Category: Around the Diocese

News from around the 11 counties of the Diocese of Madison.

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Jill Driscoll, For the Catholic Herald

2015 Annual Catholic Appeal: ‘Living Our Mission of Charity’

Annual Catholic Appeal 2015

MADISON — Have you ever modeled your charitable life around the Holy Family?

You may not give of yourselves the same way as Mary and Joseph did, but modeling your charitable giving through your time, talent, and treasure is your way of giving back.

One way to live your mission of charity is through giving to the Annual Catholic Appeal (ACA). Each year, the ACA asks each parishioner in the Diocese of Madison to prayerfully consider what they are able to give back to their diocesan Church.The Diocese of Madison lives on your generosity to support its missions — missions that are critical in helping our neighbors in need, teaching those that need education and training on our faith.

The Annual Catholic Appeal reaches every corner of our diocese in some way, here are just a few.

Marriage Preparation — Does your parish offer marriage preparation classes to those seeking the sacrament Sacrament of Marriage? The ACA funds the Office of Evangelization and Catechesis, which oversees the training and materials needed for marriage preparation classes around the diocese.

Catholic schools — Do you know of a child that attends a Catholic school? Just like every school district in the state, the Office of Catholic Schools is directed by the superintendent of Catholic schools. This office oversees all of the administrative functions supporting the Catholic school system in our diocese.

Catholic Charities — Has your parish community benefited from the Mobile Food Pantry? It travels around the diocese helping those that need that extra assistance at difficult times. This is just one mission that Catholic Charities does for our neighbors in need.

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Cathy Lins, Catholic Herald Correspondent

How to build a solid spiritual plan for life

REEDSBURG — On January 8, 2015, the second evening in a series of talks for the Spirits and Spirituality Program was held at Karstens Hall at Camp Gray in Reedsburg.

The program is a joint effort between St. Cecilia Parish in Wisconsin Dells, St. Joseph Parish in Baraboo, and Sacred Heart Parish in Reedsburg. All parish members ages 21 and over are invited to attend.

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Marshall Cook, For the Catholic Herald

Share the spiritual journey with author/teacher Paula D’Arcy

MADISON — An automobile accident in 1975 changed Paula D’Arcy’s life forever.

She woke up to discover that her husband and daughter had been killed in the wreck, but the baby she had carried for three months was still alive inside her.

“Everything about my life altered at that moment,” she says. “I was at a fork in the road; I could despair, or I could go deeper.”

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Kevin Wondrash

Group works for nonviolence

SINSINAWA — Most people know about the war effort in Afghanistan, but few of us know the stories of those who are working to create a nation where peace overcomes violence.

The Sinsinawa Dominican Office of Peace and Justice is offering a presentation to inform people of the efforts of peacemakers in Afghanistan. It will be held at 6:30 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 16, at Sinsinawa Mound.

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Kevin Wondrash, Catholic Herald Staff

Pro-lifers continue their efforts

Fr. Jorge Miramontes, pastor of Holy Family Parish in Marshall and Waterloo, performs a Rite of Minor Exorcism outside the Planned Parenthood clinic on Madison’s east side. Father Miramontes performed the rite during a January 27 prayer vigil to mark the 42nd anniversary of the Roe v. Wade U.S. Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion across the country. The vigil took place near the Women’s Care Center, located across the street from the clinic, that provides free, confidential counseling, support, and education to women facing unplanned pregnancies. (Catholic Herald photo/Kevin Wondrash)

MADISON — Whether it’s the March for Life in Washington, D.C., a meeting of pro-life leaders from across the state, or a gathering of two dozen prayer warriors on a frigid winter morning, the message is always the same before, during, and after these events — “there’s more work to be done.”

If the optimistically self-proclaimed “pro-life generation” is to meet its goal of ending abortion, there’s no time to pause while celebrating the baby-saving victories and no pause to be content when an abortion clinic closes — there’s more work to be done.

The previous night’s snow stopped with enough time to make the roads good for winter travel en route to a prayer vigil outside the Planned Parenthood clinic on Madison’s east side on January 27.

It was hosted by Vigil for Life Madison — a volunteer organization whose members pray, fast, and peacefully witness for an end to abortion in the Madison area.

It marked the 42nd anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion across the United States.

The vigil was held five days after the actual anniversary when hundreds of thousands of pro-lifers — some from the Madison area — participated in the March for Life in our nation’s capital as well as the Walk for Life in California.

Vigil crowd gathers

As people began to gather on the sidewalk outside the busy clinic, the first prayer of choice was an obvious one — the Divine Mercy Chaplet — imploring both the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary to intercede on behalf of the unborn, family members who have lost a child due to abortion, and the clinic owner and workers that their hearts may be changed.

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Kevin Wondrash

St. Thomas More Society: Global Common Good

MADISON — Catholic attorneys will be intrigued at their next meeting as they hear about the Global Common Good from Br. Edward van Merrienboer, OP.

With both national and international experience in working for the Common Good, Brother Edward has served in Rome as an adjunct faculty member of Aquinas Institute, as chair of the Department of Theology and Philosophy of Barry College, at a Newman center, and currently as director of faith formation at Blessed Sacrament Parish in Madison.

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