Tag: Diocese of Madison

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Bishop Robert C. Morlino

Building culture of mercy, accompaniment

Dear Friends,

Of late it seems that all roads — whether in Rome or at home — lead to one place, to one theme: mercy.

Just a week or two ago, many of us in the diocese were blessed to experience the presence of the major relics of St. Maria Goretti — the Church’s youngest canonized Saint and one of our greatest examples of mercy. If you do not know her story, I highly encourage you to learn about it.

The tour of St. Maria Goretti’s remains around the United States is part of a preparation for the Year of Mercy, which Pope Francis has announced and which will begin on the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception — December 8.

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Kevin Wondrash, Catholic Herald Staff

Thousands venerate relics of St. Maria Goretti in Madison

It was a birthday party unlike any other.

“This has been unbelievable . . . the greatest experience ever for this parish.”

Those words from Msgr. Michael Burke, pastor of St. Maria Goretti Parish in Madison, are the simplest way to sum up the 24-hour period in which the relics of St. Maria Goretti were at the parish from the morning of October 16 — the 125th anniversary of her birth — to the morning of October 17.

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Kevin Wondrash, Catholic Herald Staff

Blessed Sacrament students raise money ‘marching’ for hunger

blessed sacrament students march
Blessed Sacrament School in Madison second grader Jayden Wijeyakulasuriya leaps joyfully past the church during the school’s recent Hunger March. (Catholic Herald photo/Kevin Wondrash)

MADISON — “Show an Attitude of Gratitude.”

That is the theme this school year at Blessed Sacrament School in Madison.

That is the reason more than 60 first, second, and third graders laced up their running shoes and ran or walked around the school block as many times as they could.

The occasion was the annual Hunger March held recently.

Helping at home and around the world

For almost 40 years, the march has been an opportunity for students to make the Catholic values they learn part of their everyday lives.

In recent years, the Hunger March has helped many people both locally and globally.

Proceeds from the march have gone to building a well in Africa, helping a family secure the first month’s rent of an apartment, helping Our Lady of Hope Clinic in Madison — a non-profit medical group that provides primary care services to the uninsured, as well as donating to the Society of St. Vincent de Paul.

Prior to the march, the students asked parents, family members, friends, and neighbors to pledge money per lap they completed.

The march begins

As the 9 a.m. start time rolled around and the inspirational music played, the students finished their stretches and warm-ups and got ready for lap number one.

The students walked as a group for the first lap.

As they completed that lap, the students busted through a Hunger March banner and then some took off running as if they’d been waiting all day to do so.

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Cathy Lins, Catholic Herald Correspondent

World Meeting of Families brings together over 17,000 people

Editor’s note: Cathy Lins and Marie Lins from the Diocese of Madison attended events surrounding the recent visit of Pope Francis to the United States. Marie Lins attended the entire World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia.

The World Meeting of Families (WMOF), held from September 22 to 25 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in downtown Philadelphia, was the largest in history with over 17,000 participants and over 100 countries represented.

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Chris Lee

St. Maria Goretti Parish in Madison hosts tour of saint’s relics

st maria goretti
St. Maria Goretti’s remains are encased inside a glass-sided casket. Inside the casket is a wax statue, which contains her skeletal remains. Her body is not incorrupt, and none of the sacred remains are visible. Nevertheless, the skeleton is complete save for small fragments that have been taken for placement in altars and for use in the Church’s ministry. (File photo)

MADISON — St. Maria Goretti Parish is one of more than 50 sites in the United States to host the major relics of its patron saint, St. Maria Goretti, as part of the “Pilgrimage of Mercy: The Tour of the Major Relics of St. Maria Goretti.”

The relics will be brought into the church at 5313 Flad Ave. on Friday, Oct. 16, at 8 a.m. and lie in repose there for public veneration beginning at 9 a.m. that day until 5:30 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 17.

Bishop Robert C. Morlino of Madison will celebrate a Solemn Mass at 7 p.m. on Friday evening.

Hundreds of pilgrims are expected to walk past the reliquary during the 22-hour period. October 16 is St. Maria Goretti’s 125th birthday.

Fr. Carlos Martins, CC, a Custos Reliquiarum (ecclesiastically appointed curate of relics) and director of Treasures of the Church, will lead the tour of the United States with the sacred remains of St. Maria Goretti. She is an immensely popular saint, and this is the first time her body travels to the United States and only the second time she has left Italy.

