On July 4, 1939, Lou Gehrig enjoyed an early Thanksgiving Day. On Lou Gehrig Appreciation Day at Yankee Stadium, the Hall of Fame first baseman told 61,808 baseball fans that he was the luckiest man on earth.
At age 36, he was dying from Lou Gehrig’s disease (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis); yet, he was thankful because God gifted him with great athletic ability, wonderful fans, teammates, and a good family.
As the fall season rolls in and many students are headed back to school, the seminarians for the diocese are all heading back to school to continue with their seminary formation after a much deserved summer break.
Starting this fall, we will have seminarians in seminaries in Detroit, Mich.; Denver, Colo.; Washington, D.C.; Winona and St. Paul, Minn.; Seward,
Neb.; South Orange, N.J.; and Rome, Italy. Their years of seminary formation range from freshmen in college to the final year of theology.
On June 26, the solemn feast of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, the parishioners of St. Mary, St. John Nepomuc, and St. Lawrence O’Toole Parishes participated in the first-ever Eucharistic procession in Fennimore.
Over 165 people participated and some came from as far away as Dodgeville and Prairie du Chien.
At 1 p.m. Fr. John Sasse emerged from the parish hall carrying the monstrance with the precious body and blood of Our Blessed Lord Jesus Christ. Once he was situated under the canopy, the procession began northward down Jefferson St.
Eritis mihi testes — You shall be My witnesses (Acts 1:8). These words addressed by our Lord Jesus Christ to His disciples on the day of His Ascension sets the stage for the apostolic mission of the Church.
When Matt Hasselbeck, the Seattle Seahawks quarterback, was a Boston College junior, he volunteered to spend eight days in the missions of Jamaica during spring break.
The people’s poverty shocked him. But their faith, especially the faith of George McVee, a leper, inspired him.
George, a horribly disfigured leper, had no money, no nose, no feet or hands. Yet he daily thanked God for his blessings.
The Rite of Election of Catechumens and Call to Continuing Conversion for Candidates for Full Communion in the Catholic Church will be celebrated by the parishes of the Diocese of Madison on Sunday, March 13, at 3 p.m., at St. John the Baptist Church in Waunakee.
The youth choir Christina Green belonged to performs just once a month, on the second Sunday at the 9 a.m. Mass. And sure enough, the day after the nine-year-old was killed in Tucson, Ariz., the youngest victim of the shooting targeting Representative Gabrielle Giffords, St. Odilia’s youth choir sang.
It was January 9, the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, and there was just one Baptism at that Mass, a nine-year-old girl.
That wasn’t lost on Fr. Richard Troutman, pastor of St. Odilia Parish in Tuscon, Ariz.
 |
|
| Bishop Robert C. Morlino elevates the monstrance at the new Perpetual Adoration chapel at Holy Redeemer Church in Madison on December 22. (Catholic Herald photo/Joe Ptak) |
MADISON — Dennis Ganser, a parishioner at the Cathedral Parish and the proprietor of Ganser exteriors, had been an adorer for a number of years at the Perpetual Adoration Chapel at Holy Redeemer Church.
Inspired by a strong spiritual impetus from our Blessed Mother, he was moved to donate a striking antique wooden statue of the Virgin Mary to the Adoration chapel. Indeed, the new statue of Mary brought new life to the chapel.
But it was only the beginning. Mary knew Ganser’s predilection for improving and perfecting — his talent for bringing both beauty and functionality to the exterior of homes throughout Southwestern Wisconsin. And so the design of an Adoration chapel more worthy of our Lord had begun.
On September 7, nearly 200 Catholics from parishes across the diocese gathered at the Bishop O’Connor Center to listen to a presentation about the upcoming renovation of the Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration Chapel at Holy Redeemer Church in Madison.
 |
|
I hope each of you enjoyed a very blessed Feast of the Ascension this past weekend, and with you I continue to look forward to the Feast of Pentecost! I noted last week that we, as a Church, are already turned in our hearts and in our minds toward Pentecost and, certainly, with the Ascension of the Lord, we become even more alert in our anticipation of the descent of the Holy Spirit.
As we look at St. Luke’s description of the Ascension, we notice that, interestingly, the “two men clothed in white” who appeared to the apostles after Jesus ascended say to them, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand here, staring up into the heavens? This Jesus, whom you see, going up into heaven will return the same way as you just saw Him go into the heavens.” What does it mean that Jesus will return “in the same way?”
