This week we begin the 40-day season of Lent, a time in which Catholics focus our attention on prayer, fasting, and almsgiving in preparation for Holy Week and Easter.
Month: February 2009
Camp seeks volunteers for retreat team
Camp Gray, a year-round Catholic retreat center and summer camp in central Wisconsin, is seeking faith-filled young adults for its volunteer retreat team for the 2009 to 2010 school year.
Tractors, funds sought for farmers
The Diocese of Madison’s Rural Life Office reports that two tractors and some equipment have been donated in response to a request from Family Farm Defenders President John Kinsman, LaValle.
Bishop Morlino comments on appointment
Bishop Robert C. Morlino of the Diocese of Madison issued the following statement February 23 on the appointment of Archbishop Timothy Dolan as archbishop of New York:
Operation Rice Bowl begins Feb. 25
Every year, millions of Catholics participate in Operation Rice Bowl (ORB), Catholic Relief Services’ annual Lenten program that starts Ash Wednesday, Feb. 25.
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.