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| Fr. Peter Fehlner |
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| Friars of the Immaculate broadcasting on AirMaria.com |
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| Dr. Mark Miravalle |
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| Bp. Ricken taking notes |
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| Rosary before Mass |
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| Fr. Angelo wins the award for greatest beard I've ever seen. |
During the recent Clergy Congress, Elizabeth Ministry International Retreat and Resource Center, located in Kaukauna, made a presentation about local efforts to bring awareness to the problems of addiction to pornography and its devastating effects on men, women, youth and families.continue at The Compass
We are in the midst of a world-wide pandemic that is claiming the physical, spiritual, emotional and social lives of many millions of people. It is destroying marriages and devastating families. It separates individuals from God and is at the polar opposite of everything that brings true peace and happiness. What is this pandemic? Pornography and its primary delivery system is the Internet!
North American statistics indicate that porn makes more money than Hollywood at the box office; more than the sum of NBC's, CBS's and ABC's revenues; more than the music industry generates from record sales; and more than all major professional sports in the United States combined. It is estimated that 60 percent of Christian men and 30 percent of Christian women are addicted to pornography.
In 56 percent of divorces in the United States "an obsessive interest in Internet pornography" was a significant factor. A survey conducted among U.S. Christians revealed that 50 percent of men and 20 percent of women struggled with pornography use. Fifty-one percent of pastors say Internet porn is a temptation and 37 percent say it is a current struggle. Every year, millions of Christians are caught off guard and become hopelessly addicted.
Pornography undermines human dignity. It goes against God's plan for the body and the intimacy of sexual union in marriage. We must learn more about this scourge and its effects on families and offer concrete ways to offer hope and healing.
It's very important to understand that those who become trapped in pornography addiction and other unwanted sexual behaviors are not evil, broken or a lost cause. In fact, the profile of an Internet pornography addict is intelligent, sensitive and spiritual. There's a logical brain-science explanation behind their struggles. Pornography viewing triggers the brain into releasing a tidal wave of internal chemicals, including dopamine, endorphins, norepinephrine and more. The effect on the brain is very similar to street drug use, and can quickly create a literal "chemical dependency."
In reality, Internet pornography is electronic cocaine. These are good, valuable human beings who have developed a dependency on an extremely powerful brain-chemical-releasing activity for escape, self-medication and pleasure. This is not unlike an addiction to alcohol, drugs, food or any other personal "drug of choice."
continue at PostCrescentTOWN OF MENASHA — An influential group of Neenah-Menasha businessmen is paving the way for the construction of a $4.7 million fine arts facility at St. Mary Central High School.
The Twin City Catholic Educational System announced today that it will build a 22,000-square-foot addition on the school's campus that will feature a 495-seat auditorium, a 96-seat forensics theater and state-of-the-art sound, lighting and production equipment. In addition, four new interactive electronic classrooms will be added to St. Mary Central.
The project is expected to be completed and operational by April 2013.
"The goal is to provide a superb, comprehensive educational experience for the youth of our community," said Dick Bergstrom of Bergstrom Corp., a strong supporter of Catholic education in Neenah-Menasha. "We've been working on this behind the scenes and it finally came to a conclusion early last month."
Bergstrom is one of five businessmen who raised $2 million in matching gifts for the project. The other members of the campaign leadership team are John Bergstrom and John Hogerty of Bergstrom Corp., Mike McClone of McClone Insurance Group and David Voss of Miron Construction Co.
A fundraising drive will generate the remaining $2.7 million for the addition.
The fine arts center has the support of Bishop David Ricken of the Green Bay Diocese, TCCES-affiliated parishes and the TCCES Board of Education.
CHAMPION, Wis. – Philip and Barbara Hesselbein came to the Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help to pray for a grandson who has an inoperable brain tumor.continue at USA Today
Darlene Searcy prayed for her family and for herself; she has cancer.
Mary Spakowicz, who also has cancer, came "because God will hear me here."
The afflicted and the faithful have long made pilgrimages to the quiet country site where Belgian immigrant Adele Brise said in 1859 that she saw the Virgin Mary three times. For the past few years, maybe 30 or 50 people had trickled in daily to visit the chapel, Brise's grave and the candlelit crypt that marks the site of the apparition.
That changed in December, when Bishop David Ricken of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Green Bay certified after investigations by three theologians that Brise had indeed seen a beautiful lady in white who said she was the "queen of heaven."
That made the shrine, which is a mile from the unincorporated town of Champion, the USA's only official site where Mary is said to have appeared.
Now there's a steady flow of traffic into the recently enlarged gravel parking lot. Cars, vans and buses bring 500 people — and often many more — here daily. License plates from Ohio, Minnesota, Missouri, Illinois and Indiana were spotted one recent weekday.
A new building houses much-needed restrooms.
A former boarding school on the site is being refurbished to house two priests recently assigned full time to the shrine.
"I knew that there would be some increase in interest" after he certified Brise's vision, Ricken says. "I wasn't sure how wide it would be, how broad it would be."
Our Lady of Good Help attracts far fewer visitors than international Marian shrines such as France's Lourdes, which draws 5 million a year, or Mexico's Our Lady of Guadalupe, which has double that.
Still, Ricken expects the number of visitors to continue to rise and says the diocese is trying to figure out how to accommodate them without losing "the simplicity of that beautiful shrine and the peace of the place."
