Fr Z starts guest column in the MadCatHerald: The different Rites of the Latin Church

The first in a series by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf about the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite.

“Bishop Morlino did what? What’s that all about?”

You may have seen notices and articles over the last year or so about Bishop Robert C. Morlino celebrating “Pontifical Mass at the Throne in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite.”

It is possible that some of you, seeing “Throne,” and “Pontifical,” and “Extraordinary,” might say “What’s that all about?” as you turn the page.

In a short series over the next few issues of the Catholic Herald, let’s drill into “what that’s all about.”

continue at Madison Catholic Herald

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Madison Catholic Herald seeking Administrative Assistant

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The Catholic Herald's administrative assistant has taken a new position with the Diocese of Madison, so the Catholic Herald in Madison is looking for a new administrative assistant. Here is the information:

ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT FULL-TIME

The Catholic Herald, official newspaper of the Diocese of Madison, is looking for a full-time administrative assistant with duties in secretarial/reception, circulation, editorial/production, and advertising areas. Macintosh, Quark, Microsoft Word, Outlook, and Filemaker Pro experience helpful. Knowledge of the Catholic Church required. Excellent benefits. Send a cover letter with resumé by January 8 to:

Mary Uhler, Editor
The Catholic Herald
Attn: Administrative Assistant Position
702 S. High Point Rd.
Madison, WI 53719
Or email: info@madisoncatholicherald.org

No phone calls, please

Former Madison Catholic Herald intern Sophia Minnaert is sideline face of Brewers, Bucks

Sophia Minnaert is the sideline reporter
for the Milwaukee Brewers and Milwaukee Bucks.

MILWAUKEE — If you've watched Milwaukee Brewers baseball or Milwaukee Bucks basketball broadcasts on Fox Sports Wisconsin the past couple of seasons, you've probably seen her.

Madison native Sophia Minnaert is the sideline reporter for the two teams.

A few years ago, she got her "start" as an intern at the Catholic Herald in Madison.

Minnaert's parents are well known in the Diocese of Madison. Her father, Al, is the head football coach and a religious studies and physical education teacher at Edgewood High School in Madison. Her mother, Sylvia, is the receptionist at Our Lady Queen of Peace School in Madison.

continue at MadCatHerald 

Madison Catholic Herald features the BC, other excellent Sconnie Catholic blogs

Whether you’re an active web surfer, or just like to keep up on modern jargon, you may be familiar with the term “blogging.”

If you look in a dictionary, a blog (short for web log) is “a website on which an individual or group of users record opinions, information, etc. on a regular basis.”

The vast electronic space of the Internet is full of blogs for celebrity news, politics, sports, and of course, religion.

There are hundreds, if not thousands, of Catholic-related blogs. They are written by a new kind of missionaries: priests, Religious, and laypeople of all ages. We talked with four of these people — a small sampling, but strong examples of Wisconsin Catholic representation in the blogosphere.

‘The Badger Catholic’

One of these blogs is “The Badger Catholic” (badgercatholic.blogspot.com). This particular blog is headquartered in La Crosse and written by Matt Korger, with sizable followings in the Milwaukee and Madison areas.

“The Badger Catholic” has been online for four years. The idea came from a blog Korger read that discussed topics affecting Catholics in Minnesota.[Ray at Stella Borealis] Korger felt the need to start one for Catholics in the Badger State.

He described his content as “a little bit of everything. Basically any news affecting Catholics in the area.”

He added, “I just saw a need for one and started at it. I guess what I like most about having a blog is that people find it useful. The other blessing has been the many fantastic Catholics I’ve met throughout the state.”

continue at Madison Catholic Herald

Three other great blogs listed.  I thought about doing my own post on the topic.

40 Days for Life planning underway in Madison, Green Bay

From the Madison Catholic Herald:

MADISON -- The volunteer meeting for Madison’s 40 Days for Life vigil was highlighted with the news of an abortion clinic ceasing operations in Green Bay. That development is serving as motivation to help the same thing happen here. The next 40 Days for Life is scheduled to take place Wednesday, Sept. 25 through Sunday, Nov. 3. The effort calls for people to come out and pray near abortion clinics to help end abortion.

