News Briefs: Barry Alvarez to speak in Janesville JANESVILLE -- Barry Alvarez, University of Wisconsin-Madison athletic director and football coach, will speak at St. John Vianney Parish in Janesville on Wednesday, June 16. The fundraising event begins at 5 p.m. in the parish gym, 1250 E. Racine St., Janesville. The event will include a silent auction, raffles, and a tailgate buffet. Alvarez, the winningest coach in Wisconsin football history, is the featured speaker. Tickets are $50 and are available at the parish office, 1245 Clark St., Janesville, 608-752-8708, as well as the office of Dr. Paul Romanelli, 1504 N. Randall, Janesville. For more information or tickets interested persons may also call Bill and Jeanne Vogt, 608-756-1085, or Stan and Deb Addie, 608-756-3275. Sinsinawa retreat June 27 - July 2 SINSINAWA -- "Friendship in the Book of Sirach and the Gospel of John," a retreat comparing today's friendships and relationships with those in Biblical times, will be held June 27-July 2 at Sinsinawa Mound. The registration deadline is June 21 and a fee is charged. This conference-style retreat with prayer, presentations, and discussion explores relationships with God in the Bible as well as human friendships within the books of Sirach and the Gospel of John. Group leaders are Sinsinawa Dominican Sister Mary Margaret Pazdan, professor of Biblical studies at Aquinas Institute of Theology in St. Louis, Mo., and Rev. William Irwin, an Old Testament scripture scholar and president of Assumption University in Ontario, Canada. For more information about this or other Mound events, contact Sheila Heim at 608-748-4411, ext. 869, or visit www.sinsinawa.org/moundcenter Sinsinawa Mound, motherhouse for the Sinsinawa Dominican Sisters, is located on Cty. Rd. Z, off Hwy. 11, about five miles northeast of Dubuque. Support groups for divorced, separated MADISON -- Peer support groups for those hurting from separation, divorce, or loss of a significant relationship are open to all ages/faiths at two parishes. New Directions will meet from 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday, June 10, at St. Dennis Parish Center, 413 Dempsey Rd., top floor. For information, call 608-821-3170. Friends on a Journey will meet from 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday, June 17, at Our Lady Queen of Peace nursery, 401 S. Owen Dr. For information, call Paul at 608-862-3613. St. Marys cancer program MADISON -- St. Marys Hospital Medical Center is offering an eight-week program of "I CAN COPE" beginning Monday, July 5. The program runs for eight consecutive Mondays, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., through Monday, Aug. 23. It will be held at St. Albert the Great Parish, 2420 St. Albert Dr., Sun Prairie. "I CAN COPE" - an American Cancer Society Program - is for people with cancer and anyone touched by cancer, such as a spouse, family member, friend, or other support person. The program offers information, support, and encouragement in dealing with cancer. The class is free and open to the public. To sign up for "I CAN COPE," call St. Marys Hospital Public Relations and Marketing at 608-258-5065. Diocesan Choir to travel to Ireland MADISON -- The Madison Diocesan Choir, directed by Dr. Patrick Gorman, will travel to Ireland Friday, June 18, through Friday, July 2. During their visit, they will perform concerts at various chapels and churches. The Madison Diocesan Choir is a music ministry dedicated to the mission of fostering and encouraging full, conscious, and active participation in the liturgy in the Diocese of Madison. Relay for Life at Bishop O'Connor Center MADISON -- Madison's walkers go around the clock in the battle against cancer during the American Cancer Society's Relay For Life in Madison. This "celebration of life" brings groups and individuals concerned about cancer together for a unified effort to fight back. Teams will gather at the Bishop O'Connor Center at 702 S. High Point Rd. for an overnight relay against cancer from 4 p.m. on Friday, July 9, until 10 a.m. on Saturday, July 10. Information about how to form a team or become involved in Relay For Life is available by calling 608-662-7588 or 1-800-ACS-2345.
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Corpus Christi procession: To be held at Holy Redeemer Parish June 13

PERRY -- Holy Redeemer Parish's annual Corpus Christi procession will be held Sunday, June 13, as part of a special 2 p.m. Mass.

The Solemnity of The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ (formerly known as Corpus Christi) is celebrated on the Sunday following Trinity Sunday. This day commemorates the Lord's institution of the Eucharist.

Displaying faith

The traditional procession on the Feast of Corpus Christi honors the Holy Eucharist. They were not prescribed in the early papal decrees, but have become a feature of this feast's celebration by the faithful, a practice borne out of European traditions. The decoration of the streets throughout a village and the hymns of praise led all to display their faith in Christ and to give honor openly to His name.

