It was a birthday party unlike any other.
“This has been unbelievable . . . the greatest experience ever for this parish.”
Those words from Msgr. Michael Burke, pastor of St. Maria Goretti Parish in Madison, are the simplest way to sum up the 24-hour period in which the relics of St. Maria Goretti were at the parish from the morning of October 16 — the 125th anniversary of her birth — to the morning of October 17.
“It’ a great day to be a Crusader,” said Edgewood High School (EHS) Principal Bob Growney before more than 700 students, staff members, and volunteers headed out for the annual Edgewood in the Community Day.
As summer seemed to turn into autumn early this year, one late August day stood out among the clouds and the cool and felt like the right season again.
A Sunday afternoon Mass, Aug. 16, at Immaculate Heart of Mary Church in Monona, was part of the annual Diocese of Madison Celebration of Wedding Anniversaries.
For the past seven summers, the middle and high schoolers of Love Begins Here (LBH), along with their leaders, have performed more than 45,000 hours of doing “small things with great love.”
There are kids in the Diocese of Madison who like going to class in the middle of July. Yes, you read that correctly.
Every summer, hundreds of kids get their fill of faith and fun in the Camp Gray experience at the Diocese of Madison camp near Reedsburg.
It was more than just the biggest night of their lives — it was a special night for their families, the Diocese of Madison, and the Church as a whole.
No moment symbolically externalized the work of the Holy Spirit more than the thunderous applause for six men who had just presented themselves to Bishop Robert C. Morlino to be ordained to the priesthood.
“Give, expecting nothing thereof.”
That is the motto of Phi Kappa Theta-Wisconsin Lambda, a national social fraternity with a chapter recently chartered on the campus of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Much like Jesus’ Ascension into heaven — celebrated on Sunday, May 17 — the 5 p.m. Mass at St. Cecilia Church on that day was more than an ending, it was the beginning of a new journey.
