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Every year, when we get to late March and early April, there are two things on my mind — Easter and the NCAA men’s basketball tournament a.k.a. “March Madness”.
Do these two marvelous things have anything in common? I think so, if you know where to look.
MADISON — Wisconsin’s Catholic bishops have issued a statement that addresses moral considerations regarding newly-developed COVID-19 vaccines.
In their letter, the bishops acknowledged the devastating impact of coronavirus infections worldwide but also lauded the efforts of nations and organizations to develop safe vaccines that will effectively diminish the impact of the virus.
While the promise of inoculation provides hope for the end of the current pandemic, the bishops indicated that many Catholics have raised moral questions about receiving vaccinations, especially the use of vaccines that utilize cell lines from aborted children in development and production.
There are also questions surrounding the right of conscience and the duty of all Catholics to advance the common good. |
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| More than 3,000 people are expected to take part in the second Unite Wisconsin Rosary Rally on Sunday, Oct. 11, in Madison. Pictured above are clergy and parishioner participants on State St. in Madison during the initial rally on August 15. (Catholic Herald photo/Joe Ptak). |
MADISON — On Sunday, Oct. 11, many will again come out to pray in downtown Madison.
Hoping to repeat the numerical and spiritual success of the previous rally, the second Unite Wisconsin Rosary Rally will be held to honor Jesus and his Blessed Mother.
The first rally took place on August 15 and brought more than 3,000 people out.
Materials for the October event said, “We are all living in perilous times facing EPIDEMICS and THREATS TO OUR FREEDOMS. Our cities are disintegrating into anarchy with RIOTS damaging the property and taking the lives of innocent people. More than ever, we are being called to pray together — to UNITE Wisconsin against all evil.”
The event is being planned in conjunction with similar rallies going on in many other parts of the United States on the same day and will be the conclusion of a 54-day Rosary Novena that started the same day as the previous rally.The following information is from www.UniteWisconsin.com
We are all living in perilous times facing EPIDEMICS and THREATS TO OUR FREEDOMS. Our cities are disintegrating into anarchy with RIOTS damaging the property and taking the lives of innocent people. More than ever, we are being called to pray together – to UNITE Wisconsin against all evil.
God said “If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, pray, seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14)
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| Fr. Richard Heilman |
On Friday, Jan. 31, at 6 p.m., we are calling all pro-lifers to join together on this Feast of St. John Bosco, as we bring “Bosco’s Two Pillars” of the Most Holy Eucharist and the Blessed Virgin Mary to the sidewalks surrounding the Wisconsin State Capitol building in Madison.
We will meet on the State St. steps and then process the Holy Eucharist and Our Lady around the State Capitol. All who march with us will be given Epiphany Holy Water and Exorcised and Blessed Salt to sprinkle around our State Capitol, and call upon God to bless and transform our state and country back to a culture of life.MADISON — The 2016 Challenger varsity football team, comprised of student athletes from St. Ambrose Academy and Abundant Life Christian School (ALCS) in Madison, capped off their undefeated season by winning the WIAA 8-Man Football Jamboree Showcase game on October 29 effectively making them 8-man state champions.
The Challengers, representing the Great Eight South Conference, took on the Panthers from Prairie Farm High School of the Lakeland Conference at D.C. Everest Stiehm Stadium in Schofield.
MADISON — The 40 Days for Life UNITED tour bus will be coming to Madison for a statewide rally on Thursday, Oct. 13.
The rally will be held from 6 to 7 p.m. outside the Planned Parenthood facility at 3706 Orin Rd.
WAUKESHA — Governor Scott Walker signed two bills into law February 18 that, together, are expected to eliminate approximately $8 million in public funding from Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin (PPWI), the state’s largest abortion provider.
Assembly Bill 310 redirects federal Title X family planning funds away from organizations that perform abortions to public entities including state, county, and local health departments and clinics. This will eliminate $3.5 million from PPWI.
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| A child lights a candle in Republique square in Paris November 14 in memory of victims of terrorist attacks. Coordinated attacks the previous evening claimed the lives of 129 people. The Islamic State claimed responsibility. (CNS photo/Paul Haring) |
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Using God’s name to try to justify violence and murder is “blasphemy,” Pope Francis said November 15, speaking about the terrorist attacks on Paris.
“Such barbarity leaves us dismayed, and we ask ourselves how the human heart can plan and carry out such horrible events,” the pope said after reciting the “Angelus” prayer with visitors in St. Peter’s Square.
The attacks in Paris November 13 — attacks the French government said were carried out by three teams of Islamic State terrorists — caused the deaths of at least 129 people and left more than 350 injured, many of them critically. A suicide bomber blew himself up outside a soccer stadium, gunmen attacked customers at cafes and restaurants, and a team of terrorists gunned down dozens of people at a concert.
The attacks, Pope Francis said, were an “unspeakable affront to the dignity of the human person.”
“The path of violence and hatred cannot resolve the problems of humanity, and using the name of God to justify this path is blasphemy,” he said.
Pope Francis asked the thousands of people who gathered at St. Peter’s for the Sunday midday prayer to observe a moment of silence and to join him in reciting a “Hail Mary.”
“May the Virgin Mary, mother of mercy, give rise in the hearts of everyone thoughts of wisdom and proposals for peace,” he said. “We ask her to protect and watch over the dear French nation, the first daughter of the Church, over Europe and the whole world.”
“Let us entrust to the mercy of God the innocent victims of this tragedy,” the pope said.
Speaking November 14, the day after the terrorist attacks, Pope Francis had told the television station of the Italian bishops’ conference, “I am shaken and pained.”
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| Ronald Faust |
In support of the bishops of Wisconsin: As Knights of Columbus we cannot be part of what Pope Francis has called the “complicit silence” of many who hear of atrocities and do nothing. We must act.
I invite you to consider that those same words apply completely and directly to the brutalization of women and children by Planned Parenthood. The intentional, vicious murder of innocents in the womb is an atrocity. That it is followed by the callous selling of their body parts should shock our culture into action.
