Fr. Timothy F. Gericke dies -- Posted: 1/18/2005 Fr. Timothy F. Gericke JANESVILLE -- Fr. Timothy F. Gericke, 65, chaplain at St. Elizabeth Home in Janesville, died on Sunday, Jan. 16. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at St. John the Baptist Parish, Jefferson at 12 noon on Friday, Jan. 21, with Msgr. Paul J. Swain, vicar general, as main celebrant, and Fr. Eric Nielsen, Bloomington, as homilist. Visitation will be from 11 a.m. until the Mass at the church. Burial will be in the parish cemetery. Father Gericke was born on June 27, 1939 in Gary, Ind., to Frederick and Marie Riedelback Gericke. He attended elementary school at St. John the Baptist School, Jefferson, and St. Joseph School, Fort Atkinson. He attended public high school in Fort Atkinson and Queen of the Apostles Seminary, Madison, for high school and college studies. He studied philosophy and theology at St. Francis Seminary, Milwaukee, and was ordained to the priesthood on May 29, 1965 at St. Raphael Cathedral, Madison, by Bishop William P. O'Connor. He served as associate pastor at St. John the Baptist Parish, Princeton; St. Charles Borromeo, Cassville; St. John the Baptist, Waunakee; St. Jerome, Columbus; St. Joseph, Dodgeville; Holy Rosary, Darlington; St. Mary, Platteville; and St. Luke, Plain, with St. Patrick, Loreto. He served as pastor at St. Joseph Parish, Avoca, with St. Malachy, Clyde; St. Patrick, Hollandale, with Immaculate Conception, Blanchardville, and St. Michael, Yellowstone; St. Joseph, Markesan, with St. Mary, Kingston; and St. Thomas, Montfort, with St. John Nepomucene, Castle Rock. Fr. Gericke was also chaplain of Knights of Columbus Council 7489, Hollandale. Prayer for Vocations We pray, Lord, that you continue to bless and enrich your Church with the gift of vocations. We pray that many may welcome your call and, with generous and faithful response, continuously bring joy to the Church. Amen.
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Tsunami relief: Diocese contributes to efforts

By Julianne Nornberg
CATHOLIC HERALD STAFF

MADISON -- Parishes and individuals in the Diocese of Madison have been contributing to the tsunami relief efforts in south Asia and Bishop Robert C. Morlino requested that all parishes take up a special collection to support the outreach of Catholic Relief Services (CRS), which already has a presence in the countries affected by the tsunami disaster.

"We've gotten a lot of calls," said J. Mark Brinkmoeller, director of the Diocese of Madison's Office for Justice and Peace. "Many parishes have been calling to ask, 'What can we do?' Before they were asked, parishes were responding."

For example, collections have already been taken up at St. Raphael Cathedral and Our Lady Queen of Peace Parish in Madison and Christ the King Parish in McFarland, he said.

Moved by loss

John Newman, a member of St. Raphael Cathedral in Madison and a postdoctoral fellow in biochemistry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said it's important that the Catholic community and the nation make it clear that the people in the United States are concerned.

"When I heard of the full extent of the tsunami, I was deeply moved by the scope of the disaster and number of persons who lost their lives," said Newman.

Having friends from Sri Lanka and India, he knows people who have lost relatives in the disaster as well.

"Sri Lanka is a small nation, but their people are very caring for each other," he said. "Families are very tight-knit and strong."

Newman said he felt compelled to do something to help.

"I was in such shock at the loss of life that I felt it demanded an unprecedented response from myself as a Catholic, as a friend of Sri Lankans, as an American, and as a human," he said. "I believe that these events appeal to a deeply humane, basic connection that all people have with each other - the need to give of ourselves to help others when they so desperately need us."   Full story ...