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	News Briefs: Vigil of Pentecost: Mass and prayer for priests at Bishop O'Connor Center MADISON -- The Diocesan Service Committee of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal invites all to celebrate the Vigil of Pentecost on Saturday, May 26, at the Bishop O'Connor Catholic Pastoral Center, 702 S. High Point Rd., Madison. Fellowship and refreshments will begin at 4 p.m. There will be Eucharistic Adoration; intercessory prayers for priests, deacons, and seminarians; and Benediction starting at 5:30 p.m. Prayer and praise will begin at 6:30 p.m. followed by Mass at 7 p.m. with Fr. Rick Heilman as celebrant. Each person attending will be given the opportunity to take the name of a priest and will be asked to make a faithful commitment to pray daily for that priest during the next year. With the shortage of priests and the many demands placed on them, prayers are needed for their health, spirituality, and strength. This is a way of saying thank you to our priests, deacons, and seminarians. For more information, call 608-833-6560. Presentation on over-the-counter drugs NEW GLARUS -- Monroe Clinic and Nephrologist Ambreen Gul are hosting "The Dangers of Over-the-Counter Drugs," a community presentation to help attendees learn how the body processes drugs, as well as the serious side effects of herbal and non-herbal medications. The presentation will be held on Thursday, May 24, at 6 p.m. at Monroe Clinic-New Glarus, 1800 Second St. in New Glarus. Refreshments will be served at this free event. To register, call 1-877-865-1462 or go to www.monroeclinic.org and click on "Classes & Events." LAMP: To hold workshop on May 19 at Multicultural Center MADISON -- The Latin American Mission Program (LAMP) Workshop for volunteers going to Mexico this summer will be held at the Catholic Multicultural Center, 1862 Beld St., Madison, on Saturday, May 19. The workshop will include a Spanish Mass, travel information, teaching ideas, arts and crafts ideas, experiences of former volunteers, slides, and an opportunity to meet the volunteers for this year. For further information, write LAMP, P.O. Box 85, Madison, WI 53701-0085 or call 608-845-7028 or 608-868-7816. Nominate someone for "Profiles from the pew" To nominate someone to be featured in "Profiles from the pew," download a nomination form (PDF file, 269 KB). "Profiles from the pew" runs in the Catholic Herald print edition NOTE: The nomination form is a Portable Document Format file (PDF), which can be viewed using the freely available Adobe® Reader® software. Many computers already have this software and will automatically open the document when you click the nomination form link, above. Adobe Reader is a registered trademark of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries.

New program: God's plan for a joy-filled marriage

By Andy Galvin
DIOCESE OF MADISON FAMILY MINISTRY

Couples preparing for marriage today face enormous challenges. Statistically, around half of all marriages will end in divorce. The world around them is saturated with an ethic of sexual freedom and individuality that weakens their morality and their marriage commitment.

	Previous articles: May 10, 2007 edition: • Theology of the Body: From Pope John Paul II • Theology of the Body events

Many couples have a limited understanding of their faith. Intensifying the problem is the limited time priests and other marriage mentors have with couples before marriage. These situations add up to thousands of couples entering marriage mostly ill-equipped to face the challenges of married life.

Theology of the Body

This reality is starting to change, though, as Pope John Paul II's "Theology of the Body" begins to take root in the thinking and practice of the Catholic Church.

"Marriage preparation ministry is one of the hardest ministries in the Church today because the culture has dominated so much of our perspectives on marriage and sexuality. As a result, the couples who come to us are very often in great need of catechetical and spiritual formation" explains theologian Christopher West.

"If we are to reclaim the Christian sexual ethic and rich understanding of marriage, we need a new language to speak to the culture. The 'theology of the body' is that language."

Marriage preparation

An estimated 90 percent of engaged couples getting married in the Catholic Church are sexually active and at least half are co-habitating before marriage. As a result priests and others in marriage preparation ministry are now aggressively working to find solutions.

The Diocese of Madison is turning to a program that may be the answer - God's Plan for a Joy-Filled Marriage, a marriage preparation supplement created by West and a team of marriage preparation professionals to strengthen marriage preparation efforts. The program is being embraced by other dioceses throughout the country.

Beginning in the early 1970s, the Catholic Church dedicated new resources to marriage preparation with a strong infusion of psychology and skill building techniques. "The models used by many programs were 'witness-based' approaches, wherein persons or couples would share their testimony and discuss the necessary skills needed to live marriage.

