safer – Madison Catholic Herald

MADISON — With the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruling of May 13, which overturned Governor Tony Evers’ state-wide Emergency Order #28, i.e., the “Safer at Home” Order, Most Reverend Donald Hying, Bishop of Madison offered the following brief statement:

“I certainly appreciate the exception added to the Public Health Madison and Dane County Order of May 13th, which while continuing to list religious entities as ‘Essential Businesses and Operations’, also allows for more reasonably-sized congregations for public worship while maintaining appropriate health-related safeguards, and I look forward to seeing this exception for religious entities being adopted in our other ten counties in the Diocese of Madison, and hopefully statewide in any possible future state order.

Zoom Ministry: caring for our youth online

MADISON — “Hey, J. Gregory!” said a teen over the video conferencing platform Zoom. “Don’t you own a pair of scissors?”

Jaymes Gregory Curran, the youth director of Blessed Sacrament Parish in Madison, certainly wouldn’t have envisioned sitting in his parish’s empty youth room talking over Zoom a few months ago.

“I’d heard of Zoom before the pandemic hit,” he said. “But I have never been a fan of FaceTime, Skype, or other similar apps.”

Prison reform needed for safer communities

Popes Paul VI and John Paul II both described the Catholic Church as an “expert in humanity.” This term recognizes the truth that through its long history Catholicism has engaged and reflected on the fullness and complexity of the human experience.