Wisconsin is a great state! I was born and raised in Wisconsin, and I enjoy living and working in our state.
Despite some very cold temperatures and heavy snowfalls, unlike some people I know, I’m not eager to spend months in other warmer states. I actually enjoy the change of seasons and the natural beauty of Wisconsin.
In 2014, it was no surprise that Madison was named number one out of the Top 100 Best Places to Live on Livibility’s annual ranking.
This is the time of year when Catholics throughout the Diocese of Madison are hearing and reading about the Annual Catholic Appeal (ACA).
Members of parishes have received a letter and pledge form from Bishop Robert C. Morlino. In addition, there have been prayers and announcements about the ACA at Masses each weekend.
There was an insert about the appeal distributed last weekend in parishes; it is also included in this week’s Catholic Herald. Next weekend, we will watch a video message from our bishop.
In September of this year, the World Meeting of Families will be held in Philadelphia. Pope Francis will be coming to join in this event, which calls people together from throughout the world to celebrate family life.
During February — which is observed as Catholic Press Month — the Catholic Herald has included information in each issue of the paper showing how the Catholic Herald focuses on families.
In each issue, we have talked about how our diocesan paper focuses on families. Included each week was a quote from Pope Francis’ Message for World Communications Day 2015, which also centers on families.
We are hearing a lot in the news these days about the issue of vaccination of children, primarily because of a nationwide measles outbreak that began in a Disney park in California.
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) report that the current outbreak has resulted in 121 cases of measles in 17 states and the District of Columbia, according to Catholic News Service.
The outbreak has raised concerns about parents who won’t immunize their children for a variety of reasons.
I agree that parents should make the final decision about their children’s health and well-being. There are some reasons why parents might not want their children to be vaccinated. However, parents may have fears that are not based on scientific fact.
We will be experiencing two very different ways to celebrate love this week as we approach Valentine’s Day.
On one hand, the week of February 7 to 14 is observed as National Marriage Week, a collaborative campaign which aims “to strengthen individual marriages, reduce the divorce rate, and build a stronger marriage culture, which in turn helps curtail poverty and benefits children.”
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In case you haven’t heard, we’re in the midst of the Year of Consecrated Life in the Catholic Church. It began in November of 2014 and continues until February 2, 2016 — so it actually lasts more than a year.
An average lay Catholic may think, what does this have to do with me? Why should I be concerned about a year dedicated to priests, Sisters, consecrated virgins, and other persons in consecrated life?
Pope Francis would say, “It applies to every single Catholic person.”
That’s what the Holy Father did say in a letter he wrote on the occasion of the Year of Consecrated Life. He said he wished to speak not only to consecrated persons, but also to the laity, “who share with them the same ideals, spirit, and mission.”
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Audrey Mettel Fixmer died on January 22, surrounded by her family. She touched many lives in her 86 years of life and made significant contributions to the Catholic Herald as author of the “Grand Mom” column for 23 years.
Twenty-three years ago out of the blue, I got a phone call from Audrey Mettel Fixmer.
She told me she had retired from teaching English and was interested in writing for the Catholic Herald. We chatted for awhile, and I found out that she was a member of St. Joseph Parish in Fort Atkinson and seemed very devoted to her faith.
Besides that, she told me she had 11 children (one died as an infant). Wow, I thought. That was amazing!
I told Audrey that we didn’t have a regular column in our paper dedicated to senior citizens. Since she was 65 years old at the time, I thought she was qualified to write about that age group.
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• I’m a student, not a number.
• They really care about me.
• I’m more outgoing, not shy anymore.
• The expectation is excellence. We set high standards in reading and writing.
• Academics are rooted in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
• We preach the Good News.
• When you come out of a Catholic school, you know what service is.
These are just some of the comments made by students and teachers at Catholic schools in a YouTube video called “Catholic Schools/Now More Than Ever” produced by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
It is obvious that the students and teachers on the video believe in what they’re saying. They speak with a lot of enthusiasm about their experiences at their school.
News media reported that world leaders — including Muslim and Jewish statesmen — linked arms on January 11 to lead more than a million French citizens through Paris in an unprecedented march to pay tribute to victims of Islamist militant attacks.
Commentators said the last time crowds of this size filled the streets of the capital was at the liberation of Paris from Nazi Germany in 1944.
While we mourn the tragic deaths in Paris — including the journalists and police who were killed there — I also find it ironic that over one billion unborn children have been killed in the world since 1980 and over 57 million unborn children have died in the United States by abortion since 1973.
Do we have a tremendous outcry about these lives lost? Do we mourn the deaths of these unborn babies?
Eucharistic Adoration has been growing in the Diocese of Madison with parishes having everything from a few hours of Adoration a week to perpetual Adoration at two sites — and a third close to providing Adoration every day.
The January 8 issue of the Catholic Herald features a story and photos from the blessing of the new Adoration chapel at Divine Mercy Parish (St. Aloysius Church) in Sauk City on January 1. The new chapel — the Mary, Mother of God Adoration Chapel — was appropriately dedicated by Bishop Robert C. Morlino on the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God.
