Bishop's Schedule: Schedule of Bishop Emeritus William H. Bullock Saturday, July 12, 2003 4:30 p.m. -- Preside and Preach at Celebration of the Eucharist, Camp Gray Founders' Day, Camp Gray, Baraboo Sunday, July 13, 2003 2:30 p.m. -- Preside and Preach at Celebration of the Eucharist, 100th Anniversary of the Knights of Columbus Council #765, St. Rose of Lima Parish, Cuba City

A salute
to the Schoenstatts

		Comments from the Administrator and Bishop Emeritus + William H. Bullock Bishop Emeritus

On June 29th, the Feast of the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, Apostles, a day when our Metropolitan Archbishop Timothy Dolan received the Pallium in Rome from Pope John Paul II, we here in Madison celebrated the same feast throughout our Diocese but also, in a special way, the 50th anniversary of the Schoenstatt Shrine, dedicated by Bishop William P. O'Connor on June 20, 1953.

Bishop O'Connor referred to the shrine as a powerhouse for the whole Diocese of Madison. It was an historic and a significant day in the life of the local Church of Madison as well as in the full history of the Schoenstatt Lay Movement begun in 1914, the beginning of World War I.

Founder Shrine

The Schoenstatt Shrine here in Madison is among 180 replica shrines built on every continent of the world. Our Madison shrine is called "Founder Shrine" because of Father Joseph Kentenich, the Schoenstatt founder. He is now under consideration by the Holy See for canonization.

"The simple shrine stands as a symbol and source of a solid spirituality. May it become more and more what Bishop O'Connor desired that it be for generations to come - a powerhouse for the Diocese."

Father Kentenich offered Mass more than one hundred times at this shrine. What a privilege for us to stand in the very place where he stood, where he lifted up God's people in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and nourished them from the table of the Lord with the Body and Blood of Christ.

These realities bring joy to our hearts and re-enkindle in all of us a new desire in the new millennium, to acquaint more and more of our laity, priests, and religious with the Schoenstatt spirituality.

It is also significant that we celebrate the golden anniversary of the dedication of the shrine in the very year Pope John Paul II has dedicated the Year of the Rosary because of the practice of daily rosary by Schoenstatt members.

Feast of Apostles Peter and Paul

Our celebration with the Schoenstatt laity, priests, and sisters occurs on the Feast of the Apostles, Peter and Paul, whose statues are found in every Schoenstatt Shrine.

Saints Peter and Paul represent pillars of the Church upon which is built our sturdy, spiritual foundation. It is a happy coincidence, for at the shrine Peter and Paul are looking upward at a picture of Mary, Mother of the Church.

Schoenstatt approach

In this Year of the Rosary, in a year when we are in transition from one bishop to another, when we are still struggling to find deep meaning in an era of terrorism, sexual abuse by clergy, in an age when freedom has become the championed word to do what you will regardless of the moral law of God, we need the sane and tested approach of the Schoenstatt movement.

I sincerely pray that Mary, Mother Thrice Admirable, will intercede for us in our need. I also pray that the Lord who rescued Peter from prison and Paul from "the lion's mouth" will rescue all of us from the jaws of terrorism, hedonism, and gross materialism.

Source of spirituality

The simple shrine stands as a symbol and source of a solid spirituality. May it become more and more what Bishop O'Connor desired that it be for generations to come - a powerhouse for the Diocese.

Special good wishes and congratulations to all Schoenstatt members in your golden jubilee year. Thanks to all of you for inviting me, Bishop Emeritus of Madison, to be your presider and preacher of the day.

May God in his goodness change our hearts, help us to turn over a new leaf, and bring us to Mary, the handmaid and servant of the Lord, to Mary, Mother Thrice Admirable, who denied God nothing.