Tag: Benedict

On
Bishop Donald J. Hying

God can shape us into who we are called to be, no matter the challenge

A startling truth that struck me as a young priest was the number of people I encountered in the parish who struggled with chronic depression, anxiety, chemical imbalances, a borderline personality, or other forms of psychological and mental challenges.

Many of them were married, held jobs, volunteered in the parish, and were remarkably productive but suffered profound anguish in their minds and hearts.

Sadly, a taboo still clings to psychological illness.

Most people can talk about cancer, heart conditions, and medical treatments of all kinds, but problems of the mind are often feared and denied.

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Bishop Robert Barron

The maintenance of harmony in the Church

Some years ago, my friend Msgr. Francis Mannion wrote an article concerning the three essential features of the Eucharistic liturgy — namely, the priest, the rite, and the people.

When these elements are in proper balance, rightly ordered liturgy obtains.

Further, from these categories, he argued, we can discern the three typical distortions of the liturgy: clericalism (too much of the priest), ritualism (a fussy hyper-focus on the rite), and congregationalism (a disproportionate emphasis on the people).

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On
Julie Allington, For the Catholic Herald

Tanzanian Night at McFarland parish to support St. Benedict Parish in Illungu, Tanzania

Tanzanian Chicken
Christ the King Parish in McFarland has a sister parish relationship with St. Benedict Parish in Tanzania in East Africa. Pictured above, a St. Benedict parishioner gives Julie Allington of Christ the King a live chicken on a 2019 trip to Tanzania. (Contributed photo)

MCFARLAND — Christ the King (CTK) Parish, McFarland is planning a fun and lively “Tanzanian Night” on Saturday, Jan. 18, from 6 to 8 p.m. to support its Sister Parish in Illungu, Tanzania, in East Africa.

All are welcome to come and enjoy authentic Tanzanian foods, a silent auction of Tanzanian items such as baskets and cloths, 50/50 raffles, informational booths, games, videos, songs by CTK children, and much more. Learn about another culture, while you help a mission and truly make a difference in people’s lives.

Helping parishioners in Tanzania

This fundraiser is to help the parishioners of St. Benedict Parish, who live in abject poverty in the remote and mountainous region of Ilungu.

The primary occupation is subsistence farming of maize, beans, and potatoes on small plots of land. Although most of the parishioners are not starving, they are poorly nourished, and there is little or no income for basic necessities.

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On
Julie Allington, Christ the King Parish, McFarland

Helping a sister parish in the storms of life

MCFARLAND — In Mark 4:35-39, Jesus calmed the storm by rebuking the wind and waves with His words, “Peace! Be Still!”

Today many people live in the storm of poverty, be it material or spiritual. They may be terrified. They may experience physical hardships. They may have lost all hope.

Who will be Jesus to these people? Who will be the voice that speaks “Peace! Be Still!” to their storm of poverty?

As Catholics, we are the Mystical Body of Christ. We are to be His hands and feet and voice to our underprivileged and hurting brothers and sisters in Christ.

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On
Bishop Robert Barron

Hunkering down with Benedict

Rod Dreher’s The Benedict Option: A Strategy for Christians in a Post-Christian Nation has certainly emerged as the most talked-about religious book of 2017. Within weeks of its publication, dozens of editorials, reviews, op-eds, and panel discussions were dedicated to it. Practically every friend and contact I have sent me something about the book and urged me to comment on it.

The very intensity of the interest in the text in one way proves Dreher’s central point, namely, that there is a widely-felt instinct that something has gone rather deeply wrong with the culture and that classical Christianity, at least in the West, is in a bit of a mess.

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On
Bishop Robert Barron

Hunkering down with Benedict

Rod Dreher’s The Benedict Option: A Strategy for Christians in a Post-Christian Nation has certainly emerged as the most talked-about religious book of 2017. Within weeks of its publication, dozens of editorials, reviews, op-eds, and panel discussions were dedicated to it. Practically every friend and contact I have sent me something about the book and urged me to comment on it.

The very intensity of the interest in the text in one way proves Dreher’s central point, namely, that there is a widely-felt instinct that something has gone rather deeply wrong with the culture and that classical Christianity, at least in the West, is in a bit of a mess.

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On
Kevin Wondrash

‘Faith & Fun’ program in Belmont

BELMONT — This year, the focus of the “Faith & Fun” summer program for children at St. Philomena Parish in Belmont was the Year of Faith as proclaimed by our former Pope, Benedict XVI.

Children participating in the program were given a mustard seed and focused on the biblical text: “If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you could move a mountain.”

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Sr. Constance Carolyn Veit, LSP

Listening to God’s call: He wants us for himself

St. Jeanne Jugan was well into her 40s when she established the Little Sisters of the Poor. Some might consider her a “delayed” or “late” vocation, but I don’t think Jeanne was delayed at all. From an early age she had a sense of her vocation.

Jeanne knew that God loved her and was calling her; she just didn’t know where the call would take her. When Jeanne turned down a marriage proposal, she told her mother, “God wants me for himself, he is keeping me for a work as yet unknown, for a work which is not yet founded.”

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Fr. Donald Lange

Being responsible stewards of creation

Seeing with Jesus' Eyes, by Fr. Don Lange

One morning as I walked to the Mound cafeteria for breakfast, I saw the rising sun, like a bright orange-red host, rise slowly from the chalice of the good earth. It was beautiful!

In the cafeteria, two Sisters were also deeply moved by its beauty. One of them exclaimed, “This is my morning prayer!”

Celebrating Earth Day

Sharing a beautiful sunrise or sunset can bond us with others and open us to God’s presence. It can invite us to respect God’s gift of earth. It can help prepare us for Earth Day.

We celebrate Earth Day on April 22. Earth Day was started by Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin to teach and to inspire the public to take better care of the environment.

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On
Sr. Constance Carolyn Veit

The elderly are a blessing, not a burden

As the 20th century came to a close, the United Nations celebrated the International Year of Older Persons, heralding the vision of “A Society for All Ages.”

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The first years of the new millennium have been anything but that, with the abandonment of frail seniors during natural disasters from New Orleans to Japan, the legalization of assisted suicide in several U.S. states and foreign countries, and political rhetoric that seems to consider the growing population of seniors merely as a drain on our health care system and the federal budget. Is this the society for all ages we envisioned in 1999?

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