News Briefs: Knights of Columbus help the handicapped MADISON -- The Wisconsin State Council Knights of Columbus has released the final figures for the recent Tootsie Roll Drive to "Aid Citizens With Mental Handicaps." The April weekend program raised in excess of $622,000. Within the next two months local councils will distribute over $415,000 to local groups and organizations that assist the mentally handicapped. The state committee will have available an additional $140,000 to distribute through their grant application process. Organizations that aid citizens with mental handicaps are encouraged to submit applications for these state committee funds. Grant applications may be directed to: Wisconsin State Council Knights of Columbus, c/o Chuck Simmons State Chairman, 63476 Lohman Ln., Eastman, WI 54626. Fifteen copies of the application are necessary and must be submitted by Nov. 15, 2003. Applications must be written on the submitting organization's letterhead and must contain the following information: an exact amount of money needed for the project or service, what the money will purchase or provide, and how many individuals will be directly served by the grant. Celebration at Our Lady of Loretto Church Museum SAUK CITY -- A special celebration at Our Lady of Loretto Church Museum is planned on Sunday, Sept. 21, at 1 p.m. Because of the shortage of priests to celebrate a Mass, as in the past, Pastor Carol Quinn of the Blackhawk Methodist Church will lead an ecumenical prayer service. A dedication of the donor board, short program, and open house will follow. The 120-year-old stone church is located nine miles west of Hwy. 12 on Hwy. C between Denzer and Leland in Honey Creek Township of Sauk County. This afternoon is planned as a time of remembrance, a gathering of families that once attended the church and for all who are interested in seeing this unchanged building. The antique church museum nestles in the countryside among the hills. Across the road is the Our Lady of Loretto Cemetery, where walking among the gravestones might be considered a journey back through time. West Dane Deanery meeting Oct. 2 MIDDLETON -- The West Dane Deanery Council of Catholic Women will hold their fall meeting Thursday, Oct. 2, at St. Bernard Parish here. The theme is "Life's Changes on our Spiritual Journey." Registration is at 8:15 a.m. followed by the business meeting at 9. Penny Andrews, an ordained minister, mental health counselor, and social worker, will be the guest speaker at 10. She will talk on tools for caregivers as a spiritual journey. A concelebrated Mass will be offered at 11 a.m. with Msgr. Duane Moellenberndt, Sun Prairie, diocesan moderator, as homilist. A luncheon will be served at noon. The afternoon session will feature Dr. William Rock, a medical director for hospice care. He will offer a physician's perspective on dignity and humane care of the dying. Those attending are asked to bring non-perishable food for the Catholic Multicultural Center's food pantry. Reservations are due by Sept. 26 to Laura Ganser, 7501 Hampstead Ct., Middleton, WI 53562. The cost is $8. There is no cost to attend the afternoon session with Dr. Rock. Grief series at St. Dennis Parish MADISON -- People grieving the loss of a loved one are invited to attend a four-week series, "No One Cries the Wrong Way," at St. Dennis Parish. The series will be presented Wednesdays, Oct. 1, 8, 15, and 22, with a group reunion on Nov. 19 from 7 to 9 p.m. in the St. Dennis Chapel, 505 Dempsey Rd. Sessions facilitated by members of the St. Dennis Bereavement Ministry Team (Sr. Lucille Marie Frost, Kathy Saunders, Darlene Woldt, and Duane Woldt) will include a video series narrated by Fr. Joe Kempf, prayer service, group discussion, and refreshments. There is no fee but attendance is limited. To register, contact the St. Dennis office at 608-246-5124 by Sept. 29. Day of Reflection on the rosary MADISON -- A Day of Reflection will be held on Tuesday, Oct. 7, from 9:15 a.m. to 2 p.m. on the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary at Schoenstatt Heights, 5901 Cottage Grove Rd. The day will include prayer, Mass, reflections, and discussions on the rosary in our daily life directed by Fr. Gerold Langsch and Sr. Jessica Swedinski. Suggested donation is $15 and includes lunch. For registration call Irene at 608-222-4655.

Youth Engaging Scripture: Teens learn
to lead Bible-sharing groups

By Julianne Nornberg
CATHOLIC HERALD STAFF

(See also front page photo.)

