Tag: john

On
Kevin Wondrash

St. John the Baptist students raise funds for tornado victims

JEFFERSON — First graders at St. John the Baptist School in Jefferson recently helped to raise funds to help the victims of the devastating spring tornadoes in Oklahoma.

The 20 students in Lisa Kotz’s class were very concerned with the people who were injured, lost their homes, or had to deal with the tragic deaths of family and friends.

Adding to their daily prayers, the first graders decided that they had a responsibility to be the “hands and feet of Christ” in reaching out to their brothers and sisters in need.

Read More
On
Cathy Lins, for the Catholic Herald

Sister brings joy to others despite terminal cancer

CROSS PLAINS — There’s a special parking space in front of St. Francis Xavier’s parish office — a cone with lots of markings letting people know — this spot is reserved for Sister John Rose.

In recent weeks, you could see signs all around Cross Plains asking for prayers and encouraging her to, “Hang in there, Sister!” I found her inside the church, moving around the facility, attending to visitors.  She was willing to take a little time to talk about her recent diagnosis.

Sr. John Rose Acker has been involved in pastoral ministry at St. Francis Xavier Parish in Cross Plains for 23 years, where she ministers to the sick, elderly, and dying. Prior to that, she was a teacher for 32 years. She celebrates 62 years as a School Sister of St. Francis this year.

Read More
On
Kevin Wondrash, Catholic Herald Staff

‘Do you love me? . . . Feed my sheep’

Last weekend in Madison, more than 100,000 meals were packed for hungry people at home and around the world.

A good number of the meals are going to children. Many of the meals were packed by children.

Saturday, March 16, was the second annual Lenten “Feed My Sheep” food-packing day at the Catholic Multicultural Center (CMC) in Madison.

The driving force behind the event is “6:8,” a group based out of Prairie du Sac that spearheaded a fundraising event and brought the money needed for the 100,000 meals. Last year, the group raised enough money to package more than 68,000 meals.

The executive directors of 6:8 are the husband and wife team of John and Sarah Ramthun.

As volunteers, including many children of all ages, poured into the chapel at the CMC for orientation, John shared the message of 6:8: “We desire to transform communities by making service personal,” said John.

Read More
On
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.”

Read More
On
Msgr. James Bartylla, Vicar General

From the Threshold of the Apostles

Notes from the Vicar General, by Msgr. James Bartylla

“Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and abode with him fifteen days” (Galatians 1:18).

In my previous two-part preparatory article, I outlined the historical context and current format and content of the ad limina apostolorum pilgrimage, literally, “to the threshold of the apostles,” by bishops to Rome on a quinquennial basis, i.e., five-year basis.

Bishop Robert C. Morlino and the bishops of Region VII, comprising Wisconsin, Illinois, and Indiana, recently completed their pilgrimage and I’ll offer a brief reflection in thanksgiving as a privileged pilgrim accompanying Bishop Morlino on the ad limina pilgrimage.

I extend my deepest thanks to Bishop Morlino for the opportunity to assist him and accompany him on the ad limina pilgrimage.

Read More
On
George Weigel

Remembering Pope John Paul II

The Catholic Difference by George Weigel

Strange as it may seem, I’ve been vaguely worried about the beatification on May 1 of a man with whom I was in close conversation for over a decade and to the writing of whose biography I dedicated 15 years of my own life.

My worries don’t have to do with allegations of a “rushed” beatification process; the process has been a thorough one, and the official judgment is the same as the judgment of the people of the Church.

I’m also unconcerned about the fretting of ultra-traditionalists for whom John Paul II was a failure because he didn’t restore the French monarchy, impose the Tridentine Mass on the entire Church, and issue thundering anathemas against theologians and wayward politicians.

Read More
On
John Huebscher

Common good must be focal point of budget debate

Eye on the Capitol by John Huebscher

Now that the governor has presented his state budget to the Legislature, fiscal issues and spending priorities will dominate the legislative agenda for the next several months.

First, the Joint Committee on Finance will hold hearings on the proposals. Then some of the standing committees may hold “subject matter” hearings on aspects of the budget related to their areas of expertise.

Read More
On
Dave Kuhle

Jesus came not to bring new laws, but to fulfill old laws

To the editor:

From the time I was in parochial school 50 years ago, I believed that Jesus replaced the old laws with new laws and gave us two new commands: to love God and one another. But I was wrong.

We frequently hear sermons at Mass that Jesus gave us new commandments, and in Tony Magliano’s article in the December Catholic Herald, regarding what Jesus would do if he were here today. Magliano wrote, “. . . consider John 13:34. Here, Jesus says: ‘I give you a new commandment: love one another.’” Magliano writes that Jesus’ commandment to love one another is new, and is vastly better than the old commandments which required an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.

But a thorough understanding of John 13:34 reveals that when Jesus said, “I give you a new commandment: love one another,” he did not recite a new commandment, but quoted a 1,200 year old passage prescribed by Moses in Leviticus 19:18, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.”

Read More