On May 1st, we Catholics celebrate the Feast of St Joseph, the Worker. St. Joseph is the patron saint of workers.
Throughout our diocese, statues of St. Joseph the Worker show him holding a saw, eager to give another day’s work to help support Jesus and Mary. His example reminds us of the graced work, sweat, and sacrifice that go into the building of our churches both physically and spiritually. He reminds us that honest work can be a grace or ladder to God.
Note from Bishop Morlino: Dear Friends, As we come to the close of this year of St. Paul, let us refocus our minds and hearts on the life and works of this great Apostle. One of our newly ordained priests, Fr. Brian Dulli, parochial vicar of Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary Parish in Sun Prairie, has been kind enough to offer some excellent reflections on St. Paul to help us along the way. — Bishop Robert C. Morlino
Second in a series
Paul remains the most formidable thinker of apostolic times. While he could not have initiated Christianity, we owe to Paul profound thanks both for his human and spiritual gifts.
Much of what Paul writes flows from his very capable reflection on what happened to him as a human being and then as an apostle.
Note from Bishop Morlino: Dear Friends, As we come to the close of this year of St. Paul, let us refocus our minds and hearts on the life and works of this great Apostle. One of our newly ordained priests, Fr. Brian Dulli, parochial vicar of Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary Parish in Sun Prairie, has been kind enough to offer some excellent reflections on St. Paul to help us along the way. — Bishop Robert C. Morlino
First in a series
According to the initiative of Pope Benedict XVI, we are now in the midst of a year of celebration in honor of the life of St. Paul, the Apostle to the Nations.
In our very time, all the nations of the world still greatly need the preaching and truth of the Gospel. Like Paul, a modern preacher must overcome real obstacles barring the delivery of Christ in his fullness.
Yet that is what Paul strove to do. He did not speak or write about Christ through vague intimations. He delivered the full reality of Christ to show that faith is never in vain.
No one can do everything, but everyone can do something. This is the intent behind the new Annual Catholic Appeal in our diocese.
Just as it takes many peoples’ involvement, commitment, sacrifice, perseverance, and more when it comes to maintaining the vitality of our respective parishes, the same is true for our family of parishes, our diocese. When it was founded in 1946 in the 11 counties of southwest Wisconsin covering over 8,000 square miles, the diocese had 82,000 Catholics. Now it has 277,000. It had 122 active priests; now there are 96.
Budgets are mostly about numbers. Numbers of taxes collected and numbers of dollars spent. But budgets are also fundamentally about people and the priorities of the community. In ways large and small, budgets can affirm values and arrange laws and policies in ways that favor personal choices.
Budgets are generally not the place to settle questions like whether abortion should be legal. But individual budget items can encourage or discourage women who are facing the choice of whether to carry a pregnancy to term and give life to the child they carry.
One recurrent theme in bioethical discussions is the idea that each of us possesses a basic awareness of the moral law. This distinctly human faculty, which Western culture has referred to as “conscience,” helps us to choose correctly when confronted with basic moral decisions.
Even children, when taught about right and wrong, instinctively seem to recognize a law higher than themselves. Deep within his conscience man discovers that law which he has not laid upon himself but which he must obey. Conscience has been aptly described as man’s most secret core and his sanctuary.
I awoke at […]
Life is filled with challenges. In these days, especially, our own reality may seem like an endless Good Friday, as we face perhaps the serious illness of someone we love, or maybe job loss and financial difficulties, or simply the trials of daily living.
For the poor in a remote area of northern Zambia, life too could appear a never-ending stream of hardships. They live in an isolated area, nine hours from the nearest town, a distance marked by mountains and dangerous cliffs.
Lent, Easter, and the Jubilee Year of St. Paul invite us to receive God’s mercy, forgiveness, and reconciliation. God offers us these healing gifts to renew us to live our vocation of Christ-like love when we sin and lose the Way of Jesus.
In Genesis 1:27 it says, “God created man in his image; in the image of God, He created him; male and female, He created them.” In 1 John 4:8 it states, “for God is love.” Since God is love, we image God best when we truly love. But the sin of Adam and Eve wounded our ability to love. Consequently, we commit sins which enslave us and weaken our love ability.
Christians in the Holy Land are called “living stones” because they are the living Church, celebrating their faith in the parishes and shrines of the Holy Land.
Recognizing the great needs of these people, Pope Benedict XVI, who will be visiting the Holy Land in May, directs that the Good Friday special collection support Christians in the Holy Land, as well as preserve holy sites.