"In the short term, this approach is good to help stir someone's heart and give them necessary skills," explains Matthew Pinto, president of Ascension Press, the publisher of the God's Plan program. "One short-coming, though, is that when the inevitable storms of married life arrive, couples do not necessarily have the spiritual and moral formation to weather these storms."

Not a replacement

God's Plan is not intended to replace the current diocesan marriage preparation day, but rather to supplement it with two key components of marriage preparation: the theology of marriage and the teachings on human sexuality.

It is the first program of its kind to integrate thoroughly the "new language" of Pope John Paul II's Theology of the Body in its presentation of Church teaching. The program demonstrates the "whys" behind the "whats" of Catholic teaching in a non-threatening and convincing manner. It helps couples understand the beauty of God's plan for marriage and the joy of living it.

"This program is designed to provide couples with the tools to live married life as God intends," says West, who authored the best-selling book Good News About Sex and Marriage. "The emphasis is not on simply coping with the Church's teaching, but fully embracing and even celebrating this challenging but glorious vision of what the Church proposes about marriage," explains West.

Content of program

For many couples, there is a certain "catechetical" vacuum in their lives that needs to be filled. Most couples after experiencing the God's Plan program walk away with a greater understanding of the foundational teachings of the Church on sex and marriage.

The first three presentations of the God's Plan program focus on a biblical vision of God's plan for marriage and explain the commitments a couple makes in their exchange of vows. The final three presentations apply all presented in the first three presentations to questions of sexual honesty regarding premarital and marital sex, with strong emphasis on the benefits of Natural Family Planning.

Positive signs

God's Plan for a Joy-Filled Marriage has not only garnered praise from family life educators and engaged couples throughout the country, its effectiveness has been substantiated by statistics collected over several years from more than 2,000 engaged couples.

While 91 percent of couples coming into the program were engaging in premarital sex, 48 percent of those same couples, after attending the program, said they were definitely going to save sex for marriage and 20 percent said they would consider doing so. In addition, 31 percent reported that they will "definitely use NFP" in their marriage.

"If the couples are indifferent or hostile, they may end the day pretty much as they came in. But if they are open, the beauty of these teachings begins to attract them," explains Legionnaire Father Walter Schu, author of the book Splendor of Love, which focuses on the Theology of the Body.

Offering program here

Sensing an urgent need to strengthen our existing marriage preparation program, the Diocese of Madison will implement the God's Plan for a Joy-Filled Marriage this fall. Starting in August, engaged couples will be asked to attend the God's Plan program in addition to the current marriage prep day.

But in order to launch this program successfully, individuals and couples are needed to facilitate the new days! The diocese has scheduled training for the God's Plan for a Joy-Filled Marriage for June 22 to 24 in Madison. Attendees will be trained in the content, methodology, and delivery to ensure a consistent and invitational message. It is our hope that 20 facilitators from around the diocese will step forward to help with this essential ministry.

All costs of training, including materials, meals, and lodging will be covered by the diocese. Lack of money should not prevent any couple or individual from attending this training.

Who should attend the training? Any individual or couple that values marriage and is willing to commit their time to the effort. Knowledge of Theology of the Body and church teaching on marriage is important, but what you may lack we can help prepare you!

What are the benefits for the facilitators? Threefold: You get to serve others in a ministry that will have long-term effects for our diocese, our church, and the culture we live in. You will become familiar with the Theology of the Body, one of the cornerstones of the Holy Spirit's Springtime of Faith.

And if married, your marriage will be strengthened, perhaps taking it to a level of love and commitment you never dreamed possible!

Next week - God's Plan for Sexuality

St. Mary's Hospital:
Keeping Catholic values as it grows

By Kat Wagner
CATHOLIC HERALD STAFF

MADISON -- The sawdust is still on the floor and you definitely have to watch your step, but St. Mary's new expansion is starting to show signs of becoming a hospital.

Members of the press recently were invited to take a look around the site of the future inpatient and outpatient facilities on the eastern half of the St. Mary's Hospital campus. Equipped with hardhats and goggles, we viewed the future surgical suites and emergency care area, as well as a few of the patient rooms that already had their dark wood furniture installed and walls painted a soothing array of cool pastel colors.

New buildings

The new St. Mary's outpatient building, with its surgery and care center, digestive health center, and physician offices, is projected to open in December.

The inpatient building, set to open next month, contains not only a more expanded and efficient layout for cardiovascular care, but also a "fast track" emergency department with easy access to the new helipad, a medical imaging department located next to the ER and cardiac services for convenience, and more, larger surgical suites.

