Reading Rat June 2007
Wisconsin Blue Books, University of Wisconsin Digital Collections
Common Errors in English by Paul Brians
Labels: Saturday religion ghetto
Besides calling the senate office, folks should call the state chair and county chair of the senator's party. ... It would let the senator know that folks know how to do more than get riled up over an issue. Someone who tracks down his county chairman is a lot more likely to be a primary voter ...
FIRST THEY CAME FOR THE LITURGISTS, AND I WAS NOT A LITURGIST, SO I HELD MY PEACE
THEN THEY CAME FOR THE HERETICS, AND I WAS NOT A HERETIC
THEN THEY CAME FOR THE APOSTATES, AND I WAS NOT AN APOSTATE
THEN THEY CAME FOR THE BANNER-MAKERS, AND I WAS NOT A BANNER-MAKER
THEN THEY CAME FOR THE PANTSUIT WEARING EX NUNS, AND I WAS NOT A PANTSUIT WEARING EX NUN
THEN THEY CAME FOR THE LITURGICAL DANCERS, AND I WAS NOT A LITURGICAL DANCER, SO I HELD MY PEACE.
THEN THEY CAME FOR ME, AND THERE WAS NO ONE LEFT TO DEFEND ME
that no more contributions to the Motu Propio betting pool will be accepted.
HEY! YOU CAN HAVE MY OREGON PRESS MISSAL WHEN YOU PRY IT FROM MY COLD, DEAD HANDS!
Via is 59, and
if it were not for the accident of her sex and the fact that she is married with two sons, she would be an ideal candidate for the [Catholic] priesthood.
I remember being a grad student at Marquette studying Scripture and discovering the Elijah and Elisha stories for the first time.
...But we can feed the spiritually starving of our time and there is bread with which to feed them. We can feed them, not with loaves and fish, but with hope and prophetic disobedience.
...during the course of that sermon, he introduced me to someone named Jesus Christ. I learned that my sins could be redeemed. I learned that those things I was too weak to accomplish myself, He would accomplish with me if I placed my trust in Him.
IV. A. Mike Bruch told the council the budget increase for Cantors were only to make everyone aware of the serious volunteer problem. ...
IV. B. The collections are up significantly and the gap is closing. ...
IV. C. Focus Group Update - The sessions were not well attended.
The older group and high school students are scheduled to meet on March 12th. The Town Hall Meeting will be March 20th. Sandy Harris asked council members to make phone calls to invite parishioners to attend the meeting.
...
IV. F. Committee Reports
- Gerri Kallas said the Communication Committee had met. ...
- Christy reported for Christian Formation. A discussion was held on how to bring families together between the Day School and Sunday School and to create more community spirit.
- Sandy Sandvoss said the Human Concerns meeting had to be canceled. ...
...
- Prayer and Worship Committee had a meeting and discussed cantors. More volunteers are needed for the Children's Liturgy. The committee would like to have more of the parents of the young children volunteer. Volunteers are needed for most areas.
Please join us for a reception in the Community Room after each Sunday Mass. Let's give Fr. Alan [Jurkus] a warm welcome to St. Al’s!
Excerpt taken from Father Alan's letter to the parish of May 13
Sometime in late September, I would like to invite each of you to a series of "Town Hall" gatherings. I envision three such meetings. The first, regarding Prayer and Worship, the second, Christian Formation and the Day School, and the third, Finance, Stewardship, and Buildings and Grounds. The purpose of these meetings is to hear your dreams and concerns, your hopes and fears. I have found these gatherings to be invaluable in the past and I trust they will be so now. I hope that you will be able to participate.
If the State of Wisconsin were a corporation and subject to rules of accounting in the private sector, it would probably be in Chapter 11 reorganization.
State budget officials say that the general fund balance at the end of fiscal 2006 was a positive $49.2 million, and everyone is supposed to feel good about that.
But the reality, according to the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report [247 pp. pdf] that's required to be filed by the state controller, is that the GAAP deficit was $2.2 billion (p. 147).
