PINE BLUFF — “I should get up when and drive where for what? For Mass?!? But it’s a Saturday!”
There is a centuries long tradition during Advent called the “Rorate Mass.” These Masses are generally offered during Advent on Saturdays, the customary day to honor the Blessed Virgin.
Mass begins in the darkness before dawn. Remember, Advent is a penitential season after all.
MADISON — On the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, Monday, Dec. 8, at 7 p.m., Bishop Robert C. Morlino will celebrate a Pontifical Mass at the Throne at the Bishop O’Connor Pastoral Center, 702 S. High Point Rd., in Madison.
The Feast, or Solemnity, of the Immaculate Conception, which this year falls on a Monday, is a holy day of obligation in the United States because Mary, under the title of Immaculate Conception, is patroness of the nation.
Her “goal is to be a saint.”
When 16-year-old Kara Jackson’s mother, Christina, helps her daughter tell her story, it all starts there — she wants to be a saint.
VERONA — The Widows of Prayer is a new group which began in Appleton and was approved within the Diocese of Madison.
It began when a group of women made a decision to devote themselves to a ministry of prayer for priests and vocations to the priesthood. They chose to foster devotion to the Blessed Sacrament and to reach out to widows with compassion.
MADISON — In the “Church Year,” November is a significant month for considering the Communion of the Saints and the holy souls in Purgatory.
At the start of the month, the Church celebrates All Saints Day, giving thanks to God for all those we believe have achieved their heavenly goal, and then All Souls Day, during which we pray for the souls of all those who have departed but await their entry into heaven. They are moving days, which call to mind not only loved ones and friends who have died, but also the end of our own lives.
The Seat of Wisdom Diocesan Institute is a program of adult faith formation and catechetical certification in the Diocese of Madison.
HIGHLAND — Pick up the kids on Sunday, Oct. 5, and come on over to Ss. Anthony and Philip Church, 726 Main St. in Highland. There is lots of parking!
We start our Oktoberfest at 9 a.m. with a Polka Mass. If you’ve never praised the Lord this way, this is a unique and lively experience.
Then come outside for a cup of free coffee and nibbles and watch your kids help smash the pumpkin piñata and compete in a seed spitting contest. Let yourself be decorated with Mr. Greene’s balloons.
BARABOO — Due […]
MINERAL POINT — […]
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| 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,
This past Sunday we celebrated the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross.
This Feast Day takes place each year on the 14th of September and so, while it is a major feast day for the Church, it is often missed by those who do not attend daily Mass, or at least Mass on major feasts.
This year, however, we were particularly blessed to have the feast fall on a Sunday, and so important is the feast that it actually “trumps” the typical Sunday readings.
It is indeed an important day — so much so that it used to be followed by three Ember Days of prayer and fasting.
Why is it so important? It is not the feast of the Crucifixion of our Lord; obviously we mark that on Good Friday. And, in fact, each time we approach the altar for Mass, we represent the Sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross, we recall His suffering, death, and resurrection; why have a special day just for the exaltation of the Holy Cross?
Because, in our Catholic faith symbols matter! We are a physical people, whose very bodies are destined to be glorified, and so the physical, tangible things of this world matter.
