News Briefs: Workshop on General Instruction of Roman Missal MADISON -- The Diocese of Madison's Office of Worship will present a fall workshop on the General Instruction of the Roman Missal (GIRM). Entitled "Blueprint for Renewal: The General Instruction of the Roman Missal," the workshop will focus on the "what" and "why" of the way Mass is celebrated. The workshop is intended for liturgists, musicians, liturgy committee members, and all who assist in the preparation of parish liturgies. Dr. Patrick Gorman, director of the Office of Worship, will be the presenter at each workshop, which will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. on the following dates and places: Wednesday, Sept. 24, Bishop O'Connor Catholic Pastoral Center, Madison; Wednesday, Oct. 1, Sinsinawa Mound, Sinsinawa; Thursday, Oct. 2, St. Luke Parish, Plain; and Thursday, Oct. 23, St. Ann Parish, Stoughton. Registration is required one week prior to the workshop you wish to attend. Registration fee is $9 per person ($8 per person for three or more from the same parish) and includes a copy of A Guide to the General Instruction of the Roman Missal by Fr. Paul Turner. To register or for more information, e-mail the Office of Worship at worship@straphael.org Adult enrichment activities offered MADISON -- Our Lady Queen of Peace Parish in Madison is offering a variety of adult enrichment programs in 2003-2004. All sessions will be held in the gathering space or church, located at 401 S. Owen Dr. An Education Series begins on Thursday, Sept. 11, at 7 p.m. with Rev. Dr. Karl Kuhn, a United Church of Christ minister, speaking on "Responding to Terror and the Terrible Acts of People: A Lesson from Jonah." He is an assistant professor of religion at Lakeland College, Sheboygan. Other speakers in the series include: • Dr. William Rock, Madison, on "Aging Parents," Thursday, Oct. 2, 7 p.m. • Msgr. Ken Fiedler, pastor of Our Lady Queen of Peace/St. Joseph Parishes, on "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly," a look at 2,000 years of church history, Thursday, Nov. 13, 7 p.m. • Our Lady Queen of Peace parishioners from other countries, on "Christmas Customs," Thursday, Dec. 11, 7 p.m. • Fr. Benjamin Russell, Dominican priest from Madison, on "Morality in the 21st Century," Thursday, Jan. 8, 7 p.m. • Jane DiCristina and Sr. Sue Hetebrueg, Our Lady Queen of Peace Parish, on "Saintly People of Our Time," Thursday, May 13, 7 p.m. A day of prayer will be held Saturday, Feb. 7. During Lent, the parish will offer its popular "Fish and Philosophy" series. For more information on any of these programs, call 608-231-4600. Adult learning opportunities JANESVILLE -- There are several adult learning opportunities being offered at the St. John Vianney Parish Adult Faith Enrichment Center. A Mom's Bible Group will meet Tuesdays at 9:30 a.m. A monthly book discussion is scheduled on the first Monday of each month at 7 p.m. beginning Oct. 6. The first book will be Seabiscuit by Laura Hillenbrand. A series, "Vision of the Gospels," will be held Monday evenings at 7 p.m. on Sept. 22, and 29; Oct. 13, 20, 27; and Nov. 10, 17, and 24. It will be repeated Tuesdays at noon. A series on "What is Catholicism?" will be held Tuesday evenings at 7 p.m. on Sept. 23 and 30; Oct. 7, 14, 21, and 28; and Nov. 4, 11, and 18. For more information, call 608-305-0153. Catholic women deanery meetings Grant Deanery BOSCOBEL -- Tuesday, Sept. 16, is the date for the fall meeting of the Grant Deanery Council of Catholic Women. Immaculate Conception Parish here will host the event. The theme is "Mary, Guide Us to Peace." Registration is at 4 p.m. followed by the business meeting at 4:30. A concelebrated Mass will be offered at 5:30 with Msgr. Duane Moellenberndt, Sun Prairie, diocesan moderator, as homilist. Dinner will be served at 6:30. Sr. Margaret Junger from the Shalom Center in Dubuque, Iowa, will be the guest speaker at 7:30. Reservations should be sent to Liz Hanes, 406 E. Oak St., Boscobel, WI 53805. Cost is $7. Marquette/ Green Lake Deanery PRINCETON -- "Peace and Reconciliation" is the theme of the Marquette/Green Lake Deanery Council of Catholic Women meeting. St. John the Baptist Parish here will host the event Thursday, Sept. 18. Registration is at 3:30 p.m. followed by business meeting at 4:15. There will be commission goals, report on the diocesan convention, and a message from diocesan president, Mary Sykes, Fort Atkinson. A concelebrated Mass will be offered at 5 with Fr. Lorin Bowens, Lime Ridge, diocesan moderator, as homilist, followed by dinner and guest speaker, Msgr. Duane Moellenberndt, Sun Prairie, diocesan moderator. He will present a program on the spiritual importance of confession for modern life. Reservations should be sent to Mary Bonneville, N9020 W. Silver Springs Dr., Neshkoro, WI 54960. Cost is $7.50. Each attendee is asked to bring new or gently used reading material for adults and children to be given to the Catholic Multicultural Center in Madison. Prayer service at Sinsinawa Mound SINSINAWA -- The public is invited to attend a prayer service titled "May Peace Prevail on Earth" Thursday, Sept. 11, from 12:30 to 1 p.m. in the gathering place at Sinsinawa Mound. During the prayer service, participants will receive paper doves to write their personal prayer for peace if they wish. Sinsinawa Dominican Sister Rosanna Gleason will speak. For information, call 608-748-4411. Sinsinawa Mound is located on Cty. Rd. Z, off Hwy. 11. Marriage Encounter for recovering alcoholics MADISON -- The next Marriage Encounter Weekend for recovering alcoholics and their spouses will be held Friday, Oct. 3, to Sunday, Oct. 5, at the Bishop O'Connor Catholic Pastoral Center in Madison. Pre-registration is necessary by Sept. 19. Cost is $225 per couple, including meals and two nights' lodging. Financial assistance is available. To register, or for more information, call Madison Marriage Encounter at 608-821-3175. Support groups for separated, divorced MADISON -- Peer support groups for separated, divorced: New Directions, 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 11, St. Dennis Parish Center, 413 Dempsey Rd., top floor, call 608-821-3170. Friends on a Journey, 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 18, at Our Lady Queen of Peace nursery, 401 S. Owen Dr., call 608-821-3170.

