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Kat Wagner, Catholic Herald Staff

Rite of Election calls forward those seeking to ‘join the team’

Bishop Robert C. Morlino receives candidate Kimberly Kazort during the Rite of Election and Call to Continuing Conversion at St. John the Baptist Church in Waunakee on March 13.  (Catholic Herald photo/Kat Wagner) For more Rite of Election pictures click here.

WAUNAKEE — Bishop Robert C. Morlino has often likened being a member of the Catholic Church to being on a battleship headed towards heaven. Unlike a cruise ship, the journey will be rough and will get stuck on the rock of Calvary before it gets there — but it will get a better reception when it does arrive.

Like the crew on the battleship — or the players on a team, as the bishop said at the Rite of Election and Call to Continuing Conversion March 13 at St. John the Baptist Church in Waunakee — it is important for Catholics to be unified in the fight.

Joining the team

The Rite of Election and Call to Continuing Conversion is an annual event traditionally held in the Diocese of Madison on the first Sunday of the Lenten season. It brings together the catechumens — those who are as yet unbaptized — and candidates — those baptized Christian and now seeking the Sacraments of Confirmation and the Eucharist in the Catholic Church — from parishes around the diocese. In ceremonies at their home parishes, they were sent forth to declare at the rite their intention of receiving the Sacraments of Initiation and full reception into the Church.

 

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Mary C. Uhler, Catholic Herald Staff

Annual Catholic Appeal: ‘Create in me a new heart’

Fr. Bart Timmerman, pastor of Immaculate Hearts of Mary Parish in Monona, distributes Communion at his parish. Gifts to the Annual Catholic Appeal help fund diocesan ministries and services that benefit parishes throughout the Diocese of Madison. (Photo by James Baca)

MADISON — “Jesus Christ showed us how to love. As Christians, we are defined by our willingness to give of ourselves even — if not especially — when that gift of self requires a sacrifice or makes us vulnerable.”

Those are the words of Fr. John Putzer, a newly ordained priest of the Diocese of Madison, who is one of those whose reflections are included in the Diocese of Madison’s 2011 Annual Catholic Appeal (ACA) brochure.

The theme of this year’s appeal is “Create in me a new heart.” Father Putzer, who was ordained to the priesthood on December 10, 2010, continues, “Donating money for a just cause is not just an act of generosity, but, even more significantly, a way of growing in love and uniting oneself to the sacrificial love of Jesus Christ on the Cross. In this sense, we as Christians have a greater need to give than the Church has a need to receive.”

Carrying on Christ’s work

The Annual Catholic Appeal offers members of the Church in the 11 counties of the diocese the opportunity to help support the essential ministries which carry on Christ’s work of love.

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