Cathy Lins, and her sister Marie, got names of families from the Diocese of Madison who were going to see Pope Francis during his visit to the United States. What follows are comments from the families and pictures they shared.
Kevin Blau and his family, members of Divine Mercy Parish in Merimac and Sauk City, travelled to Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia for Pope Francis’ visit to the U.S.
SINSINAWA — A discussion of Pope Francis‘ encyclical, Laudato Si’: On Care for Our Common Home, will be held at Sinsinawa Mound from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. on Tuesdays, Oct. 6 through Nov. 10.
Over the course of six weeks, participants will read each of the six chapters of the encyclical, which calls us to re-examine our lives in light of the ecological crisis, and discuss what this means for us as a people of faith.
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As the first pope in history to address a joint session of Congress, Pope Francis defended the human right of masses of oppressed and poor people to immigrate.
He said “We must not be taken aback by their number, but rather view them as persons, seeing their faces and listening to their stories, trying to respond as best we can to their situation.”
The pope said, “We need to avoid a common temptation nowadays: to discard whatever proves troublesome. Let us remember the Golden Rule: ‘Do unto others as you would have them do unto you'” (Mt 7:12).
MADISON — Care of Creation has scheduled a presentation on Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si’: On Care for Our Common Home on Thursday, Oct. 1, 7 p.m. at the St. Dennis Parish Center, 505 Dempsey Rd.
John Huebscher, executive director of the Wisconsin Catholic Conference will be the presenter. Fr. Randy Timmerman, pastor, and Steve Coleman, resident expert on climate change, will also attend.
MADISON — A conversation on Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si’: On Care of Our Common Home and sustainable agriculture in Wisconsin will be held Sunday, Sept. 27, from 1:30 to 6 p.m. in Anderson Auditorium in Predolin Hall at Edgewood College.
Panelists will include environmentalist Calvin DeWitt , Sr. Miriam Brown, Eric Anglada of the New Hope Catholic Worker Farm, and Edgewood economics professor Kevin Biller. The speakers will lead break-out sessions after the panel concludes.
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In the wake of Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si’ and the pope’s recent speeches in Latin America, many supporters of the capitalist economy in the West might be forgiven for thinking that His Holiness has something against them.
Again and again, Pope Francis excoriates an economy based on materialism and greed, and with prophetic urgency, he speaks out against a new colonialism that exploits the labor of those in poorer countries.
In a speech in Bolivia, a country under the command of a socialist president, the pope seemed, almost in a Marxist vein, to be calling on the poor to seize power from the wealthy and take command of their own lives. What do we make of this?
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It’s courageous, it’s prophetic, it’s challenging, it’’ holistic, it’s wonderful: That’s what I think of Pope Francis’ environmental encyclical Laudato Si’, on Care for Our Common Home.
Quoting his patron saint, Francis of Assisi — who is also the patron saint of ecology — Pope Francis begins his papal letter with a beautiful verse from the saint’s Canticle of the Creatures: “‘Praise be to you, my Lord, through our Sister, Mother Earth, who sustains and governs us, and who produces various fruit with colored flowers and herbs.'”
“St. Francis of Assisi reminds us,” writes the pope, “that our common home is like a sister with whom we share our life and a beautiful mother who opens her arms to embrace us. . . .
Dear Friends,
Around this time of year, things typically slow down in this space. Our Catholic Herald usually has a reduced schedule during the summer, and I always take a bit of a “summer recess” from writing these columns.
That being said, there’s been enough happening in the last two weeks to fill numerous columns, and so I feel compelled to write.
Two very major things happened this past Friday — the ordination of six men to the priesthood for the diocese, and the Supreme Court’s disastrous decision redefining marriage.
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In the years preceding the Great Jubilee of 2000, John Paul II held a series of continental synods to help the Church in different locales reflect on its distinctive situation at the end of the second millennium and to plan for a future of evangelical vigor in the third.
These special assemblies were easily named in the case of the Synods for Africa, Asia, and Europe. But when it came to the synod for the western hemisphere, John Paul threw a linguistic curve ball that made an important point.
MADISON — Pope Francis’ universal prayer intention for the month of April this year is “That people may learn to respect creation and care for it as a gift of God.”
This summer the pope is expected to issue an encyclical on ecology.
In synch with the pope’s prayer intention and in anticipation of his encyclical, Steve Coleman, a parishioner of St. Dennis Parish in Madison and a retired mechanical engineer, will present “A Catholic Response to Global Warming” on Thursday, April 16, from 7 to 8:30 p.m., at St. Thomas Aquinas Church, 602 Everglade Dr.
