MADISON — Upcoming Natural Family Planning (NFP) classes in the Diocese of Madison include:
Attend one of the following classes (two additional classes will be scheduled by the group at the first class):
JANESVILLE — The Rock County Council on Aging will offer a “Living Well” workshop series each Thursday at 1:30 p.m., starting May 22 and running through June 26 at the Rock County Council on Aging office, 3328 Hwy. 51 N.
“Living Well” is a six-week program for people with chronic diseases and their caregivers.
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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,
Last week I was blessed to take part in the wonderful Canonization ceremony and Mass of Thanksgiving for St. John Paul II and St. John XXIII. The experience certainly was one of the most precious of my entire life.
I was blessed to visit Rome for the first time in the mid-’70s and God’s providence has enabled me to return a good number of times. Yet, never once have I seen Rome so crowded as it was during those days leading up to the Canonizations. More so than the crowds that might gather at a secular event such as a World’s Fair, I was reminded of the crowds that fill the streets at World Youth Days.
There was not only a wonderful spirit of devotion, but also a tremendous number of energetic young people who moved around the city, even through the night, attending the numerous programs and opportunities for prayer in the various churches around Rome.
JEFFERSON — “Let Peace Begin With Me” is a song with a powerful message of personal responsibility in planting and nurturing the seeds of peace in one’s own world.
The fifth and sixth grade classes at St. John the Baptist Catholic School in Jefferson, under the guidance of school counselor, Mrs. Joanna Becker, embraced the idea of working towards world peace by bringing it closer to home.
Mrs. Becker introduced the “Peace Project” by sharing the true story of a young Japanese girl, Sadako Sasaki, who was an innocent victim of war as she suffered the effects of deadly radiation after the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima in 1945. She was only two years old on the day of the bombing and died 10 years later as a result of leukemia.
On the beautiful spring day of Wednesday, April 23, students at St. Dennis School in Madison excitedly put on their coats and hurriedly made their way to the doors while teachers and staff — also with smiles on their faces — did their best to keep all the kids from running outside at once.
“St. John XXIII, pray for us.”
“St. John Paul II, pray for us.”
Msgr. James Bartylla, vicar general for the Diocese of Madison, led those short, but poignant prayers at the outset of some brief announcements before Divine Mercy Sunday Mass on April 27 at the Bishop O’Connor Center in Madison.
BARABOO — On December 10, 1925, Our Blessed Mother appeared to Lucia at Pentevedra, Spain.
She said, “I promise to assist at the hour of death with the graces necessary for salvation all those who, in order to make reparation to me, on the first Saturday of five successive months, go to Confession, receive Holy Communion, say five decades of the Rosary, and keep me company for a quarter of an hour, meditating on the mysteries of the Rosary.”
HIGHLAND — The Feast of St. Philip the Apostle will be celebrated with a Mass on Sunday, May 4, at 1 p.m. at St. Philip Church.
Through the efforts of many supporters, St. Philip Church — built in 1888 — has been well preserved. It is a significant part of the SS. Anthony and Philip Parish community and the Highland community as a whole.
MADISON — Students in Catholic schools devote much effort to mastering the subjects they study, like math, history, and literature, but also worthy of attention is how those students study, according to St. Ambrose Academy history and science teacher Michael Kwas.
“Good students aren’t usually the smartest ones,” Kwas said. “Instead, they are the ones who have learned how to study and have developed the best work habits.”
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Among married men and women who undergo surgical sterilization through a vasectomy or a tubal ligation, it has been estimated that anywhere from 10 to 20 percent will come to regret the choice.
Sometimes there may be an immediate awareness of wrongdoing following the surgery, while in other cases, as Patrick Coffin, radio host and author of Sex au Naturel notes, sterilized couples may “. . . drift for years before acknowledging that something between them is no longer in sync. After the initial pregnancy fear subsides, and the vision of 1001 erotic nights turns out be something of a scam, spouse may (subtly) turn against spouse while doing their best to ignore the silent, disturbing ‘presence’ of the choice they made.”
Their decision to seek out a permanent form of contraception can also affect their marriage in other important ways. As Dr. John Billings has noted, there is “an effect that is even more tragic than the clinical, and it is that in many cases the use of contraceptive methods in marriage has been followed by an act of infidelity of one of the members.
