Tag: Rome

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Mary C. Uhler, Catholic Herald Staff

Ralph Middlecamp installed as president of U.S. Society of St. Vincent de Paul

ralph middlecamp
Ralph Middlecamp joined more than 10,000 members of the “Vicentian Family” for a recent gathering in Rome. He is the new national president of the U.S. Society of St. Vincent de Paul. (Contributed photo)

MADISON — This story has a dateline of Madison, but Ralph Middlecamp will be traveling throughout the United States and the world in his new position as national president of the U.S. Society of St. Vincent de Paul (SVdP).

Middlecamp has worked with the local SVdP for almost 30 years and will remain based in Madison during his six-year term as the society’s national president.

Gathering in Rome

In October, he joined more than 10,000 members of the “Vincentian family” for a gathering in Rome to mark the 400th anniversary of the founding of the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul and the men’s Congregation of the Mission.

The gathering included an audience with Pope Francis in St. Peter’s Square, where Pope Francis venerated a reliquary containing the heart of St. Vincent de Paul.

Middlecamp said the incorrupt heart is usually kept in Paris in a reliquary at the motherhouse of the Daughters of Charity.

He noted that over 200 Vincentian organizations were present in Rome. There are SVdP societies in 150 countries.

The worldwide Church

“My new position allows me to see the worldwide Church at work,” he said.

Besides Rome, he has also visited Paris and will be going soon to Quito, Ecuador, for a meeting of SVdP leaders from the Western Hemisphere.

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Kevin Wondrash

Andrew Showers ordained transitional deacon at St. Peter’s Basilica

ROME — Andrew Showers, a seminarian from the Diocese of Madison, was one of 30 seminarians from the Pontifical North American College in Rome who were ordained to the transitional diaconate during a celebration of the Eucharist on Thursday, Sept. 29.

Cardinal Seán O’Malley, OFM. Cap., archbishop of Boston, was the ordaining prelate at the Ordination Mass, celebrated at the Altar of the Chair of St. Peter, in the Papal Basilica of St. Peter, in the Vatican.

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Bishop Robert Barron

A report from ‘Baby Bishop School’

For the past week, I have been sequestered at the Ateneo Pontificio Regina Apostolorum in Rome, an institution about five miles west of St. Peter’s Basilica.

I’m here for the Formation for New Bishops’ program, more colloquially known as “Baby Bishop School.” My colleagues are about 150 other bishops from around the world who have been appointed in the last 12 months.

The accommodations are fairly spartan: my room reminds me of my quarters in the college seminary, the bed is about two and a half feet wide, and there is no air conditioning. The meals, however, are tasty, and the conversations even tastier.

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Kevin Wondrash

Andrew Showers to be ordained in Rome

ROME — Andrew Showers, a seminarian of the Diocese of Madison, will be ordained as a transitional deacon on Thursday, Sept. 29, at 9:30 a.m. at the Altar of the Chair at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.

Cardinal Seán O’Malley of Boston will ordain Showers and 29 other men from around the United States. A transitional deacon has completed his third year of theology studies and intends to be ordained as a priest.

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Abbot Marcel Rooney, For the Catholic Herald

Pilgrimage: Sign of Christian hope

The Catholic Encyclopedia says, “A pilgrimage may be described as a journey to a sacred shrine or sanctuary for a religious motive.”

People have been making such special journeys for centuries. A pilgrimage expresses one’s faith — for a person believes that God is present in a special way at a particular shrine, because of the holy person(s) who lived or died there, and because of the holy things that happened in history there.

 

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Mary C. Uhler, Catholic Herald Staff

Joseph Baker to be ordained in Rome

joseph baker
Joseph Baker

Joseph Baker, a seminarian for the Diocese of Madison, will be ordained as a transitional deacon on Thursday, Oct. 1, at 9:30 a.m. at the Altar of the Chair at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York will be ordaining Baker and 39 other men from around the United States. A transitional deacon has completed his third year of theology studies and intends to be ordained as a priest.

Baker will participate as a deacon in a Mass of Thanksgiving celebrated by Bishop Robert C. Morlino of Madison on Friday, Oct. 2, at 8 a.m. in the Chapel of the Presentation at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.

Baker is the son of Kay and Mark Baker, members of St. Charles Borromeo Parish in Chippewa Falls. His “home parish” is St. Paul’s University Catholic Center at the University of Wisconsin (UW)-Madison.

A graduate of Catholic schools in Chippewa Falls, Baker attended UW-Madison from the fall of 2006 to the fall of 2007. He then enrolled at St. Mary’s University of Minnesota/Immaculate Heart of Mary Seminary in Winona from the spring of 2008 to the spring of 2009.

He was selected as a Basselin Scholar at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., which he attended from the fall of 2009 to the spring of 2012. He has attended the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome from the fall of 2012 to the spring of 2015.

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Bill Van Wagner, For the Catholic Herald

Pope visits Pontifical North American College

ROME, Italy — Seminarians studying in the city of Rome have the special grace of being in close proximity to the Holy Father.

This closeness is manifested not only in the spiritual sense of being under the guidance and care of the shepherd of the whole universal Church, but in a particular way by being present with His Holiness during Wednesday audiences, Sunday Angelus addresses, and various liturgical celebrations throughout the year.

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Kevin Wondrash, Catholic Herald Staff

Lay movement celebrates anniversary at home and around the world

MADISON — On Saturday, March 7, Pope Francis met with more than 80,000 members of the Communion and Liberation lay movement who filled St. Peter’s Square in Rome and the boulevard leading to it.

It marked the 60th anniversary of the movement, which has the purpose of forming its members in Christianity in order to make them coworkers in the Church’s mission in all areas of society.

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Bishop Robert C. Morlino, Bishop of Madison

Praying for, focusing on unity in the Church

Dear Friends,

This past Sunday we had the opportunity to celebrate a Feast Day which can often pass by unnoticed and under-appreciated by many Catholics.

November 9 is always the Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome, but for those Catholics who do not attend Mass on a daily basis, the opportunity to hear about this feast only comes about when November 9 is a Sunday.

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