Category: Around the Diocese

News from around the 11 counties of the Diocese of Madison.

On
Cheryl McCollum, For the Catholic Herald

Parish cluster to sponsor and build home

MADISON — For the first time, a cluster of Madison area Catholic parishes is sponsoring and building a home with Habitat for Humanity of Dane County.

The parishes of St. Bernard, Middleton; St. Martin of Tours, Martinsville; St. Peter, Ashton; and St. Thomas Aquinas, Madison, will sponsor the project. Construction is expected to begin in the Spring of 2010.

“While many Catholics have been involved in Habitat for Humanity projects, this will be the first all-Catholic build in the state of Wisconsin,” noted building co-chair Wendy Hansen.

“With the leadership of St. Bernard’s Church, our cluster will make history. Thankfully, we have the good will of the people, the energy, and the God-given talent and treasure to do this wonderful project.”

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Kat Wagner, Catholic Herald staff

Multicultural Center to re-open in August with community help

MADISON — An outpouring of support from the local community, parishes, and the diocese has given the Catholic Multicultural Center (CMC) new life and a chance to serve the poor and those in need in the Madison area after only a two-month closure.

“Jubilation” was M. Goddard-Pezêt’s response to the news. She and 12 to 14 others had been regulars at the daily Mass at the center, but with its closing many had gone to their own parishes, breaking up the closeness of their group. The center’s proximity to her house and the difficulty of walking from the bus to her parish church, especially during winter, had made the CMC an ideal location for her. Its re-opening has given a ray of hope that Mass may begin again there.

“I’m very happy, as there are a lot of people who need this,” Goddard-Pezêt said. “And some personally depend on this for their livelihoods.”

Goddard-Pezêt was one of the more than 200 people who came to the CMC’s open house July 12 to learn more about its work, reconnect with other center volunteers and regulars, and to meet people who are influenced by its services. Both Bishop George O. Wirz, retired auxiliary bishop, and Bishop William H. Bullock, bishop emeritus, who had the center built at its current location in 2002, were able to attend the open house.

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Mary C. Uhler, Catholic Herald staff

A divine design: Natural Family Planning

MADISON — “Marriage and Natural Family Planning . . . A Divine Design” is the theme of Natural Family Planning Awareness Week, being promoted July 19 to 25 by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

The aim of this week is to focus attention on Natural Family Planning (NFP) methods and Church teachings which support their use in marriage.

This year also concludes a year-long observance of the 40th anniversary of the papal encyclical, Humanae Vitae (issued July 25, 1968), which articulated Catholic beliefs about human sexuality, conjugal love, and responsible parenthood.

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Clarence Mougin, For the Catholic Herald

Bishop from Ghana visits diocese

MADISON/STOUGHTON — On July 2 and 3, Bishop Lucas Abadamloora and Fr. Augustine Agaya from the Diocese of Navrongo-Bolgatanga visited the Diocese of Madison.

The Diocese of Navrongo-Bolgatanga is our Global Partnership diocese located in Ghana, West Africa.

A reception attended by former delegates to Ghana and friends was hosted by Maryann Slater, principal of Blessed Sacrament School, Madison, on Thursday evening.

On Friday Bishop Lucas traveled to St. Ann Parish in Stoughton to concelebrate Mass along with Vicar General Msgr. Daniel Ganshert, Pastor Msgr. Gerard Healy, and Father Ayaga.

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