Author: Kevin Wondrash

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Kevin Wondrash

Pontifical Requiem Mass for deceased bishops and priests on November 3

MADISON — In the “Church Year,” November is a significant month for considering the Communion of the Saints and the holy souls in Purgatory.

At the start of the month, the Church celebrates All Saints Day, giving thanks to God for all those we believe have achieved their heavenly goal, and then All Souls Day, during which we pray for the souls of all those who have departed but await their entry into heaven. They are moving days, which call to mind not only loved ones and friends who have died, but also the end of our own lives.

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Kevin Wondrash

An extraordinary synod, indeed

According to Vatican-speak, a specially scheduled session of the Synod of Bishops is an “Extraordinary Synod,” meaning Not-an-Ordinary Synod, held every three years or so.

In the case of the recently-completed Extraordinary Synod of 2014, extraordinary things did happen, in the “Oh, wow!” sense of the word. And if this year’s Extraordinary Synod was a preview of the synod for which it was to set the agenda, i.e., the Ordinary Synod of 2015, that synod, too, promises to be, well, extraordinary.

How was the Extraordinary Synod of 2014 extraordinary? With apologies to the Bard, let me count the ways:

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Kevin Wondrash

A ‘miracle baby’ is born

On March 3, 2013, I received a telephone call from a pretty distraught gentleman who was waiting in his car in the Planned Parenthood parking lot while his girlfriend had her abortion consult appointment.

Curtis kept referring to abortion as “intrinsic evil,” yet he felt that abortion was the only option to hide the fact that he had premarital sex.

Curtis had recently come to the Catholic faith and held a position on a board and was involved in prison ministry. He couldn’t imagine his peers knowing of his choice to engage in premarital sex.

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Kevin Wondrash

Have patience for ‘sausage-making’ synod

The midterm report on the deliberations of the Synod on the Family has appeared, and there is a fair amount of hysteria all around.

John Thavis, a veteran Vatican reporter who should know better, has declared this statement “an earthquake, the big one that hit after months of smaller tremors.”

Certain commentators on the right have been wringing their hands and bewailing a deep betrayal of the Church’s teaching. One even opined that this report is the “silliest document ever issued by the Catholic Church,” and some have said that the interim document flaunts the teaching of St. John Paul II.

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Kevin Wondrash

Rock County Senior Fair to be held Oct. 24

JANESVILLE — The Rock County Senior Fair will be held Friday, Oct. 24, at Holiday Inn Express, 3100 Wellington Pl., Janesville, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Admission and parking is free for the event that is hosted by the Rock County Community Partnerships for Older Adults Committee.

The theme of this year’s event is “Health and Wellness Under the Big Top.” Baby boomers, seniors, and their families are invited to attend and learn about what products and services are available in the area for an enjoyable, healthy lifestyle.

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Kevin Wondrash

Are changes in taste normal with aging?

Q My mother has been a very healthy person, and her diet has been what I would call balanced.

She always had fresh fruit and vegetables, limited sugar, and watched her salt.

A short time ago, I noticed that she is eating less and less. She has also started to use quite heavy doses of salt on her foods.

When I ask her, she says things don’t taste the same, and she just gets full quicker.

Is this normal, or is it something to have checked out?

(A daughter in McFarland)

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Kevin Wondrash

Annual quilt show to be held in Waunakee

WAUNAKEE — St. John’s Piecemakers Quilt Club in Waunakee will host its 14th annual “Quilting through the Ages” quilt show on Friday and Saturday, Oct. 31 and Nov. 1, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the St. John School gym, 114 E. Third St.

More than 150 quilts will be displayed along with quilts that will be donated to local charities. There will be a silent auction and quilt sale benefitting the Waunakee Food Pantry. Luncheon items will be served by the Ashton Go-Getters 4-H Club.

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Kevin Wondrash

Edgewood College president to be inaugurated

MADISON — Dr. Scott Flanagan officially becomes the seventh president of Edgewood College at the inauguration ceremony at 1:30 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 24, in the Todd Wehr Edgedome on campus.

The ceremony marks the close of a weeklong celebration of the new president who took over leadership of the college on August 1.

The inauguration features an academic procession of dignitaries representing colleges and universities from Wisconsin and beyond.

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Kevin Wondrash

Married life is better with NFP, says couple at synod

Jeff and Alice Heinzen, Synod on Family 2014
Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz of Louisville, Ky., president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, talks with Jeff and Alice Heinzen of Menomonie, Wis., as they leave the morning session of the extraordinary Synod of Bishops on the family at the Vatican October 13. The couple are auditors at the synod. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Catholic couples who ignore Church teaching on contraception “don’t know what they are missing,” said a U.S. couple invited to address the extraordinary Synod of Bishops on the family.

Alice and Jeff Heinzen, family life leaders in the Diocese of La Crosse, spoke at the synod October 7, urging efforts to find new ways to share its teaching about the beauty of family life.

Natural Family Planning

Although the couple has practiced Natural Family Planning (NFP) for 27 years and taught NFP — Alice is a member of the NFP advisory board for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops — they did not speak specifically about family planning in their presentation to the synod.

 

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