Dear Friends,
Even after a few weeks in Rome, where I was able to have some tremendously fruitful meetings and plenty of prayer time with brother bishops and the Holy Father, at the tombs of the Apostles, I simply can’t tell you how happy I am to be back here in the diocese, where indeed I have been sent as a successor to the Apostles, to maintain unity with the Bishop of Rome.
Tag: baptism
Lent calls us to deeper conversion
In the Peanuts comic strip, each fall Lucy held the football for Charlie Brown to kick. At the last second, Lucy picked up the ball and Charlie Brown missed it and fell flat on his face.
After years of being tricked, Charlie refused to kick the football because he no longer trusted Lucy. She broke down, shed tears, and confessed, “I have sinned. I want to change. Won’t you give me another chance, please!” Charlie Brown trusted her again.
Rite of Election to be held Feb. 26
WAUNAKEE — The Rite of Election of Catechumens and Call to Continuing Conversion for Candidates for Full Communion in the Catholic Church will be celebrated by the parishes of the Diocese of Madison on Sunday, Feb. 26, at 3 p.m. at St. John the Baptist Church, 209 South St., Waunakee.
Bringing Christ to the clinic
A Catholic physician once related to me a powerful story about one of his patients, who had just received a diagnosis of advanced, metastatic cancer and had a relatively short time left to live.
Easter reminds us that the best is yet to come
A widow told her son she sometimes wished that when she died, she could be buried with a fork in her hand. When he asked her “why,” she explained that at a banquet, the head waitress often requests that we keep our fork because the best is yet to come.
She told her son because of our faith in the resurrection, and God’s mercy, that after death the very best is yet to come — the priceless gift of eternal life. Christ’s resurrection gives us hope of enjoying eternal happiness in heaven.
Lent calls us to grow in our Easter faith
When Matt Hasselbeck, the Seattle Seahawks quarterback, was a Boston College junior, he volunteered to spend eight days in the missions of Jamaica during spring break.
The people’s poverty shocked him. But their faith, especially the faith of George McVee, a leper, inspired him.
George, a horribly disfigured leper, had no money, no nose, no feet or hands. Yet he daily thanked God for his blessings.
Rite of Election scheduled for March 13
The Rite of Election of Catechumens and Call to Continuing Conversion for Candidates for Full Communion in the Catholic Church will be celebrated by the parishes of the Diocese of Madison on Sunday, March 13, at 3 p.m., at St. John the Baptist Church in Waunakee.
A short life bookended by tragedy
The youth choir Christina Green belonged to performs just once a month, on the second Sunday at the 9 a.m. Mass. And sure enough, the day after the nine-year-old was killed in Tucson, Ariz., the youngest victim of the shooting targeting Representative Gabrielle Giffords, St. Odilia’s youth choir sang.
It was January 9, the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, and there was just one Baptism at that Mass, a nine-year-old girl.
That wasn’t lost on Fr. Richard Troutman, pastor of St. Odilia Parish in Tuscon, Ariz.
Let us joyfully tell the story anew!
The Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, January 9, 2011 marks the beginning of the National Vocation Awareness Week.
While the Baptism of Christ focuses on the revelation of Christ as the “Beloved Son of God,” it reminds us of our own Baptism.
Baptism marks the beginning of our “vocation”as Christians.
By virtue of our Baptism, we also share in the three-fold mission of Christ to be priest, prophet, and king.
Who has a vocation?
During January, most dioceses in the United States celebrate National Vocation Awareness Week.
This is a good time to think about vocations and who has one. Who do you think has a vocation? If you answered that everyone has a vocation, you get an A.
Receiving our vocation
So often we hear people limiting the term “vocation” to the priesthood and religious life. I hear many people, especially parents with children in Catholic schools, complain that we just don’t have enough vocations, but in truth we each received a vocation when we were baptized.