Every year, millions of Catholics participate in Operation Rice Bowl (ORB), Catholic Relief Services’ annual Lenten program that starts Ash Wednesday, Feb. 25.
Day: February 19, 2009
Helping others teaches us compassion
Lent presents us with an opportunity if we choose to take it. Just like God has given us people in our lives to help us if we take the opportunity and let them: family, parish, community, among others. However, to ask others for help can be humbling. Yet, knowing that we all need help can teach us compassion for others.
Lenten fasting, prayer, and almsgiving remind us of this. It is a special time and opportunity for us to ask for help and to ask out loud. When God hears our prayers, sees our fasting, and almsgiving, that’s one thing. But when we hear and see one another praying, fasting and giving to others in our families, parishes, and communities, it amplifies the impact. All of a sudden we can be moved by the example of those who recognize not only their need for help, but also their need to help others.
Climate Change Advocacy Workshop March 7
The Rural Life Office of the Diocese of Madison announces that a “Raise Your Voice” Climate Change Advocacy Workshop will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, March 7, at St. Victor Parish Catholic School in Monroe.
‘Afflicted’ with fertility?
What’s the biggest threat to the world’s prosperity and stability over the medium haul — say, between 2020 and 2050?
The proliferation of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons of mass destruction? A continuing economic recession? Jihadism running amok? The Detroit Lions ushering in the Apocalypse by winning an NFL championship? (Just kidding on the last . . . )
Serra Club honor Sisters at Valentine’s dinner
Bishop Robert C. Morlino expressed gratitude to women and men in consecrated life at the second annual Valentine’s Sisters’ Appreciation Dinner sponsored by the Serra Club of Madison and hosted by Edgewood College.
On the road . . . still
Too old to travel? Who? Me? Don’t even suggest it. I’ll find a way to get to that grandson’s wedding or that resort in a warmer climate no matter what. Of course, we must listen to our aging bodies and adapt to new ways to get around.
We were in our mid 60s and newly retired when we first became aware of that. My husband and I were boarding a flight to Puerto Rico when the older lady in front of us asked Bob if he would hoist her bag into the overhead compartment. As he reached up to do so, his pants fell down. That’s when we realized he had to start wearing suspenders.
Keep praying and working for the Culture of Life
To the editor:
Thank you to all who organized and backed the Saturday, Jan. 31, 2009, pro-life rally on the UW Library Mall. Thanks be to God for the excellent speakers and turnout. Thank you to the UW and Madison Police for stopping traffic as we peacefully processed to 1 S. Park St. to pray.
Don’t use tax and tuition money to fund abortions
To my elected state officials:
It appears that the regents of the University of Wisconsin have approved using UW medical facilities to perform second-trimester abortions. That means they are using the tax dollars and tuition moneys of persons very much opposed to such acts of child abuse and murder.
Ask people to make feelings known about lost lives
To the editor:
I commend the organizations sponsoring the “Boycott Hospitals that Allow Abortions” ad in the Wisconsin State Journal. Although I believe limitations exist in a person’s ability to change the provider of their health insurance, the ad brings clear attention to the issue of the unlimited availability of abortions regardless of where the mother is in her pregnancy.
Be informed about facts about abortion, FOCA
To the editor:
I read in Kathleen Parker’s column recently that Michelle Obama, our new First Lady, said: “Barack will never allow you to go back to your lives as usual, uninvolved, uninformed . . .”