I was blessed to do a series of talks on the Catechism of the Catholic Church recently at St. Dennis Parish. I was impressed with the intense interest and attendance level every night.
People are hungry to learn more about the Faith and to put it into practice. Copies of the Catechism flew off the back table at an inspiring rate, which made this bishop’s heart very happy!
Sometimes when we are facing problems and challenges in our lives, we try many alternatives to fix the problem or meet the challenge. When all our alternatives are seemingly exhausted, we finally turn to prayer.
We say to ourselves, “Well, I guess all I can do now is pray about it.” In effect, it’s our last resort.
Recently our world has been experiencing many tragedies: conflicts between the Israelis and Palestinians, shooting down of the Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 in the Ukraine, Christians fleeing the city of Mosul in Iraq for fear of being killed by the Islamic State group . . . the list goes on.
In addition, many people have been killed and injured in weather-related disasters. People have been murdered in drive-by shootings and gang warfare in our own country.
What can we do in the midst of all these awful things happening around us? Pope Francis keeps reminding us to pray in the face of each disaster. But are we really listening to him and turning to prayer?
The Diocese of Madison recently released guidelines, developed at the Priests’ Council meeting September 10, for the reception of Holy Communion and other moments of possible contagion during the Eucharistic Liturgy in the context of this year’s flu season.
