For the past decade and a half, the eighth day of the Easter Octave has become a time of celebration in its own right.
Month: April 2015
Caring together as one community
On Monday, April 6, students from St. Bernard and St. Henry Schools came together to celebrate Mass as the new Watertown Catholic School.
Become an organ donor to save lives
To the editor:
The Children’s Organ Transplant Association (COTA) was founded in 1986 when residents of Bloomington, Ind., rallied around a toddler who needed a life-saving liver transplant. In less than eight weeks, the community raised $100,000 to place the boy on the organ waiting list.
But the child died before an organ became available. Those community volunteers, along with his parents, turned tragedy into triumph by using the funds they raised to help other transplant families. That was the beginning of COTA.
Faithful Christians bear crosses today
To the editor:
Good Friday service with the reading of the “Passion” and the “Veneration of the Cross” had a deeper meaning for me this year considering the events happening in our world today.
Approximately six weeks ago, 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians were beheaded by the Islamic State in Libya and a few days ago, Al-Shabab, another Islamic extremist group, murdered 148 university students and personnel in Kenya who professed to be Christian and not Muslim.
This follows a pattern that has been happening frequently throughout many parts of North Africa and the Middle East. In addition to the killings, these groups are destroying churches and priceless artifacts dating back to Biblical times.
Some shocking news — and what to do about it
Wisconsin has long held a reputation as a great place to live and work. We are known for providing an excellent education for people at all levels, along with good jobs and a safe place to live.
Our state prizes the values of opportunity, responsibility, family, and community, pointed out a speaker at a break-out session at the Catholics at the Capitol legislative conference held on April 8 in Madison.
Ken Taylor, executive director of the Wisconsin Council on Children and Families, said there are many good things happening in our state.
Shocking news
He also shared some shocking news.
Data published in April of this year reveals that Wisconsin has the highest unemployment rate for black people in our country at 19.9 percent. By contrast, less than five percent of white people are unemployed in Wisconsin.
Catholic women schedule spring vicariate meetings
Women of the diocese are invited to spring vicariate meetings scheduled at St. John the Baptist Church, Princeton, April 22; Holy Ghost Church, Dickeyville, April 23; and St. Joseph Church, Baraboo, April 25.
Rosa Ropers, president of the Madison Diocesan Council of Catholic Women (MDCCW), encourages women to attend a gathering to pray, socialize, and learn with other Catholic women in their area.
Startling news of the resurrection
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Just a few weeks before the most significant Christian holy day of the year, British Prime Minister David Cameron, speaking on an evangelical radio program, articulated what, for him, is the meaning of Easter.
He explained that the central message of Easter is “kindness, compassion, hard work, and responsibility.” I’m for all of those virtues, but so, I would venture to guess, is any decent person from any background, religious or non-religious. Buddhists, Muslims, Hindus, Jews, fair-minded agnostics, and atheists would all subscribe to that rather abstract and harmless description of the significance of Easter.
In a sense, we shouldn’t blame the prime minister for his characterization, for the Christian Churches in general, but especially the Anglican Church, have not distinguished themselves for the crispness of their doctrinal formulations.
But if that’s all Easter is about, not to put too fine a point on it, the jig is up.
Talk on Catholic response to global warming
MADISON — Pope Francis’ universal prayer intention for the month of April this year is “That people may learn to respect creation and care for it as a gift of God.”
This summer the pope is expected to issue an encyclical on ecology.
In synch with the pope’s prayer intention and in anticipation of his encyclical, Steve Coleman, a parishioner of St. Dennis Parish in Madison and a retired mechanical engineer, will present “A Catholic Response to Global Warming” on Thursday, April 16, from 7 to 8:30 p.m., at St. Thomas Aquinas Church, 602 Everglade Dr.
Jefferson students experience Passover Seder meal
JEFFERSON — Classes at St. John the Baptist Catholic School in Jefferson often participate in “buddy” activities with one another.
One such example happened on Thursday, March 26, one week before Holy Thursday.
This day commemorates the Last Supper that Jesus shared with His disciples before His crucifixion the next day. Since Jesus and His followers were Jewish, this last meal they shared was the Passover Seder.
Let us make every day an Earth Day
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On clear mornings from my apartment window which faces Platteville’s Mound, I enjoy watching the morning sun, like a huge orange-red host, rise majestically from earth’s chalice, inspiring me to offer a new day to God.
Beautiful sunrises deepen my respect for God’s gift of creation. Celebrating Earth Day on April 22 reminds me of my responsibility to care for this gift.