The elevated host, the Body of Christ, goes forth among the people who worship. Following the Mass, members of the parish carry the canopy, the Himmel, under which the Blessed Sacrament (in the ciborium) is carried by the parish priest. Children participate in the procession strewing flower petals along the pathway in adoration. The choir and adult parishioners march in procession singing hymns from one chapel to another.

Traditional procession

At Holy Redeemer Parish, the traditional procession includes much of the pomp and circumstance. Various parish families decorate the three miniature chapels outlining the procession route in preparation of the feast.

Before the permanent fixtures were constructed, three wooden altars were erected.

Former parishioner, Marie Lamberty of Cross Plains, recalls draping seven to nine sheets over roughly-hewn altars. "These altars were set up on the outside of the cemetery, making the route a quarter mile long."

Presently, manicured lawn marks the trail between the three chapels. The rosary is said to the cadence of the church's resounding bell. The flowers and ceremonial march bring to mind "days of old" as songs and prayers guide participants' thoughts.

The prayers and formal readings used remind those of what happened at the Last Supper on Holy Thursday night. As parishioners approach each chapel, they pass to one side or the other as the celebrant raises the ciborium in blessing.

Holy Redeemer Parish invites the Madison diocesan family to attend the outdoor spirit-filled, time-honored traditional Corpus Christi procession. A reception will follow immediately in the parish hall.

To get to Holy Redeemer Church, take Highway 78 south from Mount Horeb (approximately five miles). Turn left on Spring Valley Rd. and travel a little over one mile. A sign for Holy Redeemer Parish is located at the end of driveway on left.

Minimum wage: Catholic Conference supports increase

MADISON -- The Wisconsin Catholic Conference (WCC) has endorsed a proposed increase in the state minimum wage.

"We believe such an increase in the minimum wage is consistent with the tenets of Catholic social teaching on the dignity of workers, the stated principles driving welfare reform at both the state and federal levels, and the needs of low-income wage earners in our state," WCC Executive Director John Huebscher stated in written testimony submitted recently to the Department of Workforce Development.

The department is conducting hearings on a proposal from Governor Jim Doyle to boost Wisconsin's minimum wage from $5.15 per hour to $5.70 per hour after Oct. 1, 2004 and to $6.50 per hour after Oct. 1, 2005.

Dignity of workers

WCC's support for the increase is grounded in a consistent theme of Catholic teaching on the rights of workers. Huebscher cited Pope John Paul II's 1981 letter, On Human Work, that "work is in the first place 'for the worker' and not the 'worker for the work.'"

"Just as every human life has value, so too does every worker have dignity," Huebscher noted.

In Catholic social thought the concept of rights and responsibilities is related to human dignity and workers' wages.

"The right of every person to a job is grounded in the twin responsibility to develop, at a minimum, one's own God given skills to the fullest and to provide for one's own needs and those of one's family. This is why Catholic social teaching has long defined a just wage in terms of a 'family wage,' or that necessary to meet the needs of a family," Huebscher argued.

Lowest in nation

Currently, a full-time worker earning the minimum wage makes $10,712 annually, nearly $4,000 below the poverty line for a family of three. Adjusted for inflation, the minimum wage is actually $4.67 and falling.

According to the Department of Workforce Development, 75 percent of Wisconsin's minimum wage workers work in the entertainment, recreation, hospitality, food, and accommodations industries. Those in the food and accommodations industries earn the lowest wages in the nation.

Share responsibility

In his testimony, Huebscher observed that the responsibility to treat workers justly is not limited to those who hire them.

"This duty also extends to institutions that influence the conditions of work, such as government, financial organizations and others who determine the structures and conditions in which work is performed.

"In a free market economy and a pluralistic democracy, individuals contribute to the formation of economic conditions and therefore may also be considered 'indirect employers.'"

"We must ask ourselves, 'What wage do those who help us enjoy our leisure activities deserve, so that they may earn enough to pay for their own essentials?'" Huebscher said.

'Working poor'

The WCC noted that raising the minimum wage accords with one of the basic principles of Wisconsin Works (W-2), namely that the fairness of the program should be measured by how the working poor are treated.

"If the wages paid to all workers, even the 'working poor,' are truly just wages that enable them to support families or prepare to do so, then the words 'only work should pay' will ring true.

"If, however, society tells the poor they should work and then refuses to insist they receive a just wage for their work, then the words 'only work should pay' will ring hollow and our welfare and economic policies will fail a basic test of social justice."