As we know, the more things change, the more they stay the same. That could be said about the Catholic press in our country.
As the United State was forming, opposition to immigration was strong. Sounds familiar?
The lack of social standing of immigrants — many of them Catholic — created a need to unite and educate, to bring news from home, and to fight for civil and religious rights in their new country.
MONONA — Immaculate Heart of Mary School is teaching more than reading, writing, and arithmetic — it is teaching love.
The school recently launched its “Teach Love” campaign.
Principal Callie Meiller said Teach Love is a “showcase for students . . . not only preparing them academically; we want them to go out into the world and be ready, not only smarts wise, but ready mind, body, and spirit to take on the world.” |
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Ten years ago, when I was a visiting scholar at the North American College in Rome, I fell into a spirited conversation with one of the seminarians about the state of evangelization in America.
We both were bemoaning the fact that the “new” atheists — Christopher Hitchens, Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, and others — were regularly attacking religion, and I commented that no Christian spokesman had managed to engage the enemies of the faith well on the public scene.
JANESVILLE — St. Patrick School in Janesville will be closing at the end of the current school year, it was announced at Masses on the weekend of January 27 and 28.
Currently, the school has an enrollment of 11 students in grades kindergarten through eight, in addition to 11 students in the public partnership 4K program.
This enrollment, a continued projected decline, and the fact that the operational cost of the school is over $200,000 per year led both the parish pastoral council and finance council to recommend the school’s closure to Pastor Fr. Tim Renz.
Father Renz contacted Bishop Robert C. Morlino notifying him of the recommendations being made by his parish councils. In a statement, the Diocese of Madison said that there has been ongoing conversation among the four Catholic parishes in Janesville about their schools “and the diocese anticipates the results of that collaboration with optimism.”
St. Patrick Parish is the oldest Catholic parish in Janesville. Catholic families have been praying together in the fourth ward of Janesville for over 170 years. In 1844, they learned that they would be getting a priest of their own. In 1845, the first Mass was celebrated in the church they built.
Last summer, I participated in the Convocation of Catholic Leaders in Orlando, Fla. The purpose of this large, unprecedented encounter between U.S. bishops and laity was to study what Pope Francis has termed the “new peripheries” and to form missionary disciples.
On Friday evening, Feb. 9, Matt Walsh will be speaking at St. Mary of Pine Bluff Church.
Walsh is a nationally recognized Christian writer, blogger, and speaker with a large national following. His provocative writings on political and cultural subjects are read by millions of people a month.
Through his enormous social media following, he engages with hundreds of thousands of people every day. Walsh is known through his writing and his speeches as a fierce and articulate defender of truth, moral values, and the Christian faith. Walsh lives in Maryland with his wife and two children.
BERLIN — All Saints Parish is again hosting its paczki sale. Fat Tuesday is approaching and the Polish tradition continues. Paczkis are made from an old family recipe that contains mashed potatoes with the traditional prune-filling, or plain, and then sugar-coated.
MADISON — Kate Hennessy, granddaughter of Dorothy Day, will speak at Edgewood College’s 13th annual Aquinas Forum at 10 a.m., Thursday, Feb. 8, in Anderson Auditorium, 1000 Edgewood College Dr.
Hennessy will present the biographical story of her grandmother and her mother, Tamar Hennessy. She will draw from memories, diaries, and family letters as she explores the themes of love, suffering, voluntary poverty, pacifism, and what it means to perform Works of Mercy.
Catholic Schools Week is the annual celebration of Catholic education in the United States, including in schools in the Diocese of Madison. It starts the last Sunday in January and runs all week, which in 2018 is January 28 to February 3.
The theme for Catholic Schools Week 2018 is “Catholic Schools: Learn. Serve. Lead. Succeed.
Schools typically observe the annual celebration week with Masses, open houses, and other activities for students, families, parishioners, and community members.
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Word on Fire
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In these days, therefore, let us add something beyond ordinary expectations of our service. Let each one, over and above the measure prescribed, offer God something of his own freewill in the joy of the Holy Spirit. ~ Rule of St. Benedict, Sixth century
In roughly three weeks, Ash Wednesday will arrive and with this commemoration, the Church begins the penitential practices of Lent.
