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Fennimore church to celebrate rededication
FENNIMORE — On […]
Conscience must be a ‘Truth-seeking radar’
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,
There is a great service to humanity that is being lost. It is being lost in society and it is being treated with kid gloves even in the Church. This service is to help another person form and follow their conscience.
So lost is this service that it is very quickly becoming illegal. I wish I were speaking in exaggerated hyperbole here, but sadly I am not. To help others form their conscience means to say that this or that is wrong. And to say certain things are wrong has become very dangerous and indeed — close to illegal in our country, and already illegal in Canada.
However, it is, always and everywhere, the right and responsibility of the Church, and of parents, and of good neighbors, to witness to the law of the Lord, to speak the Truth as it is written on our hearts, and to help others to form their conscience.
In fact there is little that is more important because, as we’ll see, it is the path by which we must follow to seek and to attain the blessedness in this life and in the life to come.
Christ calls laity to be ‘salt and light’
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,
Last week I happened to be in Jackson, Mississippi (for about 36 hours). Now, why would I go there? Was it because I had never been to Mississippi, and I had never tried their particular brand of Southern cooking?
Well . . . I’ll admit that was at the back of my mind . . . but I would never had made a special trip just for that reason. I went to Jackson for the ordination of their new bishop, Bishop Joseph Kopacz.
Bishop from same home parish
Bishop Kopacz is a great priest, about four years younger than I, who grew up with me in the same home parish near Scranton, Pennsylvania — St. Anthony’s in Dunmore.
Just imagine — two bishops from the same generation from the same home parish. If you would, I’d ask your prayers for him as he begins his new ministry in Jackson.
Annual diocesan men’s Lenten retreat at Bishop O’Connor Center
MADISON — “Be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking some one to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith [fortes in fide]” (1 Peter 5: 8-9).
Join other men from the Diocese of Madison and around the region for this special Lenten retreat.
Let the joy of the Lord be our strength
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,
In these last days of Advent, before our joy-filled celebration of Christ’s Incarnation and the Christmas Season, we are offered a taste of that joy (during this penitential season) on Gaudete Sunday.
In the book of Nehemiah, but also in the book of Chronicles, there is a prayer which goes simply: “Let the joy of the Lord be our strength” (Neh 8:10).
As a matter of fact, in many of the translations of the Mass (in both Spanish and Italian, for instance) that phrase is inserted at the time of the final dismissal. “The Mass is ended, let the joy of the Lord be our strength, and let us go in peace.”
Before the new English translation came out, I myself was known to use that dismissal. Blessed Pope John Paul II never left it out when he was celebrating Mass privately. “Let the joy of the Lord be our strength, and let us go in peace” — that is the perfect attitude with which we should leave Mass.
Happy birthday, St. Ambrose Academy!
St. Ambrose Academy celebrated the 10th anniversary of its founding on Saturday, Dec. 7, with the seventh annual Feast of St. Ambrose Benefit Dinner in honor of special guest Bishop Robert C. Morlino.
Why Fear of the Lord is an essential gift
Dear Friends,
This past Sunday — our Second Sunday of Advent — we continued to read from the Prophet Isaiah as he foretold Jesus’s coming. We heard of the coming Messiah and how “the Spirit of the Lord will come upon him (Is 11:2)” in the First Reading. …
Lessons and Carols could be Diocesan Choir’s last Advent service at O’Connor Center
Dr. Patrick Gorman directs the Madison Diocesan Choir at last year’s Lessons and Carols in the chapel of the Bishop O’Connor Catholic Pastoral Center in Madison. At right is Glenn Schuster, the choir’s accompanist and assistant director. (Catholic Herald photo/Joe Ptak) |
MADISON — When the Madison Diocesan Choir enters the chapel at the Bishop O’Connor Center on Sunday, Dec. 22, at 4 p.m., it might be the last time the choir presents its Festival of Lessons and Carols in this setting.
The traditional Advent prayer service celebrates the coming of Christ’s birth in Scripture and song. Bishop Robert C. Morlino will preside this year.
“It very well could be our last Lessons and Carols at the O’Connor Center,” said Dr. Patrick Gorman, the choir director. “If all goes as currently planned, I wouldn’t anticipate singing Lessons and Carols there next year.”
Letter about Common Core State Standards
Dear Friends in Christ,
“Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:5).
Our Catholic schools are great treasures, both of the Church, and of our society. Many of our Catholic schools have been assisting parents in the education and formation of their children for well over 100 years, allowing generations of children to receive the extraordinary benefit of a Catholic education.