BELOIT — For the third year, a group of Our Lady of the Assumption (OLA) parishioners are organizing, preparing food, and inviting anyone in the Beloit community to a free Thanksgiving dinner with all the trimmings on Thursday, Nov. 22.
Serving will be from 12 noon to 2 p.m. in Assumption Hall. There is an elevator to the lower level dining hall. People who are alone are especially invited to attend.
We just observed Thanksgiving, the holiday started by the Pilgrims in 1621.
As we know, the Pilgrims emigrated to the Plymouth colony in Massachusetts and shared a harvest feast with the Native American Indians who had helped them.
The Pilgrims came from England to America primarily to be able to practice their religious faith freely.
Over the centuries, people from many other parts of the world have come to the United States. My own ancestors hailed primarily from Ireland, Germany, and Belgium.
As we observe Thanksgiving this week, of course it’s a time to give thanks for the blessings we have received in our lives.
While it is good to give thanks, it may be more difficult for us to go beyond giving thanks.
MADISON — St. Bernard Parish, along with the Knights of Columbus St. Bernard Council and the Bishop William O’Connor 4th Degree Assembly, are sponsoring a Blue Mass, in thanksgiving for their faithful service, for all law enforcement personnel and all fire personnel on Thursday, May 18, at 6:30 p.m. at St. Bernard Church, 2450 Atwood Ave.
All law enforcement officers and fire personnel — both active and retired, regardless of faith — are invited to attend in full uniform. This includes police, sheriff, Department of Natural Resources personnel, firefighters, EMTs, and EMS personnel.
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On July 4, 1939, the New York Yankees sponsored a memorable Lou Gehrig Appreciation Day. Though he was dying at age 36, Gehrig told the surprised crowd, “I’m the luckiest guy on the face of the earth.”
Gehrig was thankful because he had a Hall of Fame baseball career, a wonderful wife, family, friends, fans, teammates, and much more. He and Babe Ruth were teammates on one of the greatest teams in baseball history.
On Thanksgiving Day we gather with family and friends to share a meal and thank God for our cornucopia of blessings as Lou Gehrig did.
SPRING GREEN — St. John the Evangelist Parish in Spring Green is celebrating its 150th anniversary this year with a Mass of Thanksgiving on Sunday, April 17, at 10:30 a.m.
A reception will follow in the parish center.
Significant dates in the parish’s 150 year history include:
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Thanksgiving is a day when we gather with family and friends to share a meal, reconnect as family, and thank God for our cornucopias of blessings.
The roots of Thanksgiving Day began with the pilgrims. Despite a long, hard winter during which half of them died from scurvy and exposure to the elements, the pilgrims were so thankful some of them survived that they invited their Indian friends to share a three day feast of thanksgiving.
H.U. Westermayer wrote that the pilgrims made seven times more graves than huts during that first hard year, yet they set aside a day to thank God through prayer and through sharing their blessings with Indian friends.
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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,
Thanksgiving is at the heart of what we do and who we are as a faithful Catholic people.
And so, while there is a great deal to be terribly concerned about in our world, in our nation, and in our own part of the country, there is also a great deal for which we each can offer our thanks to God — which is the origin and the reason for the holiday that is upon us.
On a personal level, I have a great deal for which to be thankful.
In terms of my friends and those with whom I am blessed to serve, I am just that — terribly blessed. Thanks be to God, it’s been another year of good health, and for that too, I cannot fail to be thankful.
As we celebrate Thanksgiving this week, we might want to reflect on the origins of that national holiday.
The pilgrims observed what we consider the first Thanksgiving to thank God for the blessings they received during their first year in America.
Why did the pilgrims come to this new land in the first place? The answer to that question has some bearing on our current discussions about whether to accept refugees from other countries.
Each Thanksgiving, Stoughton’s […]
