Month: July 2012

On
Mary C. Uhler, Catholic Herald Staff

Balloon Rosary travels from Madison to Michigan

Sheri Miglio and her son Will find the balloon Rosary which traveled 354 miles from the Rosary Rally held at the state Capitol in Madison to their farm in North Branch, Mich. (Contributed photo)

MADISON — On Thursday, June 21, the first weekly Rosary Rally was held at the state Capitol in Madison. At that rally, a large helium balloon Rosary was released.

The 40-foot Rosary made up of a cluster of yellow balloons had been assembled by youth at St. Mary Parish in Pine Bluff under the direction of Beth Ptak, coordinator of religious education.

The next day, Sheri Miglio in North Branch, Mich., looked out in her backyard and saw a huge cluster of yellow balloons snagged on a tree just inside their property line. She and her family live on a 10-acre farm.

It was the fifth birthday of Miglio’s son, Will. She said jokingly, “Will, someone sent you a bunch of balloons for your birthday.”

Finding the Rosary

They walked over to the balloons and cut the string holding them to the tree. With the balloons they noticed a cardboard crucifix and found out that the cluster of balloons was a Rosary. On the crucifix they found a message from Fr. Rick Heilman, pastor of St. Mary Parish in Pine Bluff and one of the leaders of the Rosary Rally at the Capitol.

 

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On
Mary C. Uhler, Catholic Herald Staff

Continuing the Olympic tradition: In a spirit of peace and healthy competition

Editor's View by Mary C. Uhler

It’s so sad that we mourn the deaths of 12 people and the injuries of so many others following the tragic rampage of the suspect, 24-year-old James Holmes, at the movie theater in Aurora, Colo., all happening shortly before the start of the 2012 Olympic Games in London.

Let us join in prayer with the religious leaders in Colorado and throughout the world for those affected by this tragedy. Pope Benedict XVI at his weekly Angelus address at Castel Gandolfo July 22 expressed his sadness over the tragedy, saying he was “deeply shocked by the senseless violence,” adding, “I share the distress of the families and friends of the victims and the injured, especially the children.”

Much as we are saddened by the tragedy in Colorado, we should not let our sorrow marr our joy as we we look forward to the Olympic Games beginning on July 25.

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Susanna D. Herro, For the Catholic Herald

We are both Catholics and Americans

Bishop Paul J. Swain of Sioux Falls, S.D., speaks on the topic of religious freedom to the St. Thomas More Society in Madison. (Catholic Herald photo/Kat Wagner)

MADISON — Religious liberty is one of the first values protected in the Bill of Rights. People had come to America to avoid religious persecution and so those writing the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution knew the importance of providing for religious liberty.

Bishop Paul J. Swain, formerly in the Air Force, a lawyer, legal counsel to Governor Lee Dreyfus, and a convert to Catholicism, recently spoke as a guest of the St. Thomas More Society on the Feast of St. Thomas More.

Bishop Swain is well known in the Madison area, having spent about 40 years here, discerning his call to priesthood, converting, becoming a priest, pastor, and vicar general before being named Bishop of Sioux Falls, S.D.

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