MADISON — On the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, Monday, Dec. 8, at 7 p.m., Bishop Robert C. Morlino will celebrate a Pontifical Mass at the Throne at the Bishop O’Connor Pastoral Center, 702 S. High Point Rd., in Madison.
The Feast, or Solemnity, of the Immaculate Conception, which this year falls on a Monday, is a holy day of obligation in the United States because Mary, under the title of Immaculate Conception, is patroness of the nation.
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A team of sociologists, led by Catholic University professor William D’Antonio, published a survey a few years ago that received quite a bit of media attention, for it showed that many Catholics disagree with core doctrines of the Church and still consider themselves “good Catholics.”
Forty percent of the respondents said that belief in the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist is not essential to being a faithful Catholic. Perhaps the most startling statistic is this: 88 percent of those surveyed said “how a person lives is more important than whether he or she is a Catholic.”
BARABOO — An Advent Festival of Seven Lessons and Carols will be held on Sunday, Dec. 7, at 7 p.m. at St. Joseph Church 304 East St., Baraboo
The Advent Festival is an ecumenical celebration of the season of Advent. It is an opportunity to help prepare for the coming of our Lord and Savior on Christmas.
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According to Matthew Christoff, “There is a serious ‘man-crisis’ in the Catholic Church. It is widespread and serious. Unless the Church, including its bishops, priests, and lay men begin to take notice and make the evangelization of Catholic men a priority, the Catholic Church in the West will decay, as more and more men abandon the Church. Unchecked, the exodus of Catholic men from the faith is likely to continue as men become increasingly casual about Catholicism.”
Recognizing this crisis, Pope Benedict XVI wrote: “In vast areas of the earth the faith risks being extinguished, like a flame without fuel. We are facing a profound crisis of faith, a loss of a religious sense which represents one of the greatest challenges for the Church today . . . The renewal of faith must, then, be a priority for the entire Church in our time.”
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QUESTION: What does mental health have to do with our faith?
RESPONSE: By William McKenna, M.S., clinical extern at the IPS Center for Psychological Services
For years, psychology and theology were like two squabbling siblings. Always ready to fight, but actually always seeking the same end.
Her “goal is to be a saint.”
When 16-year-old Kara Jackson’s mother, Christina, helps her daughter tell her story, it all starts there — she wants to be a saint.
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| This column is the bishop’s communication with the faithful of the Diocese of Madison. Any wider circulation reaches beyond the intention of the bishop. |
Dear Friends,
This past weekend we marked the great Solemnity of Christ the King. The imagery of the Christ as king is used in many passages of Scripture and in the Gospels.
He’s likened to a king who threw a banquet. He’s likened to a king who sent his armies out to fight. He’s likened to a king who is putting his economic life in order and who was very severe to make sure his finances were well handled. Kings are pictured doing a lot of things in Scripture, and so many of those images refer to the Messiah, to Jesus.
On this Feast of Christ the King in 2014, Christ the King has been presented as the Judge. He is separating the sheep from the goats. And, in doing that, He is showing us what it means for Him, for His Father, to be “all in all,” as it says at the end of the second reading (1 Cor 15:28).
God will be all in all. What does that mean? It means God will be everything for everyone. And that’s how we are judged, basically.
Did I live as though God was everything for me? Or, did I live as though God just took up some small corner of my life? Did I live as though He was everything? Or did I live as though He were only a marginal character in my life?
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Q From the past columns I have read, my situation is different. I am the 79-year-old mother of a disabled daughter.
My health is pretty good, but I realize I will not be around forever. I have taken care of “Nancy” all my life, and she and I are very close.
I have not made any plans for her and wonder where to begin. She is my only child, and the thought of any other distant relatives caring for her is out of the question.
(From a mother in Monroe)
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One of the classical demonstrations of God’s existence is the so-called argument from desire.
It can be stated in a very succinct manner as follows. Every innate or natural desire corresponds to some objective state of affairs that fulfills it.
We all have an innate or natural desire for ultimate fulfillment, ultimate joy, which nothing in this world can possibly satisfy. Therefore there must exist objectively a supernatural condition that grounds perfect fulfillment and happiness, which people generally refer to as “God.”
MONTELLO — St. […]