Our studies and readings of worship and the congregational life of Catholic Churches has not convinced us that most very large catholic churches really function like the Protestant megachurches. There are a few that we have come across that do, but most don't have strong charismatic senior ministers, many associate pastors, large staff, robust congregational identity that empowers 100's to 1000's of weekly volunteers, an identity that draws people from a very large area (sometimes an hour or more) and across parish boundaries, a multitude of programs and ministries organized and maintained by members, high levels of commitment and giving by members, seven-day-a-week activities at the church, contemporary worship, state of the art sound and projection systems, auxiliary support systems such as bookstores, coffee shops, etc. huge campuses of 30-100 acres, and other common megachurch characteristics.
Second, when we did try to get lists of churches with attendance figures from many dioceses to confirm attendance numbers, we met with no success.
The man was given a ticket for failing to secure his camp site, said Ken Riddleberger, a region supervisor for game management with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.
on Saturday, June 23, at 9:30AM, at Calvary Lutheran Church, Fellowship Hall, 1750 N. Calhoun Road, Brookfield.
The canonical Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are the writte Word of God.
No political leader, not Ronald Reagan, not FDR, not even Lloyd George or Churchill could hold together for very long the polyglot assemblage that has made up the Reagan Phenomenon since 1980. The disintegration of the Phenomenon -- and it is already under way -- will throw each of the highly disparate persuasions back upon its old resources, there to plot no doubt fresh alliances toward yet another coalition of victory under yet another charismatic politician if he can be found.
--Robert Nisbet, Conservatism: Dream and Reality (1986) p. 106
The United Methodist Church in Wisconsin is facing a possible clergy shortage, with 55 pastors in local churches reaching the minimum retirement age in 2008...
Only 17 of their ordained pastors are under age 35, the Rev. Nancy Moffatt, a district superintendent from Eau Claire, told the gathering as she challenged pastors to encourage new candidates for ministry.
Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan, speaking at the dedication in Bonaventure Hall on the Stritch campus in Fox Point, said this is a time when the church always seems to be in a cutback mode. The new center, however, is fresh and bold, he said, adding, "I find that to be exciting. I find that to give me a lot of hope and confidence."
The Stritch effort stands out because its certificate and degree programs have been redesigned in light of a document the U.S. bishops approved in November 2005, Co-Workers in the Vineyard of the Lord: A Resource for Guiding the Development of Lay Ecclesial Ministry [70 pp. pdf], said Dan Scholz, director of the center and chairman of Stritch's religious studies department.
Some women who have studied at St. Francis say the changes diminish seminarians' exposure to women's views, even though some women study at Sacred Heart. ...
"I really think that studying with the seminarians was good for both groups," said Jan Ruidl, who earned two master's degrees at the seminary and is now parish director at St. John Nepomuk Parish in Racine.
Women by their nature have a different perspective, and the women at the seminary were generally mature, with much to share, she said.
The archdiocese is creating a new John Paul II Center in space leased from the School Sisters of St. Francis on S. Layton Blvd. in Milwaukee to train deacons and to provide spiritual guidance and instruction in the faith to lay people. That will include ministry certificate training.
Owen Roberts is chairman and wife Susan is executive vice president of the consulting firm Capital Formation Counselors. They made a good first impression on Newt when they invited him to a get-together with economist W. Edwards Deming. After the meeting, Newt wrote a thank-you note humbly stating that the Roberts had "changed history."
Some random notes from the Annual Quality Congress meeting in Cincinnati
One of the ideas we brainstormed about was to create a forum whereby practitioners, leaders and academics might discuss the notion of whether or not a model is emerging about how government is reformulating itself and how it is going about creating high performance organizations -- might benefit from such a dialogue. I personally would love to see Vice President Gore, Speaker Gingrich and our own, Tom Mosgaller, spend some time talking about this subject. Just how does the quality movement, reinvention, and the Contract with America relate to one another?
