MADISON — Sometimes, drive-thru service can be a little impersonal, even cheerless.
This year, Madison-area St. Vincent de Paul Society members took a festive annual event curbside to help make Christmas brighter for hundreds of children from local households in need.
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| Sr. Constance Veit, LSP |
In the past few weeks I’ve been asked to speak about loneliness in the elderly on numerous occasions.
I was even quoted in a recent article by Catholic journalist Mary Rezac, entitled “Our Elders Are Lonely — Do We Care?” As we look forward to Christmas, let’s hope we can all say, “Of course we do!”
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| Sr. Constance Veit |
Each October we observe Respect Life Month in dioceses throughout the United States. Although ending abortion remains a priority of the utmost importance, threats to the disabled and those at the end of life deserve our attention as well.
The legalization of medically assisted suicide in Canada in June should serve as a wake-up call compelling us to reach out in solidarity to our most vulnerable brothers and sisters.
During a recent family reunion, my elderly mother and I were the only ones at the table without smartphones. We felt left out.
A few days later I read that Pope Francis advised parents to ban mobile devices from the dinner table to help restore the quality of family relationships.
These two occurrences reminded me of the life of our foundress, St. Jeanne Jugan.
VERONA — Students, staff, and volunteers at St. Ambrose Academy are gearing up to present another musical production.
After last year’s successful and award-winning production of Beauty and the Beast, the school is putting the finishing touches on the family favorite Annie.
This year’s musical will again have a live orchestra as part of the full-length version of the production.
The website for the recent Broadway production describes Annie as the story of a lovable orphan, the title character, who goes on a spirited journey with next-to-nothing at an orphanage and finds her ideal family with big-hearted billionaire Oliver “Daddy” Warbucks.
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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.”