Apostolate
to Handicapped: Record number at summer outing

By Bill Boyce
CATHOLIC HERALD CORRESPONDENT

(See also front page photo.)

WISCONSIN DELLS -- Those who are handicapped teach us what it means to do God's will in the face of great challenges, said Msgr. Thomas Campion, director of the Apostolate to the Handicapped, during the Mass at the 36th annual summer outing at Tommy Bartlett's Water Show in Wisconsin Dells.

Record attendance

Nearly 1,500 people were in attendance, the largest number convened for any of the apostolate events in the past 36 years, according to Monsignor Campion. There was also a record number of priests present - 18 - to concelebrate Mass with Monsignor Campion.

The Apostolate to the Handicapped hosts three large events each year: In the spring and again at Christmas in the Monroe High School Gym and in the summer at Wisconsin Dells.

The format for each of these events is similar, consisting of a Mass, followed by lunch, with an entertainment program following. Because of participants' special needs and the lack of mobility of many in the group, they are able to remain seated at their places and have Communion and their lunch brought to them.

Tribute to volunteerism

Monsignor Campion paid tribute to the scores of volunteers for the event, without whom a program of this scale would be impossible. Each of the events at Monroe High School and at Wisconsin Dells plans and mobilizes a corps of volunteers for the day who prepare and serve food and are on call to assist the handicapped, whatever their needs. For example, a medical staff was on hand, supplemented by other volunteers who circulated among the group, dispensing drinking water in the summer heat.

Another noteworthy group of volunteers were those caregivers who accompany and attend to the handicapped on a day-to-day basis and those who transported them from their homes to Wisconsin Dells for the event.

Finally, Monsignor Campion thanked the members of the Tommy Bartlett Water Show who volunteered their time and energy for the day. These included many of the young men and women who would later perform in the water show, who assisted the Bartlett support staff in safely transporting to the waterfront those needing assistance, who distributed meals, and helped wherever needed.

For about half of the 50 years it has been in existence, Tommy Bartlett's Water Show has hosted the group in Wisconsin Dells and treated them to a special performance. Moreover, they have done so on a "gratis" basis.

Mary as teacher

In his homily that day, and consistently at past meetings of the apostolate, Monsignor Campion has emphasized the many examples handicapped people provide for all of us in the faith community, qualities we should hold in our minds and emulate.

"The Virgin Mary heard the word of God and kept it. She is a teacher, just as you are teachers," said Monsignor Campion in his homily. "Mary taught by her life that you don't focus on the difficulties or bad things in your life; she focused on the good. She showed that when she was told that she would be the mother of the Messiah.