The youngest canonized saint in the Catholic Church, the 11-year-old Maria Goretti died July 6, 1902, after being stabbed 14 times in an attempted rape.

Her last words on her deathbed were of mercy toward her 20-year-old attacker: “I forgive Alessandro Serenelli . . . and I want him with me in heaven forever.”

The unrepentant Serenelli famously reported receiving an apparition of his victim within his prison cell, some six years into his 30-year sentence. That occasion began his dramatic transformation from being a violent and ruthless man to that of a gentle and renewed soul intent on spreading devotion to God and his saintly victim. In his words, “Maria’s forgiveness saved me.”

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Mary C. Uhler, Catholic Herald Staff

Holy Name Heights new residential community on Madison’s west side

MADISON — Imagine living in a unique apartment home in a beautiful historic building located on Madison’s west side, close to stores, restaurants, and golf courses.

As an added benefit for Catholics, this building offers weekday daily Masses and Eucharistic Adoration in a chapel featuring a large mosaic of Christ and stained glass windows, including one of Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta.

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Mary C. Uhler and Kevin Wondrash, Catholic Herald Staff

Catholic Charities conference focuses on healthy aging

Gayle Laszewski speaks on wellness  at the Catholic Charities Healthy Aging Conference. (Catholic Herald photo/Kevin Wondrash)

MADISON — More than 150 people came to the Sheraton Hotel in Madison on September 9 to learn about healthy aging at the fifth annual aging conference presented by Catholic Charities (CC) Madison.

Catholic Charities’ mission

Bill Hamilton, director of Aging Services for Catholic Charities, welcomed everyone, saying the day was “a great opportunity to not only educate yourself, but also to be able to share what you learned here with others.”

He outlined programs CC offers for older adults, including: in-home support and personal care, adult day services and respite, caregiver training, and specialized care for those with Alzheimer’s and other dementias.

“Our mission is to help older adults remain independent in their homes and in the community for as long as they want and as long as it’s safe,” Hamilton said.

Hamilton also noted the many sponsors of the conference who had information booths set up where attendees could learn about various services for older adults.

The day included two keynote speeches and a choice of eight breakout sessions.

Learning forgiveness

Dr. Robert Enright opened the conference with a keynote address, “Learning Forgiveness: Finding Hope and Joy in the Senior Years.” Enright is a professor of educational psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and co-founder of the International Forgiveness Institute.

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Bishop Robert C. Morlino, Bishop of Madison

What God has joined together, no man must separate

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,

Marriage matters. Marriage matters on all levels. Marriage matters to the men and women joined together in it, to children, to families, to communities, to our nation, and to the Church. Marriage is foundational to the stability of humankind, to the health and welfare of nations, and to our future.

All of that can be stated without recourse to theology, Sacred Scripture, or to 2,000 years of Church teaching. The fact that marriage matters has been known by human beings since before Jesus Christ was born.

It’s been known since the very beginning, because it is inscribed on the hearts of rational man and woman. Not only can the natural reproductive function of human anatomy be clearly seen, but the natural benefits of a stable, fundamental unit of society, made up of father, mother, and child, can be immediately realized.

God’s plan for marriage

Beyond that, however, we as Christians believe that, in His love for humanity, God has revealed his plan for marriage time and time again. From the creation of Adam and Eve, through the giving of “the law” as recorded in the Hebrew Scriptures, to the creation of a “new law,” in Jesus’ words to the Pharisees, to the elevation of Holy Matrimony to an inviolable Sacrament, God Himself has made clear in extraordinary ways that marriage matters.

Since the time that there was a Church (and before), marriage has been between one man and one woman, for one lifetime, with openness to children. It is for this reason (particularly in defense of the marriage bond) that St. John the Baptist, St. Thomas More, and so many others spoke truth to power at the expense of their own lives; it is for this reason (particularly in defense of the fruitfulness of marriage) that Blessed Pope Paul VI made clear, in the face of much dissent, that human procreation must not be stymied by artificial means of birth control; and it is for this reason in our own day (particularly in defense of the reality of marriage between one man and one woman), that the Church and her faithful have taken such abuse for saying (with love) that there is no such thing as “gay marriage.”

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