I'm now leading a W. Edwards Deming Institute/DEN [Deming Electronic Project] project on the DEN where we are reviewing Newt Gingrich's Renewing American Civilization lecture transcripts and providing apolitical electronic feedback to the Progress and Freedom Foundation.
Of course, the Speaker might have made a slip of the tongue, or pen, or mind. In the light of all the difficulties enumerated, however -- no operational definitions, no consideration of systems aspects, and the direct contravention of Point 8 [Drive out fear] -- I find that unlikely. I call this a Freudian-type slip, revealing that the Speaker does not understand or does not accept Deming's philosophy.
Initial calculations by the teachers — which have since proven wrong — estimated the school would need $1,600 in cans to reach their goal. Recalculations proved the amount was seven figures — about 24-30 cans make a pound and the going price for recycled aluminum is about 75 cents a pound. Each computer is expected to cost just under $1,000. But the teachers were undeterred by the addition of three 0s to their total.
So how will Catholics respond to a request to give the church an unprecedented $100 million?
Hohl [Kathleen Hohl, spokeswoman for the archdiocese] described the proposed drive as a “capital campaign” to raise money for Catholic elementary and high schools, as well as for parish educational/outreach efforts. Hohl said it has been decades since the archdiocese did such a drive, and never at this dollar amount. What’s become clear is the archdiocese needs some kind of outreach to keep parishioners from abandoning the church.
Some parishes, as Nohl’s story noted, have engaged in family education programs that demand more time of parishioners and keep them engaged as practicing Catholics.
But the capital campaign is likely to raise questions. For starters, there will be concern that the money raised will help pay off legal settlements, which have so far cost the archdiocese some $22.3 million (plus another $8 million covered by the archdiocese’s insurer). Hohl said no – that the sale of church real estate will pay off the suits.
One insider also questioned whether RSI, the Texas-based fundraising company that will conduct the upcoming campaign, is being paid too much. The source said the company is expected to get $10 million, a figure that could raise some eyebrows.
Hohl said the exact amount hasn’t been determined yet. Small wonder the archdiocese is proceeding carefully before it makes a public announcement of the drive.
Dolan apologized for not being able to present a more specific plan of action for his tenure here, but took comfort in the example set by St. Francis of Assisi. He told the story of how Francis went to Pope Innocent III to get permission to form his religious order, and when the pope asked what plans Francis had for his friars, he simply pointed to the Gospels and said, 'This is my plan.'
“Key players are not available this year,” the church staff tells Milwaukeeworld. Some, such as Rose Mastrogiovanni, were lost to death, which lets them off the hook. What’s everybody else’s excuse?
When I was told that another figure much discussed in Tehran was Habermas, I concluded that the best explanation for interest in my work was that I share Habermas’s vision of a social democratic utopia. In this utopia, many of the functions presently served by membership in a religious community would be taken over by what Habermas calls "constitutional patriotism." Some form of patriotism — of solidarity with fellow-citizens, and of shared hopes for the country’s future — is necessary if one is to take politics seriously. In a theocratic country, a leftist political opposition must be prepared to counter the clergy’s claim that the nation’s identity is defined by its religious tradition. So the left needs a specifically secularist form of moral fervor, one which centers around citizens’ respect for one another rather than on the nation’s relation to God.
But I still think that the end of democracy is a likely consequence of nuclear terrorism, and I do not know how to guard against this danger. Sooner or later some terrorist group will repeat 9/11 on a much grander scale. I doubt that democratic institutions will be resilient enough to stand the strain.
K-12 Underperformers
1) Waukesha
2) Menomonee Falls
3) Franklin Public
4) Oconomowoc
These school districts had median to above-average spending per pupil with lower achievement test scores than expected given income level of students.
I believe we should trade and visit freely with our neighbors in Mexico. But we must do a better job of stopping those who seek to come into our country illegally.
