Author: Gordon Govier

To certain Catholics, Peter Kreeft is a rock star. That was evident Nov. 18, when nearly 500 people filled an auditorium at the Bishop O’Connor Center in Madison to hear him talk. Kreeft, a Catholic author and Boston College philosophy professor, had been asked by the Catholic Diocese of Madison to speak on whether “a Catholic can be a liberal.”

Some people come to the University of Wisconsin to play football. And some football players come here to make an impact. From the first time people meet UW senior free safety Aaron Henry, there is no question to which group he belongs. “God has put me in a position where I choose my path. Nobody else can choose it for me. I easily could have been on a corner, doing drugs, or in jail. I chose the alternate route. It probably wasn’t the cool thing back then, but me graduating and getting a college degree, it’s definitely going to be cool…

The votes are in, and from five finalists Andy Czerkas has been selected winner of AARP Foundation’s Hunger Hero contest. Andy’s charity, The River Food Pantry, will receive a $15,000 donation from AARP Foundation to help that organization continue its work to end senior hunger. In addition, he will receive an AARP The Magazine Inspire Award in December 2011, and will be featured in the December/January 2012 issue of AARP The Magazine.

Bethel Lutheran Church in Madison, one of the largest ELCA churches in the state at 6,000 members, has hired a new senior pastor. The Rev. Scot Sorensen will begin his ministry at Bethel Nov. 28 and lead his first Sunday service Dec. 4. He comes from Sacramento, Calif., where he has served as senior pastor at St. John’s Lutheran Church since 1999.

They were dubbed the Millionaire Monks, a small monastic community in rural Wisconsin feted around the world for its wildly successful Internet business selling laser printer inks and toners. As recently as 2009, the Cistercian Abbey of Our Lady of Spring Bank was projecting annual sales of $3.5 million for its for-profit business, LaserMonks Inc. And their prior and chief executive officer, Father Bernard McCoy, was talking expansion – of both the company and the abbey. Today, the monks’ 15,000-square-foot home on 500 acres in Sparta is all but empty.

The dinner at Lakeview Lutheran Church on Madison’s North Side had just begun when church volunteer Dale Matthews burst into the kitchen yelling, “More lutefisk!” To many people, that’s a counter-intuitive phrase. The Scandinavian dish — cod treated with lye, then boiled — is more often the butt of jokes than the cause of a culinary stampede.

Damascus Road Church welcomed its new pastor, Tim Dunn, on July 10, 2011. Dunn was the final selection in a nationwide search that attracted more than 300 applicants. Prior to coming to Damascus Road Church, Tim served as the lead pastor of The Bridge, a replanted, revitalized urban, university-oriented church in Cincinnati, Ohio. Tim Dunn brings a history of empowering leadership and a solid commitment to the gospel to a congregation known for its cutting edge commitment to social justice and recovery ministries.

Just a few hours after comedian Mike Vecchione finished his set on a recent Saturday night at The Comedy Club on State, the space was turned over to a rental customer. Bibles replaced beer. The jokes largely disappeared. This is where Madison Alliance Church holds Sunday services.

Now that November is here it’s a great time to share about SHARE because although you can get a great deal on food from SHARE every month of the year, November has the best deal of all. SHARE stands for Self Help And Resource Exchange. “SHARE is a nonprofit food buying club that offers good, nutritious products at reduced cost through a volunteer-run, community-based, distribution system.” Many of SHARE’s distribution sites (where orders are picked up) are located in churches and the program is run primarily by volunteers.

It’s Friday night, and things are hopping at The River. A bluegrass band plays as diners move down the serving line for a plate of chicken and vegetables, then sit at long tables topped with cloths and fresh flowers, and dig in. The music and church dinner atmosphere may not sound like what you think of when you think of a food pantry, but founders Andy and Jenny Czerkas mean to build a community, and more people from more walks of life are swallowing their pride and getting acquainted with being on the receiving end of charity at The River…