There are many things on Camp Gray’s “wish list”: crucifixes, picnic tables, scholarships for low-income campers, a vacuum cleaner.
Day: August 20, 2009
Bishops respond to contraception provision
Wisconsin’s bishops have called a provision in the recently enacted state budget that mandates health insurance policies cover contraceptive services as “blatantly insensitive” to the moral values of Catholics. The bishops commented on the provision in a letter to Catholics. The letter is being distributed to the state’s diocesan newspapers.
New Seat of Wisdom Diocesan Institute
First in a series
MADISON — This fall, the Diocese of Madison’s Office of Evangelization and Catechesis (OEC) is starting the new Seat of Wisdom Diocesan Institute (SOWDI), a program of catechetical certification and adult faith formation in the diocese.
The first course in the institute will be held on Tuesday, Sept. 8, at the Cathedral Parish of St. Raphael at St. Patrick Church in Madison.
To clarify and improve the effectiveness of diocesan catechetical efforts, the OEC hopes to unify the missions of what was previously referred to as the Diocesan Lay Institute and the current Formation of Religious Education Ministers by subsuming both into the “umbrella” of the SOWDI.
Play on St. John Vianney comes to Janesville parish
JANESVILLE — In honor of the Year for Priests, St. John Vianney Parish in Janesville will be the site of a one-man play entitled VIANNEY performed by Leonardo Defilippis, the director and star of the feature film Therese.
The play will take place on Friday, Sept. 11, at 7 p.m., at St. John Vianney Parish, 1250 E. Racine St., Janesville.
Pope Benedict XVI declared the Year for Priests to be under the patronage of St. John Vianney. The play is the story of this saint, who battled the devil and saved a whole village and thousands of souls.
Building a place for peace, remembrance
MADISON — Through his Eagle Scout project, Evan Feller hopes to provide a place of peace for those coming to the Diocese of Madison’s Bishop O’Connor Center.
Feller will alter the entrance of the center with two gardens, each with a bench, to give visitors and residents a place for prayer.
“I really wanted to do something for the Church,” Feller said of his decision to work on this project. He had called around to several places and found he liked the idea of transforming the entrance to the center with the meditation gardens.
La sabiduría de Dios y 50 años de matrimonio
Esta columna está tomada de la homilía de Monseñor Morlino en una Misa de Bodas de Oro matrimoniales celebrada el 16 de agosto.
Queridos amigos:
Tengo tres puntos de las lecturas (Ex 16:2-4, 12-15; Salmo 78:3-4, 23-24, 25, 54; Ef 4:17, 20-24; Jn 6:24-35) y luego algunas conclusiones. Hemos escuchado en las primeras dos lecturas de este domingo muchas cosas sobre la sabiduría y la necedad.
Resulta interesante que el autor de la Escritura indique que la necedad es lo opuesto a la sabiduría. Pudo haber dicho que lo es la ignorancia o incluso que la estupidez es lo opuesto a la sabiduría. ¿Por qué dice entonces que la necedad es lo opuesto a la sabiduría?
Muchos de nosotros somos ignorantes de muchas cosas y estúpidos con respecto a algunas otras. Pero es raro que escojamos ser ignorantes o que elijamos ser estúpidos. No solemos decir cosas como: “Sé que es estúpido, pero quiero defender eso de todas maneras”. Cuando las personas no son conscientes o cuando las personas son estúpidas en alguna área, con frecuencia no eligen serlo. Pero, en cambio, uno sí tiene que elegir ser necio. Por eso la necedad es lo opuesto a la sabiduría: ha de elegirse y uno tiene que hacerse responsable de ello. Por ejemplo, las Escrituras nos recuerdan que “el necio dice para sí en su corazón: ‘no hay Dios'” (Salmo 14:1).
Support amendment excluding abortion from health care reform bills
To the editor:
Cardinal Justin Rigali, chair of the U.S. Catholic Conference on Pro-Life Activities, said it best in his August 11 letter to members of the House of Representatives regarding abortion mandates in proposed health care reform bills in Congress.
House Bill H.R. 3200 “delegates to the Secretary of Health and Human Services the power to make unlimited abortion a mandated benefit . . . nationwide.”
Seniors share memories with students going back to school
To the editor:
I am the activities director at St. Elizabeth Manor in Footville. For one of our activities, residents told me about their memories and experiences of school. I wrote it down in the form of a letter to the students going back to school this fall.
Keri Mertens, Activities Department
St. Elizabeth Manor, Footville
Vacations vital for our health
Many Americans seem to think vacations are not necessary. People in our country reportedly take fewer vacations than those in other countries.
Workaholic Americans even give back millions of hours of unused vacation time to their employers every year! If you’re one of those workers, you should consider taking all the time you have coming for vacation.
Defining a happy death
In my 81 years as a Catholic, I have been warned to “Pray for a Happy Death.” Suddenly I seem to be in charge of one and I don’t even know what it means. What is a “Happy Death”?
It is said that St. Joseph had one because he died in the arms of Jesus and Mary. I think that would be a hard one to pull off for the head of our family. We’d need a lot of space for me with our 10 kids: Rob, Tom, Tim, Elizabeth, Kathi, Kris, Gretchen, Patty, John, Mark, and their spouses. And the 18 grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren. That’s a lot of arms!