We congratulate and rejoice with Deacons Timothy Mergen and Enan Zelinski, who were ordained last week in St. Peter’s Basilica and will be ordained priests here next June for the Diocese of Madison.
These men, so representative of all our seminarians, are prayerful, holy, committed, and zealous in living out the Gospel of Christ and shepherding His holy people. Our prayers and gratitude go to these inspiring servants of the Lord, as well as to their parents, families, and friends.
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St. Pope John Paul II, in his powerful encyclical letter Evangelium Vitae (“The Gospel of Life”), challengingly said, “How can we fail to consider the violence against life done to millions of human beings, especially children, who are forced into poverty, malnutrition, and hunger because of an unjust distribution of resources between peoples and between social classes?
“And what of violence inherent not only in wars as such, but in the scandalous arms trade, which spawns the many armed conflicts which stain our world with blood?
MADISON — Brothers and sisters, parents and children, Big Buddies and Little Buddies — they all raised money for the hungry at Madison’s Blessed Sacrament School recently.
Students marched, jogged, and flat-out ran to raise money for various charitable causes related to hunger.
The month of October each year is dedicated to the Rosary. This is primarily due to the fact that the liturgical feast of Our Lady of the Rosary is celebrated on October 7 in the Catholic Church.
Also, in 1917, three Portuguese children were visited by the Blessed Virgin Mary in Fatima, Portugal, over a period of six months. The final visit was on October 13, when about 70,000 people witnessed the dancing sun, performed by Our Lady.
As a result, many people were converted, while non-practicing Catholics returned to the faith. Hence, praying in a public arena has the potential of converting people and making Catholics stronger in their belief.ASHTON — St. Peter Catholic Parish and School in Ashton are spreading Christmas cheer early this year to children in need in Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Guatemala.
They are mobilizing Catholic schools, parishes, and other groups and individuals across the Diocese of Madison by serving as a drop-off center for the Box of Joy program (https://crosscatholic.org/boxofjoy/), a ministry of Cross Catholic Outreach.Many years from now, parishioners of, and visitors to, Sacred Heart Parish in Reedsburg will see that the Our Lady of Refuge Chapel was dedicated in 2019.
On September 19 and 20, the Diocese of Madison was blessed to have Dr. Petroc Willey speak to diocesan staff members and catechetical leaders in the diocese.
Prayer and fasting. Those are the two things that will end abortion, said Andrew Petersen
“I’m convinced this is why 40 Days for Life has successfully shut down 104 abortion centers to date,” said Petersen, the development director for Pro-Life Wisconsin.
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Forty years ago this week, Saint John Paul II energized and inspired our country during his epic first Pastoral Visit to the United States.
Saint Paul VI had visited New York City in 1965 during a visit to the United Nations, but that short encounter was the extent of any papal presence in this country. Arriving directly from his remarkable pilgrimage to Ireland, Saint John Paul landed in Boston on a Monday afternoon and electrified all of us.
I was 16 at the time, thinking of priesthood, struggling to discern the mystery of such a call. I was also working my first restaurant job; having graduated from washing dishes to frying chicken, I was making $2.32 an hour, which even then was a terrible wage.
