Category: Around the Diocese

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

On
Kat Wagner, Catholic Herald Staff

Service camp teaches the true meaning of ‘love your neighbor’

MADISON — The Love Begins Here service camp, held recently at various locations around the diocese, was not just paying lip service to the phrase “love your neighbor.”

It was teaching the youth who attended that even in a place as seemingly affluent as the United States there can be many people in need of help.

“It opens your eyes about how much people need help here,” said Sarah Garcia, a participant from Baraboo who had heard about the camp through her Confirmation class. “An hour away, there are people who need food, clothing, schools that need walls painted; there’s just a lot of stuff to be done here before we look other places.”

Youth from around the diocese attended the youth mission project Love Begins Here this summer, averaging 22 participants a session. The project, inspired by a similar program in the Diocese of Salina, Kan., and sponsored by the Diocese of Madison Office of Evangelization and Catechesis, combines service and spirituality to help youth see the connection between the faith and the works it should inspire to love and serve others.

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Mary C. Uhler, Catholic Herald Staff

Consecrated women to serve in diocese

MADISON — Five consecrated women from the Society of Jesus Christ the Priest have arrived in the Diocese of Madison.

They are the first group of a total of 14 consecrated women coming from the society to serve in the diocese.

In welcoming them to the diocese, Bishop Robert C. Morlino said that the “women will reside in the Sauk City area and will serve the surrounding parishes and the diocese in various capacities. Financial support for the women will continue to be provided by the Society of Jesus Christ the Priest, which currently maintains their support.”

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Cheryl McCollum, For the Catholic Herald

Parish cluster to sponsor and build home

MADISON — For the first time, a cluster of Madison area Catholic parishes is sponsoring and building a home with Habitat for Humanity of Dane County.

The parishes of St. Bernard, Middleton; St. Martin of Tours, Martinsville; St. Peter, Ashton; and St. Thomas Aquinas, Madison, will sponsor the project. Construction is expected to begin in the Spring of 2010.

“While many Catholics have been involved in Habitat for Humanity projects, this will be the first all-Catholic build in the state of Wisconsin,” noted building co-chair Wendy Hansen.

“With the leadership of St. Bernard’s Church, our cluster will make history. Thankfully, we have the good will of the people, the energy, and the God-given talent and treasure to do this wonderful project.”

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Kat Wagner, Catholic Herald staff

Multicultural Center to re-open in August with community help

MADISON — An outpouring of support from the local community, parishes, and the diocese has given the Catholic Multicultural Center (CMC) new life and a chance to serve the poor and those in need in the Madison area after only a two-month closure.

“Jubilation” was M. Goddard-Pezêt’s response to the news. She and 12 to 14 others had been regulars at the daily Mass at the center, but with its closing many had gone to their own parishes, breaking up the closeness of their group. The center’s proximity to her house and the difficulty of walking from the bus to her parish church, especially during winter, had made the CMC an ideal location for her. Its re-opening has given a ray of hope that Mass may begin again there.

“I’m very happy, as there are a lot of people who need this,” Goddard-Pezêt said. “And some personally depend on this for their livelihoods.”

Goddard-Pezêt was one of the more than 200 people who came to the CMC’s open house July 12 to learn more about its work, reconnect with other center volunteers and regulars, and to meet people who are influenced by its services. Both Bishop George O. Wirz, retired auxiliary bishop, and Bishop William H. Bullock, bishop emeritus, who had the center built at its current location in 2002, were able to attend the open house.

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