--George W. Bush, A Charge to Keep: My Journey to the White House (1999) p. 237
Foreign-policy commentators like to draw a distinction between soft power and hard power. The argument is that America has more to gain by spreading its ideas and values than through exercising its military muscles. They also often seek to make a clear distinction between pro- and anti-Americanism. But a little time with Tony, Big Pussy and Paulie Walnuts shows that things are a little bit more complicated.
18In those days, Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought out bread and wine, and being a priest of God Most High, 19he blessed Abram with these words:
"Blessed be Abram by God Most High,
the creator of heaven and earth;
20and blessed be God Most High,
who delivered your foes into your hand."
Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything.
20.5Melchizedek reminded Abram of the Capital Campaign with these words:
"For those who did not participate
in the prior Gathering In, Reaching Out Appeals,
we ask that you pray and consider
matching your current regular giving."
...the building opened as a preparatory seminary in 1963 and was converted to an [Archdiocesan] office and conference center in the early 1980s as vocations dwindled.
Ten men will be ordained to the diaconate for service to the Archdiocese of Milwaukee on Saturday, June 9, at 11 a.m. ... at the Cathedral ...
MR. MARQUIS CHILDS (St. Louis Post Dispatch): You said the other night, Mr. Graham, that if this country is going to be destroyed, it will not be by communism but by moral deterioration from within. Now, you’ve been preaching for seven years and we’ve heard a great deal about the religious revival in this country, yet, year after year, we get new records of crime, juvenile delinquency and so on. How do you explain it?
REV. BILLY GRAHAM: That is--I explain it this way. First of all, I don’t think that this is a--that we have seen yet a genuine religious revival. I heard a president of a seminary say the other day that we’re seeing a revival of religion in America, but not necessarily the Christian religion. And one of the problems is this: We have a great deal of church-going in America, but we’re not relating this church-going to our personal daily lives. We have a hundred million people attending church in America, but those hundred million people are not going into their homes and their shops and their offices and in their business and putting Christ into effect. And that’s one of the reasons that I’ve been trying to emphasize in my preaching the Ten Commandments, the Sermon on the Mount, trying to tell people how to apply Christ in their daily lives and in their social intercourse.
Part of my revelation came after returning to Milwaukee from vacation. That's where I took note that, unlike in other medium-size cities, there's no way to get from the airport to downtown without a car or a hefty cab fare.
Downtown Ald. Bob Bauman blasted Walker's proposal as an "anti-transit transit plan" that wouldn't connect buses with the downtown Amtrak station and Mitchell International Airport.
And it's not like the Vast Conservative Anglican Conspiracy has ever actually, you know, stopped anything. Women's ordination, garbage prayer book, politically correct hymnal, Gene Robinson. The Vast International Roman Catholic Conspiracy guys just laugh at us these days and they wouldn't invite us to their last Vast International Conspiracy softball tournament. They claimed our invitations got lost in the mail but I could hear them giggling before they hung up the phone.
These three sessions were written by youth ministers in our archdiocese, and were reviewed by Father Andy Nelson, from St. Francis Seminary.
Ask them: Who are some people in recent history who have stepped forward to promote peace and nonviolence and equality of all people? Write their responses on the newsprint or board.
(Lincoln, Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., Mother Teresa, are some examples. In fact, if you have pictures of these people, you might hang them up and rephrase the question to read like this: Here are some pictures of people in recent history who have stepped forward to promote peace and nonviolence and equality of all people. Does anyone know who they are? Can anyone tell me anything about what they did?)
Tell them that these people are called PACIFISTS. Write the word PACIFIST on the board or newsprint.
Indeed, seven years after George W. Bush won the presidency in part with a direct appeal to conservative religious voters — even saying during a debate that Jesus Christ was his favorite philosopher — the personal faith of candidates for the 2008 election has become a very public part of the presidential campaign.
Texas Gov. George W. Bush, a Methodist who leads the Republican race in opinion polls and fund-raising, gave the most personal testimony in Monday's debate. Each candidate was asked what "political philosopher or thinker" he identified with most. (In an interview Tuesday morning with Des Moines Register reporters and editors, Bush said he understood the question to be, "Who's had the most influence on your life?")