"Sure, it was a great honor, but it brought as well tremendous challenges. Here she was, a young woman, betrothed, but not married, and told she was going to have a baby, with all the challenges that brings.

"And what was her reaction? Her reaction was that of exultation, of joy, of trust. She didn't focus on what was difficult or negative; she focused on the good things in her life."

Secondly, Mary teaches us to do God's will, said Monsignor Campion.

"It was written: 'Be it done to me according to your word.' She didn't understand it all, but she had faith and believed. She did his will. Not easy to do, but she did it.

"Thirdly, she did what she could do with what she had, and she did for others," he said.

Lastly, Mary trusted in God's goodness, his faithfulness to us, he said. "She knew from that fidelity of God that she had the power and spirit within her to achieve what God's purpose and will was. She was our teacher.

Handicapped teach us

"Those of you who are handicapped are teachers like Mary," said Monsignor Campion.

You teach us all "not to focus on what is wrong with us, but what is good about us," he said. "Sure, we're weak, we're limited, we can't see as well, can't walk as well, can't talk as well, but we don't focus on that.

"We focus on that which is healthy, the health of the human spirit. We are people of joy and of faith and of trust, and above all, having gratitude to God for what we have got, and gratitude to others for what they do for us as they're doing for us today in such great numbers."

You are teachers of what it means to do God's will, said Monsignor Campion. "How many of us would choose, if we had our wish, to be in a wheelchair, to be with a walker, to have whatever our disability is? Maybe we wouldn't choose it, but we do what God asks of us.

Tough? Yes. It takes a person of real character and faith to do God's will when it requires such challenges. To do with what we've got, with our conditions, is our mission in life.

"We can all do something. You may say, 'But I'm not strong anymore, what can I do?' You are showing a greater strength today by your courage and determination to join with us, just the kind of guts it took for you today to rouse up from your beds, to come here and join together with others on this, your day," said Monsignor Campion.

"You're doing with what you've got, with your condition in life," he said. "You don't have to be somebody else or to be perfect. You're loved and accepted here today not because you're a perfect person, a perfect specimen of humanity, but because you're people of faith. You're people of courage, people of real strength. Teach us."

Be yourself

Like Mary, "trust in God's fidelity, that he will give us that inner spirit, that inner power to be able to achieve your potential in life," he said.

"Don't compare yourself to others; be yourself. There will always be someone else smarter or faster or whatever. Be who you are; nobody else. Do what you can, nothing else. Use the talents that are yours. You today are the teachers; your teaching is a great light today which shines upon us.

"Thanks for everyone who made this day possible, and thanks to you the handicapped, for being the best of teachers. The Lord be with you."

Spiritual Feast: Theme 'Lord Teach Us to Pray'

MADISON -- Mother Nadine Brown, Foundress of the "Intercessors of the Lamb" located in Omaha, Neb., will speak at the Spiritual Feast on Saturday, Oct. 4, at the Bishop O'Connor Catholic Pastoral Center.

Theme of the conference is, "Lord Teach Us To Pray."

"Intercessors of the Lamb" is an association of the faithful living in community. It includes priests, brothers, sisters, and laity who have been called to continue the redemptive mission of the Lamb of God in the church through the powerful ministry of intercession.

Following an adult conversion to Catholicism, the Lord called Mother Nadine to follow him in a life of prayer and penance as a cloistered religious. Sixteen years later, it was discerned, that he was calling her out of the cloister to bring contemplative spirituality and its intercessory fruits to others. Mother Nadine speaks throughout the country and has written several books on spiritual warfare and contemplative intercessory prayer.

The Spiritual Feast begins with registration at 8 a.m. and concludes with Mass at 4 p.m., celebrated by Auxiliary Bishop George O. Wirz. The day will be filled with inspiring talks, music, book sales, and fellowship. There will also be an opportunity to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation during the lunch period and prayer teams will be available after Mass to pray for individuals with specific needs.

Preregistration is $20 or $23 at the door. Those who preregister before Sept. 27 can partake of the lunch at the pastoral center. The cost is $7.25 and must be sent with the advance registration.

There are overnight rooms available at the center with advanced registration. Single rooms are $30 per night and double rooms with one double bed are $40 per night. The event is free to any priest, sister, or religious.

Mail checks payable and send to: CCR, 214 Sauk Creek Dr., Madison, WI 53717-1818.

Spiritual Feast, sponsored by the Madison Diocesan Catholic Charismatic Renewal, is geared toward all who want to take time out for prayer, praise, and reflection on their personal paths to holiness. For more information call, 608-833-6560 or 608-221-4318.