Author: Kevin Wondrash

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Kevin Wondrash

Aid in Haiti — the beginning to a Lent of love
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 in Christ,

As was mentioned last week, you, your parishes, and your pastors are to be highly commended in general! We as a diocesan family have come together in an incredible show of our love of neighbor and our unity as a diocese by raising a remarkable $508,130.02 for our sisters and brothers in Haiti.

Very soon after the devastating earthquake, Pope Benedict XVI promised the people of Haiti of the prayers and concrete support of Catholics around the world. And even before the Holy Father made these promises, Catholic Relief Services was there in Haiti helping those injured and dying; you and your parishes were asking “what can we do?” and our diocesan offices were organizing how we could respond.

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Kevin Wondrash

Journeying home during the Lenten season
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,

In the first place, let me thank you most sincerely for your remembrance in prayer during the days of my vacation. They were special days for me of friendship, especially friendship with the Lord, and also some needed rest and recreation. The time was most enjoyable and life-giving, I’m sure in large part due to your prayers. And, of course, I remembered all of you every blessed day.

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Kevin Wondrash

Because my parents did!

Live Greater by Jon Leonetti

We believe, oh yes, we do believe. And it’s a beautiful thing, isn’t it? This incredible gift of faith, given by a God who wants nothing more than to spend eternity with us.

Despite our unworthiness, despite the many times we have turned away, we have a God who continually fills our hearts with this need. A need that begs us to live as we were created to live.

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Kevin Wondrash

Medicine and the true cost of being in denial

Making Sense out of Bioethics column by Fr. Tad Pacholczyk

Back in the early 1800s, most practicing physicians refused to believe that the simple gesture of washing their hands between patients could help prevent the spread of childbed fever among the pregnant women they examined.

Even in the face of compelling scientific evidence, they remained stubbornly opposed to the practice. As a result of this intransigence on the part of the medical establishment over a period of many years, childbed fever (also known as puerpural infection) ended up unnecessarily claiming the lives of thousands of young women.

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Kevin Wondrash

The Immaculate Conception and politics

Following the feast that we celebrated this past week, I’d like you to consider the question, “What does the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary have to do with politics?” The answer: Quite a lot actually.

In the Gospel reading for our Assumption Mass (Luke 1:26-38), we see Mary towards the end, not understanding the vocation to which she is called. How could she understand it? She was called to be a virgin and she was called to be a mother. She was called to be ever-virgin and mother — who could understand that?

That is why an angel had to explain more about it, because it would take a super-human intelligence to tell out that mystery in human words. Mary said, “How can this be?” that is, basically, I’ve never been married and I’ve been a good girl. And the angel responded, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.”

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Kevin Wondrash

Why we dress our Sunday best

We had some very interesting readings this past Sunday, our Second Sunday of Advent. The first reading came from the prophet Baruch and my first point comes from the line in that passage “put on the splendor of Glory from God forever,” or “put on the splendor of the Glory of God forever.”

And we may ask, “How does one do that?” One does that at the Mass. We can’t do anything in this life forever. The only eternal behavior in which we can engage, in which we can get caught up, is liturgical behavior. And so through his prophet Baruch, God says to us, “put on the splendor of the Glory of God.”

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