Bush, the third candidate to answer in the debate, said, "Christ, because he changed my heart."
Though she was a Goldwater Girl in 1964, she devoted equal time to discussing social issues, such as civil rights. In hindsight it's hard to avoid seeing her as a liberal activist trapped in the body of a Republican teenager.
Dr. Robert P. George, the McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence and director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University, will be the final presenter of the 2007 Pallium Lecture Series. He will disucss "Faith and Reason: Why We Do Good" at 7 p.m. at the Archbishop Cousins Center, 3501 S. Lake Dr., St. Francis. A prayer service will precede the lecture at 6:30 p.m. A reception will follow the lecture.
“We believe the budget for the new parish would allow us to support two priests and we believe with the volume of ministry service we need to provide and the size of our school population with four campuses, that we could certainly justify two priests.”
Swearngan estimated that Blessed Savior will have 3,000 parishioners.
Swearngan said that, for the most part, the reactions of parishioners have been positive. That might be attributed to more than five years of discussion that has been integral to the process.
Historic First Baptist Church now in its 325th year and the Charleston Baptist Association, the oldest Baptist association in the South, have declared the first Sunday in June as Say Something Nice Sunday.
Within weeks after becoming rector, he entered into what he termed “a very challenging time” — a six-month period when revelations of clergy sexual abuse of minors became daily, international news.
One of the things the seminary did, according to Fr. Witczak, was examine its admission criteria and procedures to ensure as much as possible that it did not admit men who had a proclivity for sexually abusing minors.
“Partly it’s the legacy of Pope John Paul II — the fact that he was just so influential for people,” he said. “He provided a real model of priesthood. He was a spokesman for the church that was very attractive.”
Fr. Witczak said the increase can also be attributed to “a generational shift.”
“The generation coming up right now is attracted to priesthood. They are looking for something to die for, something that is so important it is worth spending their life on,” he said. “Priesthood, precisely because it involves celibacy and is so countercultural in so many ways is attractive to young people coming up today.”
"Strange New Respect" is Tom Bethell's term for the love showered by the MSM on conservatives who move to the left.
--Mickey Kaus, KausFiles, Wednesday, May 30, 2007, 11:57 P.M.
Labels: definition
The bottom line: You will find a few of these extreme people, left and right, in most American dioceses. You will usually have one or two parishes that strongly support Rome and like to fly that flag high (and apply pressure for Latin rites). Then you will also have one or two edgy parishes (or “centers” or “Catholic communities”) that oppose — in ways either open or subtle — almost everything that Rome tries to do.
So where is the big story? It’s in the middle there, where the typical Catholic parish offers Masses that are plain, vanilla, often numbingly quick versions of the modernized English rite.
Most basically, there’s scant evidence of a huge pent-up demand for the old Mass. Since 1984, celebration of the old Mass has been permitted with a dispensation from the local bishop. Since 1984, celebration of the old Mass has been permitted with a dispensation from the local bishop. While some dioceses where it’s allowed report that the celebrations are often well attended, sometimes with a surprising number of younger Catholics, there’s been no widespread exodus from the new rite to the old.
“Some of the children sold the same products. We allowed this, so they could see competition is part of running a business. ..."
With attorneys for special-interest groups lining up on both sides of the question of whether the tax is constitutional, legislators predicted a costly court fight if the tax becomes law.
Similar taxes in other states have ended up in federal court.
a case to deem the assessment unconstitutional would be strong.
Our Catholic Book Club will meet Wednesday, June 6th, from 9:00-10:30 AM in Marian Hall and will continue the 1st Wednesday of each month. The next book to read beforehand will be Catholicism, Now I Get It! by Claire Furia Smith. All are invited.
We learn the faith as children but really don't "get it" until the it gets challenged--then we either get it or bale.