MADISON — Pope Francis and the Holy See have given permission for St. Maria Goretti’s casket containing her remains to come to the United States this fall, ahead of the Year of Mercy — which starts December 8.
Msgr. Mike Burke, pastor of St. Maria Goretti (SMG) Parish in Madison, confirmed her remains will be at the church on Friday, Oct. 16 — the 125th anniversary of the saint’s birth.
MADISON — The Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of the Lord, or Corpus Christi, celebrates the Eucharist in more focused way than Holy Thursday. It is traditionally celebrated on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday, although in many places it is transferred to Sunday.
In 1246, Robert of Thourotte, Bishop of Liège in Belgium, had instituted a feast for the Eucharist at the request of an Augustinian nun and mystic, St. Juliana of Cornillon. Corpus Christi was established for the whole Church by Pope Urban IV in 1264. Its Mass and Office were composed by St. Thomas Aquinas (+1274).
MADISON — Christopher West, globally recognized as a leading chastity speaker and author, will speak to University of Wisconsin-Madison’s students Thursday, April 23, at 7:15 p.m., at St. Paul University Catholic Center, 723 State St.
Badger Catholic invites all students and their friends to join the organization’s speaker event, “What is Love? A New Sexual Revolution.”
During the event, students will have the opportunity to learn more about “Theology of the Body,” a bold, biblical vision of love and sexuality written by St. John Paul II.
 |
|
Just a few weeks before the most significant Christian holy day of the year, British Prime Minister David Cameron, speaking on an evangelical radio program, articulated what, for him, is the meaning of Easter.
He explained that the central message of Easter is “kindness, compassion, hard work, and responsibility.” I’m for all of those virtues, but so, I would venture to guess, is any decent person from any background, religious or non-religious. Buddhists, Muslims, Hindus, Jews, fair-minded agnostics, and atheists would all subscribe to that rather abstract and harmless description of the significance of Easter.
In a sense, we shouldn’t blame the prime minister for his characterization, for the Christian Churches in general, but especially the Anglican Church, have not distinguished themselves for the crispness of their doctrinal formulations.
But if that’s all Easter is about, not to put too fine a point on it, the jig is up.
|
|
From the 1950s through the late 1970s, Karol Wojtyla (St. John Paul II) was a professor of moral philosophy at the Catholic University of Lublin in Poland, specializing in sexual ethics and what we call today “marriage and family life.”
He produced two important books touching on these matters, The Acting Person, a rigorous philosophical exploration of Christian anthropology, and Love and Responsibility, a much more accessible analysis of love, sex, and marriage.
These texts provided the foundation for the richly textured teaching of St. John Paul II that now goes by the name “theology of the body.”
The Seat of Wisdom Diocesan Institute is a program of adult faith formation and catechetical certification in the Diocese of Madison.
Clarification to “Hospice Care Deals with Mind, Body, and Spirit” article in the Madison Catholic Herald, November 1, 2012, “Grief & Loss” section
 |
|
| This column is the bishop’s communication with the faithful of the Diocese of Madison. Any wider circulation reaches beyond the intention of the bishop. |
In this past weekend’s Gospel (Jn 6:51-58), we hear Jesus say, “unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you do not have life within you.” What is Jesus talking about, that he’s going to give us His flesh to eat and His blood to drink? Does He think we’re cannibals?
I met a young priest in Fairfax, Va., last week. Of course “young” is a relative term. Everyone around me gets younger with each passing year.
Father Jaffe had been at the parish for less than a week and was the priest on call for the local hospital. It was 2 a.m. when his pager went off. A couple had lost their eight-year-old son hours before and the mother wouldn’t let go of his body.
All attempts of the staff and hospital chaplain to get her to release her son had failed. She sat rocking him, unresponsive to anyone. The woman wasn’t Catholic, but the staff knew from experience that it was time to call in a priest.
When the newly ordained 26-year-old arrived, he did the only thing that came to mind. He sat with the parents in silence for a moment and said, “It looks like you need some prayer.” He opened his rite book, The Pastoral Care of the Sick to the section with the prayers for the deceased and he began to pray aloud.
Cecil DeMille, the famous movie director, was enjoying an overdue vacation at a Maine lake resort.
He was reading a book in a canoe, when he noticed a water beetle crawling up the boat’s side. When the beetle got halfway up, it stuck the talons of its legs to the canoe’s wood and died.
DeMille resumed reading. Three hours later he glanced again at the water beetle. What he saw amazed him. The beetle had dried up and its back began to crack open. First, a moist head, then wings, and finally a tail emerged. Out of apparent death, new life emerged in the form of a magnificent dragonfly.
As the dragonfly dazzled his eyes with its acrobatic flight, Cecil De Mille nudged the dried out beetle shell with his finger. It looked like a tomb.
The water beetle’s amazing transformation reminds us of what happened to Jesus on Good Friday when he truly died on the cross and rose from the dead.
Jesus’ body that rose on Easter was different from the body buried on Good Friday. It was not a resuscitated body, restored to its original life like that of Lazarus or Jairus’ daughter. It was a risen glorified body.
