Author: Kevin Wondrash

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Kevin Wondrash

Witness of Faith: Bonnie Miller

COLUMBUS — “I’m kind of like a go-to person for the liturgy. I’m not listed on the bulletin or anything, but if Father’s got any questions it’s, ‘talk to Bonnie, call Bonnie.'”

If you’ve attended a Mass at St. Jerome Parish in Columbus any time in the past 30 years, you’ve seen the results of Bonnie Miller’s work.

In addition to her day job in which she puts in 30 hours a week, Miller serves as the parish’s unofficial “liturgist.”

Parish duties

If you ask her what that all entails, she’ll say, with humility, preparing a liturgical outline for the cantor, lector, organist, and celebrating priest for each Sunday’s Mass; selecting the music; preparing the church for Holy Week and other liturgical seasons; training new cantors and lectors — and that’s just a small summary. She also participates as a lector and Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion herself.

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Kevin Wondrash

Fr. Mike Klarer will celebrate 35th anniversary

MONROE — Fr. Mike Klarer, pastor emeritus of St. Clare of Assisi Parish, Monroe, will celebrate the 35th anniversary of his ordination on Sunday, June 15, at St. Victor Church, Monroe, with a 3 p.m. liturgy. All are invited to the celebration.

Father Klarer will be the celebrant of the Mass with concelebrants Fr. Larry Bakke, pastor of St. Clare of Assisi Parish and director of the Apostolate to the Handicapped, Diocese of Madison; Msgr. Michael E. Hippee, retired pastor, Milwaukee; Fr. Steve J. Kortendick, pastor of St. Jerome Parish, Columbus; Fr. Gary L. Krahenbuhl, priest son of St. Victor Parish, Monroe, and pastor of St. Mary Parish, Portage; Fr. William Nolan, retired pastor, Madison; Fr. Michael A. Resop, classmate and pastor of St. Luke Parish, Plain; Fr. Bernard Rott, pastor of Holy Ghost Parish, Dickeyville; Fr. Kent Schmitt, retired pastor, Monroe; Fr. William J. Seipp, retired pastor, Cassville; Fr. Gary A. Wankerl, pastor of Holy Mother of Consolation Parish, Oregon; and other priests of the Diocese of Madison.

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Kevin Wondrash

Editing our genes? We must be vigilant about use of new techniques

A number of serious diseases are known to occur because of defects or mutations in our DNA.

Curing such diseases could in principle be carried out by rewriting the DNA to fix the mutated base pairs. Yet until recently, scientists have remained largely stymied in their attempts to directly modify genes in a living animal.

New gene-editing technique

Findings described in the March 30, 2014, issue of Nature Biotechnology, however, reveal that a novel gene-editing technique, known as CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats), can be used successfully in mice to reverse disease symptoms for a liver defect known as type I tyrosinemia. In humans, this potentially fatal ailment affects about one in 100,000 people.

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Kevin Wondrash

Living well and aging well

Catholic Charities Aging Conference 2014
A standing-room only crowd listens to the morning keynote session at the at the fourth annual Catholic Charities Aging Conference held May 15 at the Bishop O’Connor Center in Madison. (Catholic Herald photo/Kevin Wondrash)

MADISON — All of us want to know how we can live well and age well. Catholic Charities (CC) of the Diocese of Madison gave plenty of suggestions on making that happen at its annual Aging Conference.

The fourth annual conference held on May 15 at the Bishop O’Connor Center in Madison drew a record number of participants.

Bill Hamilton, director of Aging Services for Catholic Charities, welcomed those attending the day. “As a leader in providing aging services, Catholic Charities is happy to provide this community outreach,” he said.

He noted that CC has six programs for older adults: Elder Mentor, Companion Care, Respite Care, Adult Day Center, Caregiver Training, and the All Saints Neighborhood. “We have a really nice package of services for older adults,” said Hamilton.

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