The theme for the University of Wisconsin men’s basketball team has been “Make ’em believe.”
When they lost to Kentucky in the Final Four last year, most of the team (minus Ben Brust who graduated) came back to try to achieve their dream of becoming national champions.
They wanted people to believe that they could win that title, along with other goals of being conference champions in the regular season and post-season tournament.
As we prepare to begin Holy Week, our thoughts and prayers turn to what happened in Jerusalem during Our Lord’s passion, death, and resurrection.
We will be reliving the events of that week during the liturgies of Holy Week in our churches. It is a special time for us as Christians, and hopefully we will attend as many services as we can.
During Holy Week, we may envision what happened in Jerusalem: Jesus’ triumphal arrival with palms waving, his last supper with his apostles, his suffering and death on a cross. We may see these events as part of history, viewing them almost with a sense of nostalgia.
However, our faith makes us realize that these events are not only in the past. We reenact them every year — and every day of our lives — as we journey with Jesus in the triumphs, crosses, deaths, and resurrections we face.
People in the Madison area have been coping with the death of a biracial young man by a white police officer on March 6.
The fatal shooting of Tony Robinson, age 19, by Madison police officer Matt Kenny is indeed a tragedy.
As state law now stipulates, the incident is being investigated by the Wisconsin Department of Justice.
Members of Robinson’s family have called upon the community to remain calm and allow the investigation to proceed.
Wisconsin is a great state! I was born and raised in Wisconsin, and I enjoy living and working in our state.
Despite some very cold temperatures and heavy snowfalls, unlike some people I know, I’m not eager to spend months in other warmer states. I actually enjoy the change of seasons and the natural beauty of Wisconsin.
In 2014, it was no surprise that Madison was named number one out of the Top 100 Best Places to Live on Livibility’s annual ranking.
This is the time of year when Catholics throughout the Diocese of Madison are hearing and reading about the Annual Catholic Appeal (ACA).
Members of parishes have received a letter and pledge form from Bishop Robert C. Morlino. In addition, there have been prayers and announcements about the ACA at Masses each weekend.
There was an insert about the appeal distributed last weekend in parishes; it is also included in this week’s Catholic Herald. Next weekend, we will watch a video message from our bishop.
In September of this year, the World Meeting of Families will be held in Philadelphia. Pope Francis will be coming to join in this event, which calls people together from throughout the world to celebrate family life.
During February — which is observed as Catholic Press Month — the Catholic Herald has included information in each issue of the paper showing how the Catholic Herald focuses on families.
In each issue, we have talked about how our diocesan paper focuses on families. Included each week was a quote from Pope Francis’ Message for World Communications Day 2015, which also centers on families.
We are hearing a lot in the news these days about the issue of vaccination of children, primarily because of a nationwide measles outbreak that began in a Disney park in California.
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) report that the current outbreak has resulted in 121 cases of measles in 17 states and the District of Columbia, according to Catholic News Service.
The outbreak has raised concerns about parents who won’t immunize their children for a variety of reasons.
I agree that parents should make the final decision about their children’s health and well-being. There are some reasons why parents might not want their children to be vaccinated. However, parents may have fears that are not based on scientific fact.
We will be experiencing two very different ways to celebrate love this week as we approach Valentine’s Day.
On one hand, the week of February 7 to 14 is observed as National Marriage Week, a collaborative campaign which aims “to strengthen individual marriages, reduce the divorce rate, and build a stronger marriage culture, which in turn helps curtail poverty and benefits children.”
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In case you haven’t heard, we’re in the midst of the Year of Consecrated Life in the Catholic Church. It began in November of 2014 and continues until February 2, 2016 — so it actually lasts more than a year.
An average lay Catholic may think, what does this have to do with me? Why should I be concerned about a year dedicated to priests, Sisters, consecrated virgins, and other persons in consecrated life?
Pope Francis would say, “It applies to every single Catholic person.”
That’s what the Holy Father did say in a letter he wrote on the occasion of the Year of Consecrated Life. He said he wished to speak not only to consecrated persons, but also to the laity, “who share with them the same ideals, spirit, and mission.”
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Audrey Mettel Fixmer died on January 22, surrounded by her family. She touched many lives in her 86 years of life and made significant contributions to the Catholic Herald as author of the “Grand Mom” column for 23 years.
Twenty-three years ago out of the blue, I got a phone call from Audrey Mettel Fixmer.
She told me she had retired from teaching English and was interested in writing for the Catholic Herald. We chatted for awhile, and I found out that she was a member of St. Joseph Parish in Fort Atkinson and seemed very devoted to her faith.
Besides that, she told me she had 11 children (one died as an infant). Wow, I thought. That was amazing!
I told Audrey that we didn’t have a regular column in our paper dedicated to senior citizens. Since she was 65 years old at the time, I thought she was qualified to write about that age group.
