Fr. Joseph C. Cox died Saturday, Feb. 6, 2016, at the age of 93, at Tivoli at Divine Savior Healthcare in Portage.
Tag: Diocese of Madison
The importance of Catholic schools
As we again […]
John Huebscher to retire after 29 years with WCC
MADISON — John Huebscher says that the Catholic Church has “always been tugging at my sleeve.”
“I’ve always been interested in the Church,” he said in an interview prior to his retirement this month as executive director of the Wisconsin Catholic Conference (WCC), the public policy voice of the state’s Catholic bishops.
“I even thought about entering the seminary,” he said. In fact, his pastor encouraged him to visit the seminary in Milwaukee in 1967 and he met the rector in his office.
Let 2016 truly be a Year of Mercy
Dear Friends,
I hope and pray that you have enjoyed every blessing of the Christmas Season, and I certainly wish you the very best and I pray for the best for you in this New Year and throughout 2016.
The passage of time is a mysterious thing to us and the future remains unknown, except to our God.
Why play on Sundays? Because we have to
To the editor:
Why does the Madison Area Independent Sports League (MAISL) play on Sundays? First and foremost it is due to Diocese of Madison Policy: DBA 6420 (the A in DBA stands for “All” so it governs school and religious education programs): Section I. Travel to games must be kept to a reasonable distance especially on days preceding a school day. Therefore, games after supper are discouraged prior to school days. The player’s education and health must be safeguarded by the coach.
This means we can’t play on weeknights after approximately 5:30 p.m. unless it is a reschedule, and most of our coaches can’t make games prior to that time due to work schedules.
O’Connor Center project nearing completion
People in the Diocese of Madison were recently given a “sneak peak” at the progress of the Bishop O’Connor Catholic Center (BOC) redevelopment.
Peace and mercy comes at Christmas
Dear Sisters and Brothers,
Jesus Christ invites all to know the peace He offers, the only true and everlasting source of joy and hope.
Rejoice during the Year of Mercy
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| 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. |
Dear Friends,
This past Sunday — Gaudete or “Rejoice” Sunday — provided plenty of reason for rejoicing.
In addition to our celebration of the rapidly approaching Feast of Christmas (which celebrates not only the Incarnation of the Lord, but also our hope in the Second Coming) we marked, in a particular way, the beginning of the Year of Mercy in the Diocese of Madison.
Opening the Holy Doors
On this past Sunday we opened the Holy Doors, which are present at the two sites of the Cathedral Parish (St. Patrick Church and Holy Redeemer Church) and at the Schoenstatt Founder Shrine.
As I mentioned in my letter for the opening of the Year of Mercy, these doors should be a place of pilgrimage for us and they bear with them a plenary indulgence granted by Pope Francis.
It should be noted, however, that the indulgence does not simply come upon passing through the doors. There is spiritual conversion that is to be done. You need to grow in freedom from the attachment to sin.
A primary symbol of this Year of Mercy is the entrance through the Holy Doors. So, I encourage you to take the time and consider making several pilgrimages through one of the Holy Doors of Mercy.
In the second reading of this past Sunday (Phil 4:4-7) we have that wonderful admonition from the Lord. “Rejoice in the Lord always! Rejoice!”
Now, if you look around the world with all the violence, and at the collapse of the culture in our own country, and at the war against the Natural Law, against the law of human reason, which is being waged, there’s reason not to rejoice.
But St. Paul says to rejoice anyway — “Rejoice in the Lord always!” Nothing is so big that it can conquer the joy of Christ. Nothing.
Keeping Christ in the forefront
This Year of Mercy could also be called the “Big Picture Year,” where we keep the big picture in mind — Jesus Christ is still risen from the dead!
Apostolate to the Handicapped shares Christmas spirit with disabled, elderly
“This is so cool!” said first-time guest Denise Horn.
The Janesville resident had attended the Diocese of Madison’s Apostolate to the Handicapped Day at the Dells — featuring Mass, lunch, and the Tommy Bartlett Water Show — numerous times in the past, but she had never attended the annual Advent/Christmas Party before.
On the Year of Mercy
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Bishop’s Letter
“I desire that the year to come will be steeped in mercy, so that we can go out to every man and woman, bringing the goodness and tenderness of God! May the balm of mercy reach everyone, both believers and those far away, as a sign that the Kingdom of God is already present in our midst!” — Pope Francis, Misericordiae Vultus, 5
“We serve to ensure that all individuals throughout the 11-county diocese are graciously invited every day to meet the person of Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, face to face and be changed by Him.” – Mission Statement of the Diocese of Madison
To the faithful of the Diocese of Madison,
In calling for an Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy, our Holy Father, Pope Francis, has issued a call meant not only to urge a return to the Almighty, but also to reinvigorate and inspire those of us who try to live lives as followers of Jesus Christ. In fact, the Holy Father has also unintentionally, but not surprisingly, endorsed our own diocesan “mission.”
The Holy Father begins his Bull of Indiction, Misericordiae Vultus, with the following words: “Jesus Christ is the face of the Father’s mercy. These words might well sum up the mystery of the Christian faith.” In carrying out our diocesan mission of “inviting others to meet the person of Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, face to face, and be changed by Him,” we are inviting them to meet the face of the Father’s mercy — to meet mercy incarnate. This invitation is one which is tied up in a challenging realization with regard to who God is and who “I” am, and it should be a profound and even startling invitation for each woman and man who lives in, and grapples with, a world that is nearly completely lacking in mercy.
Our world and our culture offer a great deal of lip-service to certain notions of tolerance and license, but these notions are grounded in a premise that truth is what you make it, and is subject to change, if public opinion is swayed to agree on the matter. Absent a grounding in the Truth and a foundation in humanity’s authentic encounter with mercy itself, all attempts at justice and mercy are mere shadows, structures built on sand. To experience mercy and to grant mercy, individuals and cultures must be anchored in the Truth and in a recognition of sin and repentance.