Day: September 19, 2019

On
Jane Lepeska Grinde, Catholic Herald Correspondent

Hearing loop system installed at St. James Church in Madison

hearing at st james
Bruce Best, left, Good Shepherd parishioner, spearheaded the effort to get a hearing loop system installed at St. James Church in Madison. His hearing aid works with the system, while Michael Schultz (next to Best) without a hearing aid uses a receiver with the system. The loop is visible on the floor inside the pew. (Jane Lepeska Grinde photo)

MADISON — Thanks to a grant from the Apostolate for Persons with Disabilities of the Diocese of Madison, Good Shepherd Parish was able to have a hearing loop installed at its St. James Church this summer.

Located near Regent and Mills Sts., St. James is one of the oldest churches in Madison.

Taking the initiative to get funding for the project, parishioner Bruce Best said he did it for a selfish reason, “I could only hear about 25 percent of what was said at Mass.”

His audiologist, Veronica Heide, gave Best the idea for pursuing the system.

How it works

At a recent meeting at the church, parishioners heard from Mike Mair, Platteville, owner of My Hearing Loop LLC, the company chosen to install the system. Mair, who has been in business 42 years, explained and demonstrated how the system works.

Hearing loop systems provide a magnetic wireless audio signal that is picked up by hearing aids set to the “T-coil” (short for telecoil) setting. Most hearing aids have this setting.

Special wires have been installed in the floor at St. James Church, which comprises the hearing loop that broadcasts audio signals from microphones directly to hearing aids or cochlear implants.

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On
Fr. Tadeusz Pacholczyk, Ph.D.

Contradictory suicide messaging

In July 2014, police found the body of 18-year-old Conrad Roy inside his truck in Fairhaven, Mass. He had died from carbon monoxide poisoning.

As the case unfolded, it became apparent that a friend of his, 17-year-old Michelle Carter, had encouraged him toward suicide. In a series of texts, she repeatedly pressured him to go through with it by sending messages like, “You keep pushing it off and say you’ll do it but u never do. It’s always gonna be that way if u don’t take action.”

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On
Bishop Donald J. Hying, Bishop of Madison

We are called to build a monastery in our hearts

Bishop Donald J. Hying's column

The center point of my spiritual geography is New Melleray Trappist Abbey, just west of Dubuque, Iowa. I have returned there often for retreats ever since I first visited at the age of 19.

Founded in 1849 as a daughter house of Melleray Abbey in Ireland, this monastic community rises at 3:30 a.m. every morning for Vigils, the first liturgical hour of the day. The monks’ days are filled with prayer, meditation, work, and silence.

From the first time I entered their beautiful stone chapel, I have felt profoundly embraced by God at New Melleray; some of my deepest prayer experiences have occurred there. If I could have ever convinced God that the Trappist life was my vocation, I would be peeling potatoes and scrubbing floors there as I write now!

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On
Kevin Wondrash

Jefferson parish and school mourns death of graduate

JEFFERSON — St. John the Baptist School eighth grade teacher Margie Schels admits “it was a rough week.”

She explained, “A very dear student, who just graduated from St. John the Baptist School in June, died on the evening of September 3. Kena (Makena Suzanne-Lynn Eighmy) had battled leukemia for four years, and God decided he needed her at home,” said Schels.

“It has been rough for adults and students alike, but we continue to be a loving community that supports one another through the toughest of times.

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