Author: Kevin Wondrash

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Kevin Wondrash

As we struggle through the pandemic, persevere, keep praying, hold Lord’s hand

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The Bible is so rich and vast that we can never fully fathom or remember the totality of the Scriptures, which allows for constant pleasant surprises when we discover a text which bears a new divine revelation to our hungry hearts.

This phenomenon happened to me recently as I was reading the Letter to the Hebrews. This New Testament letter was addressed to Jewish Christians to strengthen them in the practice of the faith and not to grow weary or become indifferent.

Two central themes of the text are the Priesthood of Jesus Christ as Savior and Redeemer and the pilgrimage of the people of God to the heavenly Jerusalem, where Jesus ministers in the heavenly sanctuary.

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Kevin Wondrash

Convention postponed until 2021 for women

MDCCW Officers
MDCCW officers to be elected this year include, from left: Judy Lyons, president-elect, succeeds Bernadette Schaefer as MDCCW president; Katie Crosby continues as treasurer; and Linda Ripp is a candidate for president-elect. This year’s election will take place virtually as will the installation of officers by Msgr. Duane Moellenberndt, MDCCW spiritual advisor, left.
(Jane Lepeska Grinde photo)

MADISON — “Five years ago, at the National Council of Catholic Women (NCCW) Convention in Orlando, it became my dream to celebrate the 100th anniversary of NCCW at our diocesan convention in 2020,” said Bernadette Schaefer, Lancaster, who is in her final year as president of the Madison Diocesan Council of Catholic Women (MDCCW).

“Now, instead,” she wrote in the MDCCW newsletter, “I have to announce that our convention and celebration have been cancelled.”

With concerns about the health and safety of its members during this pandemic, the MDCCW board voted by email to cancel the annual convention scheduled for June 13 in Cross Plains. The board will meet virtually May 16 to elect officers and conduct other business which is allowed during times of crisis.

Much accomplished

The June convention was to be the 66th annual convention. During those 66 years, area Catholic women have participated in countless activities at their parish, vicariate, and diocesan levels.

Add 34 years to that for the 100 years of organized activities of the NCCW, and the result is countless charitable projects in this country and internationally, said Schaefer.

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Kevin Wondrash

Three mothers reflect on pregnancy, birth, and faith during pandemic

MADISON — Pregnancy can be both a joyous and stressful time for new mothers. It can come with health hurtles, worries about the future, but usually not to the level of a global pandemic.

Three new and expecting mothers — Tabitha Hansen, Diana Bur, and Kristin Dvorsky — talked about what it is like to be expecting a child during this time and how their faith has been supporting them in their struggles.

Offering it up

Tabitha Hansen, a convert to Catholicism and member of St. Thomas Aquinas Parish in Madison, had already lost three children to miscarriage and has four living children. Her daughter, Julia, is due to be born in September.

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Kevin Wondrash

Our Lady of Hope Clinic challenged by pandemic and personnel issues

MADISON — Our Lady of Hope Clinic has been hit by multiple challenges during the last three months.

The pandemic has not only altered how health care is provided but has all but eliminated the availability of volunteer medical assistants at the 11-year-old Odana Rd. clinic on Madison’s west side.

Open for members and uninsured recipients

Dr. Michael Kloess and Dr. Elizabeth Larson continue to serve an average of six uninsured patients daily, while providing enhanced access primary care to members of the clinic.

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Kevin Wondrash

Turning to God during the pandemic and maintaining momentum afterwards

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Questions often raised during these weeks of social isolation and pandemic are: What am I learning from this experience? How will my life be different going forward? How will society change as a result?

I have heard from many people who are feeling a greater need for God in their lives. When we confront suffering, fear, loneliness, and privation, we gain greater insight into the essential nature of life’s meaning.

Discovering what really matters

Without frenetic activity to distract us, with less social contact to sustain us, with the threat or reality of sickness, unemployment, and even death staring us in the face, we discover very quickly what really matters.

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Kevin Wondrash

Principal brightens teachers’ spirits with paper cutouts of students

SPRING GREEN — The motto of St. John the Evangelist Catholic School in Spring Green is, “We’re more than a school . . . We’re a family!”

This was evident by the disappointment among St. John’s teachers when they heard the news that schools would not be reopening for the rest of the school year. They all understood the reasoning, but they just miss their students so much.

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Kevin Wondrash

Overflowing generosity at drive-thru food drive

QOP Food Drive
Volunteers at Our Lady Queen of Peace Parish in Madison take donations for the Catholic Multicultural Center in Madison out of the back of a vehicle. (Contributed photo)

MADISON — Our Lady Queen of Peace Parish (QP) saw an overflow of generosity at its first Drive-Thru Food Drive to benefit the Catholic Multicultural Center (CMC) on the morning of Sunday, April 19.

“Many of you are asking for ways to help as COVID-19 continues to affect our community on a daily basis, so QP’s Social Action and Community Enrichment Board teamed up with the St. Vincent de Paul conference to find a creative way to help our neighbors in need!” read the Facebook event page that was posted just six days before the event.

“We need your help to feed the hundreds of families that are continuing to suffer by filling the Catholic Multicultural Center’s food pantry!”

High turnout

Thirty-eight individuals expressed interest on Facebook before the event, but the turnout was “more than we were anticipating,” said Annette Fox, director of the parish’s Social Action and Community Enrichment board. “It was awesome. Filled the van plus some!”

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Kevin Wondrash

Zoom Ministry: caring for our youth online

MADISON — “Hey, J. Gregory!” said a teen over the video conferencing platform Zoom. “Don’t you own a pair of scissors?”

Jaymes Gregory Curran, the youth director of Blessed Sacrament Parish in Madison, certainly wouldn’t have envisioned sitting in his parish’s empty youth room talking over Zoom a few months ago.

“I’d heard of Zoom before the pandemic hit,” he said. “But I have never been a fan of FaceTime, Skype, or other similar apps.”

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Kevin Wondrash

God has entrusted remarkable powers to us

During this challenging pandemic experience, I have been meditating lately on power and the lack of it, the fear of vulnerability and dependence, the need to surrender control and accept what is beyond one’s ability to change.

Since the definition of power is “the capacity to direct or influence the behavior of others or the course of events,” we have probably all felt an ebbing of power and influence in our lives. The social restrictions, the loss of health or employment, the cancellation of activities and events have all thrust us into this opaque existence of limitation and diminishment.

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