Summer time in Wisconsin is beautiful. Extra time, hopefully, to relax, renew, and recreate in body, mind, and spirit. Possibly, it allows for a little extra prayer time.
Our understanding of prayer is meant to evolve as we grow in our relationship with God over the years. As children we might find ourselves asking God for very specific things: a new toy, a special prize, not to be punished for doing something wrong, and so forth.
“Believe it all.” That was the “very best” preaching advice from our Dominican priest speaker at a clergy day on homiletics back in 2004.
This followed shortly my ordination to the permanent diaconate. “Do not pick and choose” from the Church’s teachings, Father said.
Don’t question it, he said, for to do so is to enter treacherous waters, that spiritual trap which whispers to us that our own personal wisdom is superior to the Church of Christ and its guarantee of doctrinal purity with guidance of the Holy Spirit.
The state budget is a fixture of every legislative session. It holds “center stage” for the first several months of every odd-numbered year before it becomes law. Once it is adopted, the legislature turns its attention to other matters.
Every budget reflects the fiscal and political reality in which it is debated and enacted. The 2009 budget was shaped first and foremost by Wisconsin’s dire fiscal situation and the obligation of the governor and legislature to deal with a more than six billion-dollar gap between spending commitments and available revenues.
I was never a Michael Jackson fan. I think my generation caught glimpses of him here and there when our kids watched him on TV. After we marveled at the Jackson Five with this adorable little boy with the big voice, we gradually lost interest in his “Modern Pop” music.
Then his constantly evolving face and color left us shaking our heads. When he built his Neverland, it made us wonder if he was trying to find the childhood he had been deprived of in this fantasy setting.
Last in a two-part series
Part one of this article described the parish software conversion to ParishSOFT and related activity in the Office of Planning. This week finishes the series as I discuss our process of converting a parish to QuickBooks and some other activities involving that program.
Just like with census data, parish financial data also needs to be cleaned so that it, too, is consistent and predictable; that is, each parish posts to the same accounts in the same circumstances. For this reason it’s important for all parishes to use our diocesan Chart of Accounts and to follow a common set of financial procedures.
Independence Day offers us an opportunity to thank God for our country’s blessings. Some visitors from poorer countries express amazement at the cornucopia of blessings that we Americans enjoy and sometimes take for granted.
We celebrate some of our blessings when we sing “America the Beautiful.” The words “God, mend thine every flaw” from this song can also invite us as responsible Catholics and citizens to try to help make America even more beautiful.
Independence Day is a federal holiday when we celebrate the anniversary of the day that the Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. On this day we can also thank God for the brave men who risked their lives and fortunes to eventually sign this great document.
Part one of a two-part series.
You often see articles from Grant Emmel describing the Trusting in the Spirit process but this is the first time I’ve been asked to write a column for the Herald.
My function at the diocese is to fulfill Bishop Morlino’s directive of all parishes converting to and using ParishSOFT and QuickBooks software. As a reminder, ParishSOFT is the program used for parish census data and offertory postings and QuickBooks is the complete financial software for all postings, tax reporting, payroll, and parish monetary activity.
When I give talks on stem cell research or in vitro fertilization, people invariably ask, “What should be done with all the frozen embryos?”
It is usually asked with a sense of urgency, even desperation, as they reflect on the fate of the hundreds of thousands of human embryos cryopreserved in liquid nitrogen at fertility clinics.
I am losing my husband of 62 years. But I think that I am one of the lucky ones. Little by little he is slipping away into a dark place in his mind to what I hope will be a place of peace and light. I feel blessed to have that “Long Goodbye” that the Alzheimer studies talk about and the opportunity to learn to live alone.
There is so much irony in all of this. The man who made his living as a speaker and teacher, a national consultant to a textbook publisher, can now barely finish a sentence.
And I, who griped all those years that with 10 kids at home I could barely finish a thought, now have hours on end of time to think . . . and remember wistfully those glorious days of noise and confusion.
St. John Mary Vianney once said, “All the good works in the world are not equal to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, because they are the works of men, but the Mass is the work of God. Even martyrdom is nothing in comparison, for it is but the sacrifice of man to God, but the Mass is the sacrifice of God for man.”
Marking the 150th anniversary of St. John Vianney’s death, Pope Benedict XVI has announced a “Year for Priests” beginning this June 19th. It is meant to be, on the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, a World Day of Prayer for the Sanctification of Priests.
