February 16, 2021 – Madison Catholic Herald


	A catechumen in 2019 signs the Book of the Elect during the Rite of Election and Call to Continuing Conversion. This year’s event will take place on Sunday, Feb. 21, at St. John the Baptist Church in Waunakee with safety measures in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic. (Catholic Herald photo/Kevin Wondrash)

WAUNAKEE — The Rite of Election and Call to Continuing Conversion will be held on Sunday, Feb. 21, at St. John the Baptist Church in Waunakee.

Bishop Donald J. Hying of Madison will preside.

In this Church season of Lent, its primary purpose intensifies the time of preparation for those seeking Baptism.

Now that Lent has come upon us, it’s time to start this sacred work.

A call to join the Church

The Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy (no. 64), which was promulgated during the Second Vatican Council, called for a revision of several of the rituals of our Church.

Part of this included the Baptismal rites for adults and children.

In 1988, an adult ritual was promulgated called the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults which is commonly called RCIA.

Since that time, some or all of the RCIA has been used in parishes throughout the world.

On February 16, 2021

Carolyn Averill, For the Catholic Herald

An exciting start to the new year for St. Ambrose Academy

MADISON — The trials and challenges of a pandemic can’t stop the growth and joy of Catholic community, and spring 2021 is shaping up to be a season of exciting happenings at St. Ambrose Academy (SAA).

New home in the making

After dozens of property searches by a team of professionals and numerous conversations with potential partners, the Academy first shared in December 2020 at the interactive, virtual See the Joy Benefit Dinner news of great joy: A site for a permanent school home is being finalized.

The centrally located Fitchburg development will be an ideal home for the first Catholic school building project in the diocese in over 50 years.

On February 16, 2021

Angela Curio, Catholic Herald Staff

Fr. Donald Lange publishes book

PLATTEVILLE — “I think it was in the late 1970s that I submitted a few articles to the Catholic Herald,” said Fr. Donald Lange, speaking about how his column — “Seeing with Jesus’ Eyes” — got started. His new book Seeing with Jesus’ Eyes — A Seasonal Reader was just published in December of 2020. “At first, I wondered in the Catholic Herald would accept my articles, but gradually, they did.”

What began as an occasional guest column eventually became something more regularly published in the paper.

“After I retired, Pam Payne asked me if I would offer a name for the column,” he said, speaking of the Herald’s now retired associate editor. “That was about 14 years ago.”

On February 16, 2021June 18, 2021

Damian Lenshek

Thinking about green burial

Death: Our Birth into Eternal life

Damian Lenshek

The following article is the next installment in a series that will appear in the Catholic Herald to offer catechesis and formation concerning end of life decisions, dying, death, funerals, and burial of the dead from the Catholic perspective.

St. Anthony the Great had a problem. He was 105 years old, he lived in fourth-century Egypt, and he was famous.

He did not want to be embalmed. But the common practice at the death of eminent personages such as himself was to preserve them, pose them on couches, and to keep them in their houses.

This was intended to honor the deceased.

On February 16, 2021

Kevin Wondrash

Don’t ‘give up’ during Lent

By the time you’re reading this, we’ll be in the season of Lent — the annual 40 days of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving that leads us to Easter.

Being blessed with the COVID-19 pandemic a year ago, it might seem like we never really left the last Lent we had.

With how we’ve been living the past almost 12 months, we might not feel we have to give up anything for Lent this year. We might feel like we’ve been giving things up this whole time.

Here’s my uneducated, unscientific, un-everything else thought: Don’t. Don’t “give up” anything this Lent.

Add, don’t take away

OK, truth be told, I am still giving up some things this Lent. I’m giving up soda and desserts (I’m sweet enough already?).

On February 16, 2021May 8, 2021

Mary C. Uhler, For the Catholic Herald

Diocese of Madison meets needs through a variety of ministries and services

Sixth in a series on the 75th anniversary of the Diocese of Madison

Since the Diocese of Madison was established in 1946, it has strived to meet the needs of members of the Church as well as all those in society through a variety of ministries.

As times have changed, programs and services have been added, dropped, or adapted to make the best use of time, faith, and resources.

Charitable programs

One of the most important programs begun by the new Diocese of Madison in 1946 was its charitable efforts conducted by the Catholic Welfare Bureau, later known as Catholic Social Service and then as Catholic Charities.