MC News
WAUNAKEE — One of the common myths of our time is that the Catholic Church is on the decline: that the faithful are a dwindling minority, becoming more and more irrelevant. But when one attends a celebration such as the Rite of Election and Call to Continuing Conversion, held in the Diocese of Madison on February 26 at St. John the Baptist Church in Waunakee, the joy and determination of the people who have come seeking to join the Catholic Church make that myth seem absurd.
Like other parishioners at Blackhawk Church on Madison’s Far West Side, Hunter Koeshall heard the Rev. Chris Dolson issue a bold challenge late last year: Read the entire Bible in 2012. “I was like, ‘Oh man, this is going to be tough,’” said Koeshall, 17, a senior at Middleton High School. “I honestly didn’t think I could do it. I kind of hoped they would offer a shorter version.”
What started in January with children tossing quarters into collection cans finished Saturday with more than 60,000 meals packed and ready to ship to needy families locally and abroad. “For me, it’s just been an inspiring and humbling experience,” said organizer John Ranthum of 6:8 Ministries of Prairie du Sac, who led the effort with his wife Sarah and five Madison-area Catholic parishes as a shared Lenten mission.
MADISON — As Lent begins, we again focus on the three pillars of the Lenten journey: fasting, praying, and almsgiving. Even before I cared or knew much about fasting and prayer, I understood the necessity of assisting those in need, including material donations or acts of service. I felt compelled to serve others and that eventually taught me how to serve God and discover His will and plan for my life.
I didn’t recognize the landscape in the opening shot of “Street Pulse,” a new documentary on life on the street in Madison by Marc Kornblatt. Traffic speeds by on an overpass that could be anywhere, before the camera takes viewers below the bridge to a couple of people just waking up in what we quickly realize is a homeless encampment. But it’s not long before we realize that this story of homeless people meeting life’s challenges is set right here in Madison.
A lot of church leaders would panic if told they had 29 days to vacate their facility. Not at Lakeshore Church. “Everyone is super excited about this,” said the Rev. Jeff Lennberg, lead pastor.
As the dust was starting to settle last December from the bitter debate and then rejection of a charter school called Madison Prep, I got a message from Madison School Board member Lucy Mathiak. She said she was curious about the relative silence of the Madison clergy over an issue that touched on issues of social justice, race, education and the fabric of our community. “There is a serious need for pastoral engagement to help with the very raw wounds that are out there,” Mathiak wrote.
Vatican City – Pope Benedict XVI on Saturday brought 22 Catholic churchmen into the elite club of cardinals who will elect his successor, cementing the Italian majority in a future conclave but also giving former Milwaukee Archbishop Timothy Dolan a position of prominence.
Two Ohio pastors who helped lead an effort in that state to bring back collective bargaining for public employees told a Madison audience Tuesday the campaign would have failed without a partnership between unions and faith leaders. The collaboration was essential but not easy, said the Rev. Michael Harrison Sr., pastor of Union Baptist Church in Youngstown.
The story of Jeremy Lin’s breakout performance for the New York Knicks basketball team over the past ten days has been all over the media. Tonight, the sixth victory in a row for the Knicks since Lin took off, including the winning basket as time ran out. In five starts he’s scored 136 points, a feat unequalled by any modern NBA player. It’s called Linsanity. Lin fans can be found on both coasts, in New York where he now plays, in the Boston area where he attended Harvard, and in California, where he grew up. Asian Americans have never had…