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The eight-year won/loss record reads 19 wins, 40 losses, and five ties — a winning percentage of .322
As a note, by the time this column goes to press, one of those totals will be one number higher, hopefully in the win column.
In most major sports, those numbers would necessitate sweeping personnel and management changes, but not here — the wins and losses aren’t what’s important.
Last month and for the second year in a row, I went on a private retreat. Basically, I took some time off from everything in my life, spent a weekend at an area retreat center, and used my self-imposed “free time” to pray, read, reflect, (and sometimes nap!).
As we get closer to Holy Week and the Easter Triduum, we enter a time to reflect on Christ’s Paschal Mystery and how we can apply it to our own lives. While on a much smaller scale, sometimes certain events in our life become a microcosm of the Passion.
I haven’t written one of these columns in a while. In between the busyness of the job, the holidays, and a struggle to put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard, I’ll be honest), my still-developing “On His Time” series has not appeared in the Catholic Herald since October.
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For several weeks now, I have been reporting on various aspects of Vigil for Life and the now ongoing 40 Days for Life vigil to end abortion.
So often when I attend various events to write about them, I ask myself if I’m really doing enough. Does my job as reporter for the Catholic Herald give me a “free pass” from getting more involved in the efforts I write about? Is just telling people about it enough?
If I was going to try to convince other people to pray at 40 Days for Life, shouldn’t I do the same? I did, and so can you.
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As I follow people on Twitter and help to put together the issue of the Catholic Herald each week, I read about a lot of Catholics taking pilgrimages to the three approved Marian Shines in Wisconsin: the Basilica of the National Shrine of Mary, Help of Christians at Holy Hill, near Milwaukee; the Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help, in Champion, near Green Bay; and the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe, near La Crosse.
I have been to two of the three sites, the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe being the only one I have yet to visit. I would now like to reflect on the first time I visited one of these shrines.
Back in May of 2012, I went on a one-day bus trip with parishioners from St. Christopher Parish in Verona to the Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help in Champion (formally known as Robinsonville).
From day one of journalism school, a reporter is told not to put him or herself into a story. Just learn the facts, observe what happens, interview interesting subjects, and tell the story. Sometimes, however, the paths of reporter and story cross, and the reporter is in the story.
As a young adult in the Diocese of Madison, I am blessed to be part of many activities for Catholics my age in the area. One of them is the Monday Night Sports League (MNSL).
The MNSL started last summer with six teams. Young adults from my parish, St. Maria Goretti (SMG) in Madison, as well as teams from Cathedral Parish in Madison, Blessed Sacrament Parish in Madison, St. Paul University Catholic Center in Madison, St. Christopher Parish in Verona, and a team of friends called “Faith, Friends, and Funnies” (FFF) make up the league.
