lead. Succeed.
Schools typically observe the annual celebration week with Masses, open houses, and other activities for students, families, parishioners, and community members.