Kevin Wondrash

MADISON — The Catholic Multicultural Center (CMC) will host its third annual community block party Saturday, Aug. 8, from 4:30 to 8 p.m., offering area families a free summer event to enjoy, bring people together, and celebrate multicultural unity.

Everyone is welcome to attend the festivities in the CMC parking lot, 1862 Beld St. Children can play games to win a prize, get their face painted, and participate in outdoor activities. All ages can help local artist Victor Castro create a community art installment, play bingo, and enjoy food for sale by the CMC’s very own Culinary Creations Catering. Live entertainment from different cultures and genres will be featured throughout the event including José Ricardo Morales, Willie Wright, Lucas Cates, and the dancers of Ballet Folklórico of Carlos and Sonia Avila.

On July 23, 2015March 31, 2023

Kevin Wondrash

Camp Gray’s Explorer Village: A mysterious place where faith grows

Every summer, hundreds of kids get their fill of faith and fun in the Camp Gray experience at the Diocese of Madison camp near Reedsburg.

On July 23, 2015

Kevin Wondrash

Going pro: Former Catholic Herald intern is sideline face of Brewers, Bucks

MILWAUKEE — If you’ve watched Milwaukee Brewers baseball or Milwaukee Bucks basketball broadcasts on Fox Sports Wisconsin the past couple of seasons, you’ve probably seen her.

Madison native Sophia Minnaert is the sideline reporter for the two teams.

A few years ago, she got her “start” as an intern at the Catholic Herald in Madison.

Minnaert’s parents are well known in the Diocese of Madison. Her father, Al, is the head football coach and a religious studies and physical education teacher at Edgewood High School in Madison. Her mother, Sylvia, is the receptionist at Our Lady Queen of Peace School in Madison.

On July 23, 2015

Kevin Wondrash

Silver Rose visits Diocese of Madison

MADISON — On June 20, Knights of Columbus District 47 hosted a Silver Rose Prayer Service at St. Joseph Church.

In 1960, the Columbian Squires (the official youth organization of the Knights of Columbus) started a project to honor Our Lady of Guadalupe, patroness of the Americas, by running a silver rose from Montreal, Canada, to Monterrey, Mexico.

There are now six roses that crisscross the country and end up in different locations. The one exhibited at the Madison service will end up at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C.

On July 23, 2015

Kevin Wondrash

Outdoor Mass in Vermont

VERMONT — The […]

On July 16, 2015October 12, 2022

Kevin Wondrash

Diocese of Madison welcomes six new priests

It was more than just the biggest night of their lives — it was a special night for their families, the Diocese of Madison, and the Church as a whole.

No moment symbolically externalized the work of the Holy Spirit more than the thunderous applause for six men who had just presented themselves to Bishop Robert C. Morlino to be ordained to the priesthood.

On July 16, 2015

Kevin Wondrash

We’ve been here before

Recently, I had the privilege of spending four hours in the Sistine Chapel with my Word on Fire team. Toward the end of our filming, the director of the Vatican Museums, who had accompanied us throughout the process, asked whether I wanted to see the “room of tears.”

This is the little antechamber, just off of the Sistine Chapel, where the newly-elected pope changes into his white cassock. Understandably, tears flow in that room, once the poor man realizes the weight of his office.

Papal memorabilia

Inside, there were documents and other memorabilia, but what got my attention was a row of albs, chasubles, and copes worn by various popes.

On July 16, 2015

Kevin Wondrash

Encyclical is prophetic, challenging, wonderful

It’s courageous, it’s prophetic, it’s challenging, it’’ holistic, it’s wonderful: That’s what I think of Pope Francis’ environmental encyclical Laudato Si’, on Care for Our Common Home.

Quoting his patron saint, Francis of Assisi — who is also the patron saint of ecology — Pope Francis begins his papal letter with a beautiful verse from the saint’s Canticle of the Creatures: “‘Praise be to you, my Lord, through our Sister, Mother Earth, who sustains and governs us, and who produces various fruit with colored flowers and herbs.'”

Our common home

“St. Francis of Assisi reminds us,” writes the pope, “that our common home is like a sister with whom we share our life and a beautiful mother who opens her arms to embrace us. . . .

On July 16, 2015May 20, 2021

Kevin Wondrash

Changing my body to ‘match’ my ‘identity’

The famous Olympian Bruce Jenner made headlines recently when he told ABC News, “For all intents and purposes, I’m a woman . . . That female side is part of me. That’s who I am.”

He has been receiving hormonal treatments to acquire feminine traits and is not yet sure whether he will undergo surgery to “complete” the process.

His dramatic case raises important ethical and medical concerns about properly understanding our identity and respecting the given order of our bodies.

Former Protestant minister to speak at Monona parish

MONONA — Former Protestant minister Bruce Sullivan will present his life-changing conversion story at Immaculate Heart of Mary Church, 5101 Schofield St., on Thursday, July 23, from 7 to 9 p.m.

As a former Church of Christ minister, Bruce Sullivan was a zealous apostle for what he believed to be the true Gospel. As such, he was also ardently anti-Catholic. In fact, his dream was to be a missionary to the largest Catholic nation in the world — Brazil.

All of that changed, however, when he was confronted with the truth and beauty of the Catholic faith while trying to “evangelize” a Catholic family that had moved into his community.