“Don’t you want to be a teacher?” asked my friend Joan just weeks before we were to graduate from Madonna High School in Aurora, Ill.
This was the all-girls’ class of 1945, where we were taught by Franciscans Sisters. We had both been accepted by St. Ben’s in Minnesota, where we would be taught by Benedictines.
I was confused. “What do you mean, a teacher? I don’t want to be a nun, you know.”
Are you checking out the obituaries every day like Mark Twain did to see if you are on the list?
Or do you just average the ages to hopefully find some of the deceased are older than you? Either way, it’s a sure sign that you’re aware that you aren’t getting any younger. You are nearing the finish line. Ouch!
Since 1945, the New York Archdiocese has hosted the Al Smith dinner, a black-tie event named in honor of Alfred E. Smith, the first Catholic presidential candidate.
Millions have been raised through the dinner to support charities in New York City. Speakers have included Winston Churchill, John F. Kennedy, Bob Hope, and, during election years, presidential candidates invited as the guests of honor.
It’s a break from debate. It’s not an endorsement and no awards are given. Candidates’ speeches take on a humorous tone. As described by the Al Smith Foundation Web site: “In the days before Saturday Night Live, the Al Smith dinner served as a kind of ‘proving ground for the candidate as entertainer,’ as one reporter described it.”
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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,
The week of Labor Day now having come and gone, schools everywhere are kicking into “high gear,” and thus it’s important that we remember to pray for all of our students. It’s also a good time for Catholic parents to remember to reapply themselves to educating and forming their children in the faith, and for all of us to support them! It is a large task, but one which will bear fruit for all of eternity.
Next week I’ll be blessed to celebrate two Masses with students, one with students at the UW-Madison, and another which will gather together students from all of the Catholic schools in our diocese. I can’t wait to be with all of these young, energetic young people. Next week’s issue of the Catholic Herald will also focus on the 32 men who I call “my sons” in a particular way. In recent weeks I’ve also seen almost all of the seminarians head back to school — and I can certainly identify with those parents who are missing students, who are back in the dorms!
Many of us have hidden fears and hesitations when it comes to dealing with persons with severe disabilities. Their unfamiliar gestures, behaviors, and limitations can challenge us and infringe on our comfort zones.
We may be tempted to apply a different standard when we deal with them. Even very young children with disabilities may suffer discrimination through denial of care as newborns, or through abortion in utero.
During his presidential campaign, former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum and his wife Karen were often asked by people on the campaign trail about their daughter Bella, who was born with Trisomy 18, a severe genetic defect caused by an extra chromosome.
Such children tend to have shorter lifespans, with 90 percent dying during the first year of life. Nevertheless, with proper care, some can live well into their teens, and even into their 20’s or 30’s.
Bella became known to the public during her father’s candidacy in part because of several memorable moments during the TV debates where Rick powerfully described how Bella’s birth and struggles had impacted their family.
Dear Friends,
The week of Labor Day now having come and gone, schools everywhere are kicking into “high gear,” and thus it’s important that we remember to pray for all of our students. It’s also a good time for Catholic parents to remember to reapply themselves to educating and forming their children in the faith, and for all of us to support them! It is a large task, but one which will bear fruit for all of eternity.
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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,
As I write this column, we come quickly upon the Labor Day Holiday. It is, in some ways, a rather bittersweet milestone for me each year, as it signals the soon-to-come end of the days of warmth and sun (although this year any break from the extreme heat is not unwelcome!), and before we know it, we’ll be in the midst of winter.
At the same time, with increasing speed each year, Thanksgiving seems to rush upon us after Labor Day, and then Christmas — which is surely a blessed time.
Labor Day, however, allows us a breath and an opportunity to examine our efforts and, I would propose, to reapply ourselves to using our work — no matter what it is — to sanctifying the world around us. Each and every one of our labors, whether it be raising our children, working as a teacher, a salesperson, a lawyer, or a mechanic, should become a means by which we encounter God and witness to His concern for the world — and that’s my first point.
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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. |
In this past weekend’s Gospel (Jn 6:51-58), we hear Jesus say, “unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you do not have life within you.” What is Jesus talking about, that he’s going to give us His flesh to eat and His blood to drink? Does He think we’re cannibals?
“I can’t do what I used to do.” How many times have we said or heard those words?
It’s such a common refrain among people in their 60s or older. Early on it may be spoken with a tinge of surprise, but often (God forbid) with a whine.
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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,
It was no shock at all for me to learn that our diocesan native son, Paul Ryan, had been chosen to be a candidate for the Vice Presidency of the United States. I am proud of his accomplishments as a native son, and a brother in the faith, and my prayers go with him and especially with his family as they endure the unbelievable demands of a presidential campaign here in the United States. It is not for the bishop or priests to endorse particular candidates or political parties. Any efforts on the part of any bishop or priest to do so should be set aside. And you can be assured that no priest who promotes a partisan agenda is acting in union with me or with the Universal Church.
It is the role of bishops and priests to teach principles of our faith, such that those who seek elected offices, if they are Catholics, are to form their consciences according to these principles about particular policy issues.