Some of the most impressive features of the new buildings include a Digital Picture Archive Communication system, which can relay photos taken in the Centralized Medical Imaging Department to provide instant feedback, even on the flat-screen televisions in patients' rooms; a doubling of the emergency department beds; and the "Heart Hospital Within a Hospital" cardiovascular care center that includes four operating suites, an intensive care unit and an intermediate care unit, and a preventative cardiology clinic with a state-of-the-art rehabilitation center.

The project cost approximately $182 million over 10 years. But the move is justified by its recorded 15 percent increase in inpatients in the past three years and the expected 31 percent increase in inpatient care and 47 percent jump in outpatient visits in the next seven years as Baby Boomers age and the Dane County population continues to grow.

Heritage of healing

This larger campus is a great change from St. Mary's humble roots as a project of the Sisters of Mary, who later joined with the Sisters of St. Francis to become the Franciscan Sisters of Mary. The Sisters had already opened hospitals in several other cities, including St. Louis and Oklahoma City.

The 70-bed, red brick building with grey limestone trim was opened on September 22, 1912 and since that time has continued to maintain its Catholic tradition in Madison.

"The Sisters have taught us well and hardwired in our genome our values," said Dr. Frank Byrne, president of St. Mary's. The few Sisters left from the dwindling number in the area still meet with them to keep an eye on things. "We're still a Catholic hospital, still sponsored by the Franciscan Sisters of Mary," he emphasized.

Catholic values

Catholic values can be seen in the way St. Mary's worked with the surrounding community to create the best plan for the buildings, with the parking structure nearest the main thoroughfare on Park St., to cut down on traffic through the residential streets.

They can be seen in the way 63 percent of the onsite materials were recycled during the expansion, which saved more than $78,000 in disposal costs and helped the environment.

They can be seen in the way green space is going to become an important part of the campus, with not only the indoor and rooftop gardens but outdoor spaces as well.

Family space will become an important part of the design for visitors and patients, making the hospital very homey for those away from home.

They can even be seen in the way St. Mary's works to preserve its history. The original red brick building, built in 1912, remains central to the hospital. The main entrance to the hospital will soon be returned to Brooks St., where it had originally been.

A local artist designed glass that used the imprints of the old oak trees that had been on the property. And stained glass windows that once adorned the nun's chapel were re-donated to St. Mary's to be incorporated into the new buildings.

Part of the community

St. Mary's recently, along with Monroe Clinic, was named one of the top 100 hospitals in the Solucient 100 Top Hospitals: National Benchmarks for Success study, which annually examines performance levels in hospitals across the country.

The hospital was re-designated in 2006 as a Magnet hospital, which recognizes excellence in nursing. Members of St. Mary's Renal Center were also added to the American Red Cross's list of Real Heroes for 2006.

But beyond the awards, St. Mary's remains a hospital with a Catholic tradition.

"St. Mary's is a part of the fabric of the community," said Byrne. "And we're proud of that."

Diocesan pilgrimage group will travel to Australia in 2008

By Diocese of Madison WYD Planning Team

MADISON -- Preparations are underway for the Diocese of Madison's pilgrimage group traveling to Sydney, Australia, in July 2008 for the 10th World Youth Day (WYD) celebration.

The focus for next year's international event is centered on "Youth, Witness, and Power" - a reference to "You will received power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses" (Acts 1:8). Pope Benedict XVI selected this theme in hopes of inspiring Catholic youth of the world to recommit to their baptismal promises, active participation in the sacraments, and living out their apostolic mission.

The journey to Sydney will officially begin in the Diocese of Madison on Pentecost Sunday, May 27. The launch date for the diocesan pilgrimage is symbolic of the church worldwide as it honors when the Holy Spirit descended upon the world and people from "every nation under heaven" gathered together and could understand one another as each spoke in a different language.

Being filled with the Holy Spirit and joined together with other believers can empower individuals, parishes, and countries to do amazing things. World Youth Day is an incredible testimony to the living body of Christ, the power of the cross, and the beauty which pours forth from giving witness to the Word.

Parishes are encouraged to include the mission of World Youth Day in parish and school prayer intentions and bulletin announcements during the week of Pentecost.

The Diocese of Madison WYD Planning Team has finalized an itinerary for the diocesan pilgrimage. It includes involvement in the Days of Encounter events in the Diocese of Melbourne and an additional closing Mass and dinner with Bishop Robert C. Morlino at St. Mary's Cathedral in Sydney.

Go online to www.madisondiocese.org/WYD for full itinerary details and projected cost of the diocesan pilgrimage. Registrations, along with a non-refundable $300 deposit, are due by August 1, 2007, for those (age 16 to 35) who wish to attend.