HAZEL GREEN — Students and staff from St. Joseph School recently completed another successful Christmas outreach activity.
Part of our Catholic faith and identity is to help others in need, so the students and staff decided to live out their faith by helping people they may never meet. But we know that when we help our brothers and sisters, we are living the way Jesus wants us to live.
CROSS PLAINS — Students at St. Francis Xavier School focused on the true meaning of Christmas through prayer, service projects, and spreading holiday cheer.
During Advent, the entire school came together on Monday mornings for a prayer service. Surrounding a large Advent wreath, the students looked on as candles were lit. Students then took turns leading the school in prayer and singing.
Students in kindergarten, first, and fourth grade classes spread holiday cheer by caroling at local nursing homes.
ASHTON — Students from St. Peter School in Ashton, along with Music Instructor LoriAnn Meinholz, thanked their audience for coming to their annual Christmas program on Monday, Dec. 16. This year’s performance was titled The Tiniest Christmas Star.
It was the story told of a “tiny” star who was given the big and important job of shining bright in the sky to proclaim the birth of Jesus on Christmas.
MADISON — For the first 11 months of 2014, Gina Neuville is going on a mission trip with a schedule resembling the closing credits to Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?
She’ll go to Zambia, Malawi, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, China, Nepal, Cambodia, Mongolia, Thailand, and Vietnam “in no particular order,” she said.
Her trip to 11 countries in 11 months is part of the World Race, which has the purpose, according to its website, “to serve ‘the least of these’ while amongst real and raw community.”
EVANSVILLE — St. Paul Parish in Evansville will hold an ecumenical Service of Remembrance on Sunday, Dec. 15, at 7 p.m. at St. Paul Church on the corner of First St. and Garfield Ave.
The service is intended for people of all faiths who wish to remember, honor, and celebrate their loved ones who have passed away. It will include readings, music, prayer, quiet reflection, and a candlelight ceremony to recall each person loved and honored this season. The service will be led by Rev. Luke Bocher, pastor of the Congregational United Church of Christ in Evansville.
MADISON — St. Dennis School in Madison recently held its annual food drive to benefit St. Vincent de Paul.
This year, donations were also collected for victims of the typhoon in the Philippines (several school families have relatives there), including food, clothing, flashlights, toiletries, batteries, and soap.
Principal Matt Beisser set a goal of 4,000 items to be donated during the two-week drive.
MADISON — Saint Jude Hospice now offers loving care for patients and families facing terminal illness from two new locations in Wisconsin: Platteville and La Crosse.
Saint Jude’s mission is to serve all patients, in the comfort of their own home, who are facing terminal illness by bringing healing to those when their hope has changed from cure to comfort.
“It’s a little chilly, but it’s for a good cause.”
Those were the words of St. John Vianney student Genna Laesch as she walked almost five miles with about 70 of her fellow eighth-graders from Janesville’s four Catholic grade schools.
BARABOO — St. Joseph Parish, 304 East St., in Baraboo will hold an Advent Festival of Lessons and Carols entitled “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” on Sunday, Dec. 1.
All are invited to come and pray the prophetic promises of salvation using the ancient “O Antiphons.” These have been sung with the Canticle of Mary since the sixth century.
MADISON — The Madison Area Chapter of The Compassionate Friends is having their 17th annual Worldwide Candle Lighting Service on Sunday, Dec. 8, at St. Peter Catholic Church, 5001 N. Sherman Ave. (across from Cherokee Country Club), at 6 p.m. The Compassionate Friends is a support group for parents who have lost a child/children.
