apostolic – Madison Catholic Herald Archive (2001-2025)

I have always loved the Acts of the Apostles and have often recommended it to those who are approaching the Bible for the first time. Filled with colorful narratives, adventure, martyrdom, persecution, journeys by sea, etc., it makes for stimulating reading indeed.

But I love it especially because it shows us the excitement of being a follower of Jesus. Long before there were parishes and dioceses and the Vatican and other institutional structures, there was this band of brothers and sisters who were so overwhelmed and energized by the fact of the resurrection that they went careening around the world and to their deaths with the message of Jesus.

Word on Fire

On April 21, 2016

Bishop Robert Barron

First thoughts on Amoris Laetitia

On a spring day about five years ago, when I was rector of Mundelein Seminary, Cardinal Francis George spoke to the assembled student body.

He congratulated those proudly orthodox seminarians for their devotion to the dogmatic and moral truths proposed by the Church, but he also offered some pointed pastoral advice.

He said that it is insufficient simply to drop the truth on people and then smugly walk away. Rather, he insisted, you must accompany those you have instructed, committing yourself to helping them integrate the truth that you have shared.

Reflections on Religious Life

On September 17, 2015

Abbot Marcel Rooney

Adaptation and renewal of Religious Life: Role of ‘active,’ apostolic Religious

Editor’s note: During this Year of Consecrated Life, this is the seventh in a series based on the Second Vatican Council’s document, Perfectae Caritatis (Decree on the Adaptation and Renewal of Religious Life) written by Abbot Marcel Rooney, OSB, former abbot primate of the Benedictine order who now resides in Madison.

In this commentary on the decree of the Second Vatican Council Decree On the Adaptation and Renewal of Religious Life, we have reflected upon the meaning of Religious Life expressed by the council fathers.

The fathers gave special attention to the two main expressions of Religious Life in the Western Church: 1) the contemplative and/or monastic life; 2) the active and/or missionary life.

In the previous installment, we reflected upon the contemplative expression of Religious Life. This seventh reflection will consider the council’s teaching on the “active” or apostolic expression of the special call to Religious Life.

Bishop Morlino's Columns

On March 19, 2009May 10, 2021

Bishop Robert C. Morlino, Bishop of Madison

Addressing the ‘credibility crisis’

Dear friends,

As we come to the midpoint of Lent, it is a good time for us to remember to look ahead and to mark down in our calendars the many celebrations and commemorations of Holy Week, and especially the great Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday night — the most important liturgy of the Church year.

We continue to pray for those women and men, and boys and girls, who will enter our Church at Easter, that they might continue to have a grace-filled time of preparation.

Let us all look forward to the Easter Vigil, that we might celebrate with joy, and faith, and a good deal of enthusiasm!

It is a temptation for us, during Lent and even otherwise, to fall short in that enthusiasm which should be ours as Catholics. There is a temptation to get caught up in the comings and goings of our everyday lives, and to get caught up in the politics of our day and age and to forget that which is really most important, that is Jesus Christ crucified and risen from the dead.