MADISON -- Teens in the Diocese of Madison will soon be leading Bible studies in their parishes, thanks to a recent youth congress they attended at the Bishop O'Connor Catholic Pastoral Center here.

Sixty-two people from 15 parishes took part in the YES! (Youth Engaging Scripture) Youth Congress, which trains parish teams how to lead a Bible study among their peers. YES! is a project of St. Mary's Press, Winona, Minn.

A parish team consists of two to five high school juniors and seniors and one adult mentor.

At the congress, they learned about the lectio-divina method, a process of reading the Scriptures reflectively, said Dennis Kurtz, coordinator of the teen Bible study project at St. Mary's Press.

Kurtz also trained the teens in looking at commentaries and lectionaries, understanding resources available to them, and getting a sense of what a weekly peer-led 45-minute- to one-hour Bible study looks like.

One of the benefits of training youth in peer-led Bible studies is the empowerment of young people, said Kurtz.

"The adult mentor continues to help teens organize and meet the requirements put forth by the parish," said Kurtz. "At St. Mary's Press, we provide a leader's guide and weekly e-news on how to share the Gospel."

During the congress, Kurtz led an activity illustrating how people should put God first in their lives.

Walnuts represented treasures from God while rice demonstrated temporal treasures.

"When the rice was poured in first - when we take our temporal treasures as our priority - there is not room for all the walnuts because the temporal treasures take up the space," explained Ben Weisse, associate director of the Diocese of Madison's Office of Religious Education. "But when you put the walnuts in first - our treasures from God as our first priority - then all our other treasures (the rice) will fall into place."

Weisse said he was very pleased with the YES! Youth Congress because it gave teens the tools to lead other teens closer to Christ through the Scriptures.

"The key to this Congress will be what the teens do with their new-found information back in their own parishes," he said. "I hope to hear of many Bible-sharing groups throughout the diocese."

Rural Life Gathering: Focuses on 'Being a Neighbor'

SINSINAWA -- In crisis or calm, need or stability, the word "neighbor" has meant "friend" throughout U.S. history.

Yet many Americans today don't even know the neighbor next door, and the constant specter of terrorism in the wake of Sept. 11 stirs fear for neighbors internationally.

People of faith from seven denominations will take up the call, challenge, and celebration of "Being a Neighbor" in a tri-state conference here on Friday, Oct. 24.

Churches' Center for Land and People will host the daylong exchange at its 15th Rural Life Gathering in the Sinsinawa Mound Center. Lay people and clergy from Methodist, Catholic, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Unitarian, Episcopal, and Quaker affiliations, as well as other organizations in Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin will attend.

Being a neighbor

"All the best qualities of what being a neighbor has meant to our culture can be traced back to the shared work and struggle of raising barns, gathering in harvests, and caring for the land together," said Tony Ends, new executive director of Churches' Center for Land and People.

"We trust that this Rural Life Gathering and a meal that farmers in this region will provide, will renew a positive sense of what it means to be a neighbor.

"We especially hope our urban and suburban neighbors, whose consumer relationships sustain or destroy rural neighborhoods, will come spend the day with us. A nation where the word 'neighbor' means 'stranger' cannot hope to have food security. We must have heart in the heartland; we must live and act as friends," he said.

Discussion, action

Nearly 30 facilitators will lead the gathering's morning and afternoon sessions. They'll encourage discussion and action on environmental, social, and economic issues affecting farmers and farming people, food systems, and spiritual values in the Upper Midwest.

The conference will be held at the Dominican retreat center, farm, and complex buildings on County Z off Hwy. 11 in southwestern Wisconsin.

For information, call 608-748-4411, ext. 805, or e-mail cclp@mwci.net. Pre-registration is $25, couples and groups are $20 each, and students $18.

Churches' Center for Land and People is a 14-year-old nonprofit organization working for stewardship, community, spirituality, and justice in the tri-state region. The gathering this year will honor outgoing director Sr. Miriam Brown and seek public input on a new initiative for the center.

This initiative will bring urban and suburban churches together with rural ministries to support young people in alternative, sustainable, and organic farm training and placement.