Columbus — St. […]
Month: December 2012
New name, new features, old favorites at high schoolers weekend
As you have likely heard, the Frassati Fest is the coolest weekend around for Catholic high school students in the Diocese of Madison. (In case you haven’t heard, this Fest is the newly renamed Resurrection Rally you are used to loving over the past 12 years.)
The planning team has been hard at work planning this year’s event. Here is some information about Frassati Fest:
Answer health concern questions honestly
Q. My father […]
Has the faith changed
“Families only had one car in those days. . .” Tom Delaney smiles as he recounts the details of proposing to his bride Nan over 50 years ago. Around Christmas of 1961, he asked her dad for permission to borrow her family’s car to take her to midnight Mass at Holy Hill. A bit flustered, he forgot to ask her dad for permission to marry her.
Despite the small blunder, on that Christmas Eve he offered her a diamond, and she accepted.
Give the gift of service to an older person this Christmas
As a youngster I loved Christmas. I thought everyone did. But when I was 15, a frail, old woman in a wheelchair punched a big hole in my naïve assumptions about “the most wonderful time of the year.”
Taboos and tattoos
On TV these days, we’re seeing more and more programs about “body art” and tattoo design. Despite the apparent widespread acceptance of the practice, there are several problems with tattooing that go beyond the sanitary issues, disease transmission, and unclean inking needles that can be found in second-rate tattoo parlors.
Tattoos, as some who have gotten them have recognized, have negative associations. An article in the Dallas Morning News a few years ago chronicled the story of a young man named Jesus Mendoza, who was “going to great lengths to remove the six tattoos that hint at his erstwhile gang involvement. . .. He feels branded. ‘It’s the stereotyping,’ he said. ‘The question is: What do you think when you see a young Hispanic male with tattoos? You’re going to think gangs. And I think that, too, now.’”
An addendum to your good editorial on the Rosary
To the editor:
Regarding your editorial on the Rosary (October 18 issue): You wrote one of your better editorials for this issue. The Rosary has been a very important part of religion and everyday life. I try to pray it daily.
In my experience, it is almost miraculous the intercessions and the answers the Blessed Mary has provided when reciting the Rosary. It is beyond imagination how powerful the Rosary and its recitation is!
What is there to celebrate about Vatican II?
To the editor:
Over the last 50 years, we have seen many incredible changes in our Roman Catholic religion, even the use of the word “Roman” seems to have been eliminated. I wonder that anyone realizes what it used to be like before the “open window/fresh air” policy of liberalism was welcomed in.
Recent discussions about the use of Gregorian chant at Mass and whether or not birth control and abortion are sins, in my estimation, are just a couple of examples of the confusion within the Roman Catholic Church, oops … Catholic Church, today!
Warning to government: Keep your hands off charitable deductions
As our country faces the “fiscal cliff,” our government is considering proposals to keep us from falling off that cliff at the beginning of 2013.
Basically members of Congress and President Barack Obama have to come up with a combination of more revenue and spending cuts in order to avert the fiscal cliff.
One way to achieve more revenue is to put a cap or ceiling on tax deductions. Among those deductions that could be considered is the tax deduction for charitable donations.
Wrong approach
In my opinion, this would be a wrong approach to our economic problems. In fact, it might create new challenges if people are discouraged from charitable giving.
We already have a large number of people who rely on charities for assistance with the basics of life: food, clothing, and shelter. I can’t imagine what would happen to people already in need if charitable donations were reduced.
Family’s quest to revitalize town after Sandy prompts others to join in
MANASQUAN, N.J. (CNS) — A Manasquan family’s desire to bring new life to their hurricane-stricken shore town has prompted scores of like-minded individuals to join them in their mission of compassion.
Melissa and Chip Dayton, along with seven of their eight children, have volunteered tirelessly with the SquanStrong movement since Sandy’s landfall Oct. 29 to revitalize the town and share their faith-filled surplus of compassion in time of need.