Green Bay's 40 Days for Life leader (and pro-life force of nature) Jim Ball spoke to motivate the attendees.

Ball spearheaded a campaign to massively increase the number of volunteers. He shared his experience with the Madison group, in the hopes of encouraging the same results.
As the meeting started, Ball was choked up with emotion announcing the end of the “abortion mill” in Green Bay. This was met with loud applause by the crowd of about 40. 

Read the rest of the article. There's a lot of good stuff. And do get involved in your local 40 Days for Life campaign.

Click here to like Madison Vigil for Life (the umbrella organization that hosts 40 Days for Life in Madison).

Fassino: Why I hate bad church music

Nico Fassino

Former(I think, or is he still there?) president of UW Badger Catholic Nico Fassino wrote an op-ed in the Madison Catholic Register.  I see Father Z also picked it up and posted commentary. 

Recently, the Catholic Herald published two excellent articles by the incredibly well-educated and well-formed Sr. Joan L. Roccasalvo, entitled “Rebuilding Catholic Culture.”

In these essays, Sister Roccasalvo vigorously defends the teachings of the popes and the Second Vatican Council concerning what music is proper for use during the sacred liturgies of the Church, while simultaneously arguing against the use of modern folk-style music commonly found in many parishes.

Response to letter writers

I decided to write this piece after reading several letters-to-the-editor written by people who were very unhappy with her columns.

I actually wanted to title this column “In Defense of Sacred Music: Why the Celebration of Christ’s Death and Resurrection at the All-Holy Mass Deserves Something Better Than Low-Brow Tripe,” but that was obviously too long and I figured that “Why I hate bad Church music” would still draw the eyes of those I wanted to reach.

Some people are upset that Sister Roccasalvo condemns the use of songs that have very little value as actual music (i.e., songs that are shoddily composed, use inappropriate or heretical text, call for the use of multiple tambourines as accompaniment, etc).

Her comments have been interpreted by some as an attack on the ability of the congregation to actively participate in the liturgy. Others are offended because they believe that any music that makes them feel good is proper for use at the Mass. I’ll be honest: when I hear comments like this, I want to beat my head repeatedly against my desk.

continue at MadCatHerald

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Training conference empowers pro-lifers to save lives

Pro-Life Wisconsin recently held a Pro-Life Activism Training Camp in Madison. At the training, we had a number of speakers touch on a variety of topics. One of the speakers conducted a sidewalk counseling training.

We are in the middle of 40 Days for Life right now, and at the Milwaukee 40 DFL alone, we have seen 9 women choose life for their unborn child, due to pro-lifers reaching out. Nationwide, 40 DFL reports 274 babies have been saved so far!

The Madison Catholic Herald published an article about the event, excerpt, below. Photo credit: MCH.

Training conference empowers pro-lifers to save lives
MADISON – Perhaps the highlight of the day was the tearful introduction of Mareza and her baby, Joseph.

Virginia Zignego, communications/outreach director of Pro-Life Wisconsin, introduced the mother and her baby. Both Zignego and Mareza were crying, but they were tears of joy.

Considered an abortionIt was one year ago that the pregnant Mareza walked towards a Milwaukee abortion clinic. She saw Dan, a sidewalk counselor. “He handed me a pamphlet called Watch Me Grow,” recalled Mareza.

“He said, ‘God bless all three of you.’ I left,” said Mareza, who obviously did not have an abortion.

Two months later, she told Dan, “You saved my son.” The sidewalk counselor ended up being a godfather to Joseph.

Mareza told her story to over 170 persons attending the Crisis Pregnancy Outreach and Sidewalk Counselor Training Conference held at the Bishop O’Connor Center in Madison on February 25.

The conference was co-sponsored by Pro-Life Wisconsin, Vigil for Life, the Diocese of Madison, and the Wisconsin State Council of the Knights of Columbus.

Saving livesMareza and her son epitomized the purpose of the conference: to save lives.

