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.
MADISON — “This is a place where you’ll make a difference.”
Those are bold words coming from Edgewood High School junior DC Morris, but they are true.
Morris, along with 21 other teens, makes up the St. Vincent de Paul (SVDP) Youth Service Council.
Nearly two years ago, the society’s District Council of Madison formed the council consisting of high school students who serve as representatives for their home parishes or schools.
A Sunday afternoon Mass, Aug. 16, at Immaculate Heart of Mary Church in Monona, was part of the annual Diocese of Madison Celebration of Wedding Anniversaries.
For the past seven summers, the middle and high schoolers of Love Begins Here (LBH), along with their leaders, have performed more than 45,000 hours of doing “small things with great love.”
It was more than just the biggest night of their lives — it was a special night for their families, the Diocese of Madison, and the Church as a whole.
No moment symbolically externalized the work of the Holy Spirit more than the thunderous applause for six men who had just presented themselves to Bishop Robert C. Morlino to be ordained to the priesthood.
It was an hour before Mass and the parking lot at St. Maria Goretti Church in Madison was already filling up.
It was a familiar sight that both spring and Holy Week have arrived.
A range of emotions were seen on the faces of more than 120 soon-to-be full members of the Catholic Church on Sunday, Feb. 22, at St. John the Baptist Church in Waunakee.
On Friday, Feb. 6, Max Jonas walked the halls of St. Joseph School in Fort Atkinson, gussied up in a dress shirt, tie, and sport coat, like any school principal would — checking in on all the classrooms, greeting students and staff, and also helping out in gym class.
Her “goal is to be a saint.”
When 16-year-old Kara Jackson’s mother, Christina, helps her daughter tell her story, it all starts there — she wants to be a saint.
Last month and for the second year in a row, I went on a private retreat. Basically, I took some time off from everything in my life, spent a weekend at an area retreat center, and used my self-imposed “free time” to pray, read, reflect, (and sometimes nap!).
