MOUNT HOREB — At 102-and-a-half years old, John has a lot of stories to share.
During World War II, John worked for Lockheed Martin in California to build P-38 planes.
He was taught to be a radio man in the Navy, but he never saw combat after an officer learned he knew shorthand and could type; he was pulled out of line to put those skills to work in Hawaii and Florida Island, a Naval station.
“I knew I wouldn’t go to college, so I took shorthand and typing and all that (in high school),” John said. “And through those subjects, I got through World War II.”
John was a longtime church musician who still plays the organ at his assisted living facility in Mount Horeb. For 30 years, he was a piano and organ salesman.
He and his wife, Bernadette, were married for 72 years before she passed in 2020.
These stories are a brief glimpse of a full and interesting life. For the last few years, John’s close friend, Jane, has visited him regularly to hear all about it.
Jane is a volunteer with Catholic Charities of Madison’s Care Team Ministry, a congregation-based program which provides non-medical services for older adults and their caregivers, including in-person visits, reassuring phone calls, paying bills, running errands and more.
“John is my guy. I visit as often as I can,” Jane said. “I love visiting him. I mean, he’s been an inspiration for me. All his stories, all the things he’s seen, all the stuff he’s done. I can tell there’s just such a strong Catholic faith behind all of that. He’s such a gentleman. When we end each visit, we pray.”
In John and Jane’s case, these visits also include music and singing.
During a recent visit, Jane brought out a ukulele and they sang “I’m Looking Over a Four Leaf Clover,” “Mountain Dew,” and “Five Foot Two, Eyes of Blue” together.
Jane is a church organist and pianist herself, so they’ll often go through song lists for Sunday Mass together and she’ll seek John’s counsel.
“He’s given me a lot of advice about the organ because we’re both just self-taught,” Jane said.
“He’s just a little fountain of information, so he helps me with stuff like that, too.”
Celebrating Catholic Charities Sunday
The Care Team Ministry is one of 20 programs offered by Catholic Charities of Madison.
The organization’s services span a wide range of needs, including help for the aging, people with developmental disabilities, children and families, and those experiencing homelessness and substance abuse.
Catholic Charities has been serving the Diocese of Madison since 1946.
In 2021, Catholic Charities served more than 19,000 people.
“The mission of Catholic Charities is to respond to the call of Jesus Christ, who has asked us to take care of those who are most in need,” said Shawn Carney, executive director of Catholic Charities of Madison.
“We really serve everyone; we make no judgment when they come to us. We treat them all as brothers and sisters and really try to help them, whatever their needs are.”
Sunday, Sept. 18, has been designated as “Catholic Charities Sunday” to raise awareness about the work the organization provides throughout the Diocese of Madison.
“Catholic Charities exists really as the charitable arm of the Diocese of Madison,” Bishop Donald J. Hying of Madison said in a new video released for Catholic Charities Sunday.
“So even though it’s separately incorporated, it’s intimately linked to the whole mission of the Church, which is to proclaim the Gospel, and that hits every aspect of our humanity.”
The video, titled “Going to the Margins,” can be viewed online at bit.ly/ccsunday22
Areas of service
The services that Catholic Charities of Madison provides are grouped into five core areas:
• Aging services: Providing in-home care, such as the Care Team Ministry and CompanionCare, the Adult Day Center in Madison, and the All Saints Neighborhood offering independent living, assisted living, and memory care options for older adults.
• Children and families: Providing support for adoptive families; counseling and mental health services for individuals and families, and in school-based settings; and 10 mobile food pantries in rural areas throughout the diocese, in addition to a brick-and-mortar pantry in Cassville.
• Developmental disabilities: Providing residential services for adults with developmental disabilities in Dane and Marquette Counties and Community Connections, a day center in Janesville for adults with developmental and intellectual disabilities.
• Homelessness: Catholic Charities operates The Beacon day shelter to support individuals and families experiencing homelessness in Dane County; and Housing Navigation Services, which helps individuals and families who are experiencing housing insecurity and homelessness to find and keep their housing.
• Substance use treatment: Providing affordable and effective residential treatment for adults who want to recover from alcohol and/or drug addiction.
Focused on Catholic social teaching
The Church identifies seven key principles as “Catholic Social Teaching.”
These teachings guide Catholic Charities’ response to Christ’s call to witness love through acts of compassion and justice. The principles are:
• Life and Dignity of the Human Person
• Call to Family, Community, and Participation
• Rights and Responsibilities
• Option for the Poor and Vulnerable
• The Dignity of Work and the Rights of Workers
• Solidarity
• Care for God’s Creation
“Catholic Charities really compels us to go to the margins, as Pope Francis would say, and really look for the people that are kind of left out, overlooked, whose needs are not served, those who are invisible, and to go to them with the eyes and the heart of Christ,” Bishop Hying said.
How to help
This Catholic Charities Sunday, the organization asks parishioners throughout the Diocese of Madison to pray for the good work that staff and volunteers provide, to make a financial contribution to help support that work, and to consider volunteering.
To donate or volunteer, visit catholiccharitiesofmadison.org