Mareza told those attending the conference, “Thank you to each and every one of you. It means you care. I am in debt to Dan forever. Thank you for standing out there.”

For those considering joining the ranks of sidewalk counselors, JT Eschbach from Chicago led a workshop on sidewalk counselor training. He has done it himself for over eight years.

Read the rest of the article here.

Mary Uhler, editor of the Madison Catholic Herald, wrote an editorial about a talk given by Jerry Schmutte at the conference. Jerry talked about Planned Parenthood and society's decline.

A huge thanks to all of our speakers, attendees and event co-sponsors! We couldn't have done it without any of you.

Bishop Morlino: Can government change the definition of marriage?

Very timely observation from a holy Bishop.

Madison Catholic Herald:

For this week’s column, allow me to pose the question, “Does any civil government have the authority to change the definition of marriage, either directly or indirectly?”

To change the definition of marriage directly would mean to call “marriage” any union apart from: one-man, one-woman, one-lifetime, with openness to children. It would mean to call “marriage” any other sort of union than the historical, traditional definition, articulated above.

Indirectly to change the definition of marriage would mean to establish by law certain institutions, civil-unions or otherwise, attempting to give them the same value as marriage, while never addressing the true meaning of marriage.

More and more, this indirect change is being proposed by clever politicians who say, “Well, I believe in marriage between a man and a woman myself, but society, at large, is leaning toward the acceptability of civil unions, so maybe this is a compromise?”

This indirect approach to redefining marriage seems very comfortable for the Catholic who deceives him or herself into thinking that he or she has one conscience for personal matters and another conscience for matters pertaining to the state. But, the Lord has given each human being, Catholic and otherwise, one conscience only.

The origins of marriage

What are the origins of marriage? Marriage was created by God at the very beginning, with the gift of Eve to Adam, and their natural marital bond, from which issued forth Cain and Abel.

Thus, the first societal grouping present in the world, long prior to the establishment of any civil government whatsoever, was marriage. Marriage as the basic unit of society was to be the place of mutual love, as well as the procreation and education of children, so that the other developments of societal structure would have marriage to build on, and as a necessary condition of their existence.

The principle of subsidiarity reminds us that problems of civil importance should be resolved at the lowest possible societal level. Thus, national governments should yield to the state where possible, the state should yield to local municipalities where possible, and local municipalities should yield to the natural family where possible. For example, it is clear that natural parents are the first and primary educators of their own children, a role never to be usurped unjustly by the state.

Read the rest here.

Photos from Madison WYD pilgrimage

I hope they don't mind me posting a few photos here. Great job Kat! I enjoyed following along on their blog Journey of Faith. Gotta love that flag!

The whole set on Smugmug

Madison group blogging on World Youth Day pilgrimage

This year, Kat Wagner of the Catholic Herald, official newspaper of the Diocese of Madison, is traveling to World Youth Day to be with the Madison pilgrims as they experience this worldwide gathering of young Catholics.  The dates are August 8 to 24. The Diocese is teaming up with St. Paul University Catholic Center to sponsor this pilgrimage to Madrid, Spain.

As World Youth Day draws closer, more information is being released on the many events that will be happening as a part of the six-day event, as well as hosted by other organizations.

The “Love and Life Centre: A Home for English-speaking Pilgrims” today released its schedule of events to be held at the center during the days of WYD. The schedule includes a variety of programs and speakers designed to appeal to pilgrims of all ages and can be accessed at wydenglishsite.org

Highlights include newly appointed archbishop of Philadelphia Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, Knights of Columbus Supreme Knight Carl Anderson, Hollywood actors Matt Marsden and Clarence Gilyard, FOCUS president Curtis Martin, and such musical performers as Alexander Acha, Dana Scallon, Scythian, and LAngelus.

Follow all the action at madisoncatholicherald.wordpress.com

You will note that Scythian will be playing at World Youth Day!  Also I read a great article on the NCRegister about how this is the 75th anniversary of the Spanish Civil War(which is probably why Spain was chosen for this years site).  You really must check out the photo they posted with it.  It explains the last 75 years in Spain to a T.