Tag: Church

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Kevin Wondrash

Pastor’s family pitches in to raise funds for Clinton church

CLINTON — When the need arose for a new heating and air conditioning system in the 41-year-old St. Stephen Church in Clinton, Fr. Bill Connell, pastor, enlisted his large family to help raise the money.

Four generations will be present at a Labor Day weekend fundraiser, but not all will be working since the youngest is only six months old.

On Saturday, Aug. 31, about 40 of Father Connell’s siblings, nieces, and nephews are going to prepare and serve a public chicken and ham dinner. This will be preceded by a “polka Mass” with Beloit big band leader Jack Farina providing the music.

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Kevin Wondrash

Madison Catholic Woman’s Club to present benefit style show

MADISON — The Madison Catholic Woman’s Club invites all the women of the diocese to a benefit dessert and fashion show.

Christopher & Banks and CJ Banks at Greenway Station in Middleton will present the “Color Me Autumn” Style Show at the St. Peter Church Social Center, 5001 N. Sherman Ave. in Madison, on Monday, Sept. 9. Dessert will be served at 12 noon with the fashion show beginning at 12:30 p.m.

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Chris Lee

St. Thérèse of Lisieux lecture to focus on Christ in The Hobbit

Joseph Pearce

MADISON — In a prestigious 1997 British readers’ poll, J.R.R. Tolkien’s epic fantasy The Lord of the Rings was voted the greatest book of the 20th century.

In the United States, a 1999 poll of Amazon.com customers selected this same novel as the greatest book not merely of last century, but of the millennium.

No less celebrated is this novel’s charming prequel, The Hobbit, as last year’s new blockbuster motion picture adaptation bears witness.

How did J.R.R. Tolkien’s devout Catholic faith influence his story telling and serve as a guide for communicating beauty, goodness, and truth in The Hobbit? How can this film provide a cultural means for evangelization?

World renowned Catholic author and EWTN television host Joseph Pearce will be exploring these questions and more at the spring St. Thérèse Lecture on Friday, April 5, at the Bishop O’Connor Catholic Center in Madison at 7:30 p.m. His lecture is titled, “The Hobbit and the Beauty of the Christian Life.”

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Bishop Robert C. Morlino, Bishop of Madison

Facing the challenge of learning your faith

Dear Friends,
The week of Labor Day now having come and gone, schools everywhere are kicking into “high gear,” and thus it’s important that we remember to pray for all of our students. It’s also a good time for Catholic parents to remember to reapply themselves to educating and forming their children in the faith, and for all of us to support them! It is a large task, but one which will bear fruit for all of eternity.

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Bishop Robert C. Morlino, Bishop of Madison

Facing the challenge of learning your faith

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,

The week of Labor Day now having come and gone, schools everywhere are kicking into “high gear,” and thus it’s important that we remember to pray for all of our students. It’s also a good time for Catholic parents to remember to reapply themselves to educating and forming their children in the faith, and for all of us to support them! It is a large task, but one which will bear fruit for all of eternity.

Next week I’ll be blessed to celebrate two Masses with students, one with students at the UW-Madison, and another which will gather together students from all of the Catholic schools in our diocese. I can’t wait to be with all of these young, energetic young people. Next week’s issue of the Catholic Herald will also focus on the 32 men who I call “my sons” in a particular way. In recent weeks I’ve also seen almost all of the seminarians head back to school — and I can certainly identify with those parents who are missing students, who are back in the dorms!

 

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Fr. Donald Lange

Pentecost reminds us to use gifts of Holy Spirit received at Confirmation

Seeing with Jesus' Eyes, by Fr. Don Lange

I was confirmed in seventh grade. In religion class, I learned that in the Sacrament of Confirmation we receive the Holy Spirit who strengthens us to be Christian witnesses. I worried whether I could witness to Christ by dying for him as a martyr. I took Confirmation seriously.

The Church received the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. To prepare to receive the Spirit, for nine days key followers of Jesus gathered in the Upper Room in Jerusalem. These included the apostles, together with Mary, some other women, and disciples. They were united in intense prayer.

In Acts 2:2-4, it says, “Suddenly there came from the sky, a noise like a strong driving wind, and it filled the entire house in which they were. Tongues as of fire appeared to them, which parted and came to rest on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues, as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim.”

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