COTTAGE GROVE — St. Patrick Parish in Cottage Grove welcomes a new priest from India to the Diocese of Madison.
Please join the congregation of St. Patrick’s for a “meet and greet” reception with Fr. Michael Tarigopula at St. Patrick Church, 424 N. Main St., on Sunday, Aug. 11, following the 10 a.m. Mass.
Father Michael is from Pannur, a village in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. He is the eighth of 10 children born to his father, a farmer, and his mother, a housewife.
WAUNAKEE — The air-conditioned parish hall at St. John the Baptist Parish in Waunakee was a welcome break from the heat one recent Sunday afternoon.
A crowd of families and supporters from Madison’s St. Ambrose Academy, as well as varying degrees of literary fans, gathered to hear about Catholic writer G.K. Chesterton.
Chesterton has become one of the most quoted writers in the English language. Scholars and fans of the author say he foresaw and wrote about the issues Catholics struggle with today, such as social injustice, the culture of death, the decline of the arts, assaults on religion, and attacks on the family and on the dignity of the human person.
JEFFERSON — First graders at St. John the Baptist School in Jefferson recently helped to raise funds to help the victims of the devastating spring tornadoes in Oklahoma.
The 20 students in Lisa Kotz’s class were very concerned with the people who were injured, lost their homes, or had to deal with the tragic deaths of family and friends.
Adding to their daily prayers, the first graders decided that they had a responsibility to be the “hands and feet of Christ” in reaching out to their brothers and sisters in need.
After a long, 25-hour adventure of traveling that got us to Rio de Janeiro for the beginning of World Youth Day, the Madison pilgrims, having joined with our new friends from the Archdiocese of Indianapolis, were finally en route to the church we would be able to call home for the week.
On the bus, we travelled across the entire city all the way to a far west suburb, Recreio dos Bandeirantes. As we passed through famous areas of Rio, Copacabana, and Ipanema, I craned my neck to try to find the statue of Christ the Redeemer towering above the city, welcoming us to town.
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This column is the bishop’s communication with the faithful of the Diocese of Madison. Any wider circulation reaches beyond the intention of the bishop. |
Dear Friends,
I suppose (after all the coverage here, as well as a very fair and good piece by Doug Erickson in the State Journal) it will come as no surprise to you that this past week I marked 10 years as Bishop of Madison.
I’m so grateful to God for having given me the blessing of these 10 years of service to this local Church and I’m so very grateful to you all. Thank you for your prayers, your faith, your encouragement, and, yes, your constructive criticism through the past years. God willing, I’ll have almost 10 more with you, and I hope we can continue to do great things together — always with His grace and help.
Over the past 10 years I’ve had many a good person come to me — whether through letters or in person, at Masses and events around the diocese — to say basically, “Bishop we want to help, but we’re not really sure where you’re going. What are you trying to do?”
It seems, from speaking to them, that much of the confusion comes from my taking a different style than that to which they may be accustomed — I speak rather loudly and in a straightforward manner, in a culture which has become obsessed with an idea of “tolerance” (which equates to never making Truth claims,) and never saying anything that may make people uncomfortable.
Journey is a poor word to describe our pilgrimage to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, for World Youth Day. The better way to describe it would be to call it a quest. A quest in which the forces of light battle the hordes of darkness. However, in this case the darkness is inside of us. This darkness is the thought that we are alone in our fight against evil, that Church is weak, diminishing, powerless against the aggressive advances of the devil in our world.
On a sunny Thursday morning in late June, dozens of teens made their way downstairs to the parish hall at St. Bernard Parish in Middleton. They just spent the fourth of five nights sleeping on the floor of a classroom. While it doesn’t sound like a fun way to spend part of their summer vacation, they love it.
From day one of journalism school, a reporter is told not to put him or herself into a story. Just learn the facts, observe what happens, interview interesting subjects, and tell the story. Sometimes, however, the paths of reporter and story cross, and the reporter is in the story.
As a young adult in the Diocese of Madison, I am blessed to be part of many activities for Catholics my age in the area. One of them is the Monday Night Sports League (MNSL).
The MNSL started last summer with six teams. Young adults from my parish, St. Maria Goretti (SMG) in Madison, as well as teams from Cathedral Parish in Madison, Blessed Sacrament Parish in Madison, St. Paul University Catholic Center in Madison, St. Christopher Parish in Verona, and a team of friends called “Faith, Friends, and Funnies” (FFF) make up the league.
JANESVILLE — This summer, 15-year-olds Tony Seibert and Sam Barrette of Nativity of Mary Parish in Janesville became the fourth and fifth Scouts to represent the Diocese of Madison on the St. George Trek (SGT).
This year the Diocese of Madison, for the first time, has a priest participating in SGT. Fr. Brian Dulli, Eagle Scout and pastor of St. Peter Parish in Ashton, eagerly looked forward to being a part of SGT.
The St. George Trek is a backpacking adventure at Philmont Scout Ranch. Philmont is the premiere Boy Scout Ranch located near Cimarron, N.M. in the heart of the Rocky Mountains.
MONROE — When does life begin? Did you ever wish that you could ask a physician about this, but were unsure of what he/she would say? Would they tell you the truth, or would they tell you their “belief”?
The Diocese of Madison has a current seminarian — Clint Olson — who is also medical doctor. He will give two talks on the truth of when life begins from a medical perspective to members of St. Clare of Assisi Parish in Monroe and any interested Catholics in the diocese. His talk — “Pro-Life from a Biomedical Perspective” — is geared toward teens and adults and will be presented twice: once on Wednesday, July 17, and again on Wednesday, July 24. Both talks will begin at 7 p.m. and will be held at St. Victor Church in Monroe.
