Advent is the liturgical season during which we await the Second Coming of Christ in glory. We also wait, pray, and listen for the coming of Jesus at Christmas.
Author: Chris Lee
Encountering Christ in the liturgy
One of the great contributions of the Second Vatican Council’s Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy is the brief synthesis on Christ’s presence in the Church’s prayer.
“Christ is always present in His Church, especially in her liturgical celebrations,” (art. 7). Christ’s presence in the Mass is multifaceted and mysterious, but there are four specific ways named by the Council — in the Eucharistic species, the Word of God, the person of the priest, and in the gathered community in which “the Church prays and sings” (art. 7).
Catholic leadership is faced with a daunting task
To the editor:
After our 2012 election for president of the U.S.A., it is eminently clear to me that our Catholic leadership is faced with a daunting task.
When 70 percent of the populace of the Madison Diocese votes for an openly pro-abortion and pro-gay marriage slate that elected Obama, Baldwin, and Pocan, it is obvious that any and all teachings by Bishop Morlino and our parish priests are falling on deaf ears.
Democratic Party sold out to support abortion rights
To the editor:
I have heard many justifications for voting for President Obama by Catholics. One person said they were voting for the one who would continue to give her freedom of choice and freedom to live as she chooses, the one who would secure her rights.
One Catholic leader made the argument that there may be less abortions if Obama were in office because with more funding for welfare some of the fiscally poor unwed mothers may be more apt to keep their baby rather than “murder it” (my words).
“Abortion is murder, no less than if you murder a human outside the womb!” These words still resonate in my head as though I heard Fr. Ray Meier say them yesterday in his sermons at St. Patrick Parish, Madison, in the 1990s.
Darlington mobile food pantry sees increased use
DARLINGTON — Holy Rosary Parish’s “Monthly Manna” Mobile Food Pantry has experienced an increase in the number of families it has been serving, up to 125 families each month.
Sister Antoinette Drabeck, OP, dies
SINSINAWA — Sister […]
Catholic Charities holds Faith in Action Awards Dinner
MIDDLETON — “My gratitude to Catholic Charities is beyond words. It’s my safe haven and my hope,” Laurie Christy said in a video presentation at the 17th annual Catholic Charities (CC) Awards Dinner held on November 8 at the Marriott Hotel in Middleton.
Christy was one of three recipients of Catholic Charities’ President’s Awards, given to CC clients. Their stories show how Catholic Charities makes a difference and brings hope to people — and how these individuals in turn help others.
Camp Gray appreciates new retreat center, office space
This article is excerpted from a blog post on the Camp Gray Web site. For the entire post, click here.
BARABOO — As I sit at my desk in the new Camp Gray office, surrounded by the amenities of a modern office, I am abundantly humbled. This isn’t a post about me, however. This is a post about new and old. It’s about “the Joe,” a tiny old office, and now a great retreat space and spiffy new office.
Decree Designating a Place of Pilgrimage for the Year of Faith and Determining Certain Days for Obtaining a Plenary Indulgence
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Whereas our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, in the hope of arousing in every believer the aspiration to profess the faith in fullness and with renewed conviction, of intensifying the celebration of the faith in the liturgy, and of encouraging the faithful to rediscover the content of the faith that is professed, celebrated, lived, and prayed, has proclaimed a Year of Faith from October 11, 2012, to November 24, 2013;
Whereas the Apostolic Penitentiary has opened the spiritual treasury of the Church by granting a plenary indulgence to those who make a pilgrimage during the Year of Faith to a papal basilica, a Christian catacomb, or a sacred place designated by the local ordinary and there take part in some sacred function or at least pause in recollection for a suitable length of time with devout meditation, concluding with the recitation of the Our Father, the Profession of Faith in any legitimate form, and invocations to the Blessed Virgin Mary or, depending on the case, to the Holy Apostles or Patrons;
Whereas the year of faith coincides with the sixtieth anniversary of the erection and dedication of the Schoenstatt Shrine in Madison, where the faith of countless pilgrims has been nourished and deepened;
Now, therefore, I, the undersigned Bishop of Madison, hereby designate the Schoenstatt Founder Shrine at Schoenstatt Heights in Madison (5901 Cottage Grove Road, Madison) as a place of pilgrimage for the Year of Faith, and I exhort all of the faithful to make a devout pilgrimage there and to perform the devotional acts prescribed by the Apostolic Penitentiary.
Thanksgiving invites us to share our gratitude
In Living Life on Purpose, Greg Anderson tells of a mother and her little daughter who were eating breakfast in a restaurant. The little girl asked, “Mommy, why don’t we pray here before we eat like we do at home?”
The waitress overheard her and said, “Honey, it’s okay to pray here. Why don’t you say the prayer before meals for us now?” Then the waitress asked everyone in the restaurant to bow their heads.