As a child, Rosie Arbittier participated in walkathons sponsored by her local synagogue and placed flags on soldiers’ graves on Veterans Day.
Rosie’s story is one of those shared on the Points of Light website (www.pointsoflight.org). This week (April 15-21) is National Volunteer Week.
MADISON — The Madison Catholic Woman’s Club (MCWC) will be celebrating another year of religious, charitable, and civic activities on Tuesday, May 8, at a 12 noon luncheon at Blackhawk Country Club, 3606 Blackhawk Dr.
Highlights of the Spring Celebration will include announcement and presentation of the Christian Achievement Award for 2018, acknowledgment of new club members, and donations to local charitable organizations of cash and in-kind goods totaling over $20,000.
MONONA — A […]
PRAIRIE DU SAC […]
MADISON — A post-Easter celebration of courage that comes from faith will be held at St. Dennis Church, 413 Dempsey Rd., on Sunday, April 22, at 6 p.m.
The presentation will unfold as the editor of the Wisconsin State Journal, John Smalley, introduces stories of “Courage Through Faith in Our Work on Earth.”
MADISON — Have you recently had a baby or are soon to deliver your precious one?
Consider learning how to navigate the postpartum transition to better understand when your fertility returns by attending the Couple to Couple League’s (CCL’s) special Postpartum Class.
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| Sandra Clisham holds a picture of St. Damien De Veuster and Christ, painted by Henry, a leper patient she treated in Hawaii. St. Damien cared for leprosy patients in Hawaii. (Catholic Herald photo/Pat Casucci) | |
BELOIT — Perhaps Sandra Clisham, an Our Lady of the Assumption (OLA) parishioner in Beloit, could be described as being rooted in service and sacrifice.
Clisham is a licensed LPN and is now retired. She spent the better part of 10 years working in Hawaii, the last four of those at Kalaupapa Hospital, which served the leper colony on the island of Molokai.
The leper colony itself is located on the remote, windy, north shore of the Kalaupapa Peninsula. Some of the highest cliffs in the world surround the peninsula. Supplies arrive by barge. Food is flown in.
She shrugged her shoulders and said in her calm, humble manner, “I never considered it that important” when she was asked about her experiences in Hawaii.
Her adventurous spirit led to her work of service and care for the few remaining people who chose to continue living at the former leper colony on Molokai.
On a trip to Hawaii in the early 1980s, Clisham visited the leper colony and was impressed with the contrast between the beauty of the area and its history.
She explained, “While I was there on the trip, I jokingly said to a hospital official, ‘If you have any job openings at the hospital, let me know.’” She admitted, “I knew it would be a challenge. But life has always been a challenge for me.”
Not long afterwards, the hospital called and told her she had a job there. At first she worked in a larger hospital on the island of Kauai until there was an opening at Kalaupapa.
So began Clisham’s odyssey.
She pointed out that leprosy is now called Hansen’s disease. By the 1800s, it had spread rapidly throughout the Hawaiian Islands and by mid-century, lepers were exiled to the Kalaupapa Peninsula.
The disease was not understood, and the lepers were left to fend for themselves. Walled off from the world, they bonded together, living their lives out in what histories describe as sad, demoralizing, neglected conditions.
For more than a century, hundreds of people were forced to live there. After 1969, the quarantine ended when the disease became better understood and could be treated with antibiotics. The colony is now designated as a National Historical Park.
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Word on Fire
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Editor’s note: Following is a slightly edited version of a homily given by Msgr. Kevin Holmes, pastor of the Cathedral Parish in Madison, on Good Friday, March 30.
As many of you know, I was privileged to spend the first two weeks of this Lent on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land.
After I got back, Marc Laudonio — on the parish staff — asked me an interesting question, namely: “Rome or Jerusalem? If you could visit only one, which would you choose?”
MCFARLAND — On April 7, at the Girl Scouts of Wisconsin Badgerland Award Ceremony in Prairie Du Sac, Tori Budnar-Chapman was one of 11 Girl Scouts receiving her Gold Award.
The Gold Award is the highest award a Girl Scout can earn. Once achieved, according to the chapter’s website, “It shows colleges, employers, and your community that you’re out there changing the world.”
MADISON — On April 4, staff members of The Beacon, along with members of the Madison Police Department, presented stories of successes and challenges from its first few months of operation.
A comprehensive day resource center for people experiencing homelessness in Dane County, The Beacon opened in October of 2017. It is a joint venture among Catholic Charities Madison, Dane County, the City of Madison, and United Way of Dane County.