Marian Symposium 2011Main celebrant for the Mass:
Drew Mariani leading the rosary at MS 2010
His Excellency Most Rev. David L. Ricken
Bishop of Green Bay
MC of the symposium:
Mr. Raymond De Souza
Director of Evangelization & Apologetics, Diocese of Winona
EWTN Program Host
Speakers:
Our Lady of All Nations, Queen of the Americas, and Her Remedy for Peace
Dr. Mark I. Miravalle
Franciscan University of Steubenville
President, Vox Populi Mariae Mediatrici
Bright as the Sun, Fair as the Moon: Our Lady of Guadalupe and the Way of Beauty
Fr. Angelo M. Geiger
Superior Delegate for the USA and Australia,
Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate
The Pierced Hearts of Jesus and Mary: Redeemer and Co-Redemptrix
Fr. Dwight Campbell
Apostles of Jesus Christ, Priest & Victim
Mariologist
Our Lady of Guadalupe: from Mother of Israel's Hope to Queen of the Americas
Sr. Rosalind Moss
Daughters of Mary, Mother of Our Hope
Apologist
Women's Medical Forum on the Pill -- The Data. The Links. The Facts.
When: Saturday, September 24, 2011, 8:30 a.m. to noon
Where: St. Norbert College, Ft. Howard Theatre, De Pere, WI (click here for map/directions)
Speakers
• Dr. Angela Lanfranchi, breast cancer surgeon, VP/co-founder of Breast Cancer Prevention Institute
• Mercedes Arzu’ Wilson, speaker, author, president of Family of the Americas Foundation, Inc.
• Bishop David L. Ricken of Green Bay
Information: Click here for flyer
Contact: Christina Pallini, e-mail cpallini@gbdioc.org; phone (920) 272-8271
Bishop Nickless of Sioux City, IAOne blogger thinks the leading candidate is Bishop Samuel Aquila of Fargo, ND.
Ricken of Green Bay, WI
Vlazny of Portland, formerly of Winona, MN
Campbell of Columbus, formerly Auxiliary in St. Paul - Minneapolis, MN
The Upper Midwest has been on a roll: We have Archbishops in Anchorage, Portland, NYC, Cincinnati, and a Bishop in San Diego.
Bishop Aquila, currently the Ordinary of the Fargo Diocese, is no stranger to Denver-- in fact, he was first ordained there. He was also the first rector of the Seminary in Denver, after ++Chaput re-opened it.
Naturally, Bishop Aquila has spent a bit of time in Rome. Since his ordination as Bishop, he has absolutely transformed North Dakota during his tenure there. With a specialization in liturgy, and also with great experience in catechesis (he has been on a USCCB committee for both), it is no surprise that Fargo Diocese is doing as well as it is.
In addition, he is a staunch defender of human life, and no stranger to entering into the Public Forum, either.
For all of these reasons, not that my own opinion makes any difference, I think he would be an excellent candidate to fill the void that Archbishop Chaput has left in the Mile High City. Given the raised profile of the Church in Denver, the candidate would have to be someone of the caliber of Bishop Aquila, and also someone of his knowledge of the mid-west and mountain regions.
As for a date for announcing this, just to keep it interesting...I wouldn't be at all surprised if whoever the successor is going to be is announced before Christmas of this year, perhaps even as early as the beginning of October; however, I am sure that the passing of our beloved Nuncio may have slowed down things a bit.
With record crowds descending upon the Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help, two religious order priests now assigned to the diocesan shrine are tending to the visitors' spiritual needs.continue at The Compass
Fr. Peter Stryker and Fr. Jewel Aytona, members of the Fathers of Mercy religious congregation based in Auburn, Kent., arrived in Champion July 7 at the request of Bishop David Ricken.
Following the Dec. 8, 2010, declaration that the Marian apparitions to Adele Brise in 1859 were worthy of belief, Bishop Ricken began making plans to find a religious community of priests to staff the shrine. Bishop Ricken chose the Fathers of Mercy because their congregation's apostolate matches the shrine's historic mission: to preach and catechize, said Fr. John Doerfler, chancellor and vicar general of the diocese.
Bishop Ricken became acquainted with the Fathers of Mercy several years ago when he led a retreat for members of the congregation, added Fr. Doerfler. The congregation's superior general, Fr. David Wilton, met with Bishop Ricken earlier this year and agreed to send two priests to staff the shrine
WBAY2Less than 24 hours after a Brown County shrine was featured on national television, the man who declared it an official Marian apparition site is sharing his thoughts on the program.
Our Lady of Good Help was featured on a "Primetime Nightline" special. For the little shrine in the little community of Champion, the secret is out.
"I think they did a beautiful job on that," Green Bay Catholic Bishop David Ricken said of the way the shrine was featured.
"I think the solemnity of the shrine, its 150-year history, the simplicity of the message, the life of Adele Brice, how she lived out that mission the Blessed Mother gave to her, I think that came through in a very humble but striking way."
"I thought it'd be mostly in Wisconsin and the northern part of the country here, maybe neighboring states. I figured it'd take several years before people really heard about it or understood it, so I didn't dream of all this that's for sure," Bishop Ricken acknowledged.
The reality is, up to one thousand people a day are flocking to the shrine from around the country, praying for peace and healing.
"Some people ridicule it, but that's each person's choice. We're not forcing people to believe, of course; belief is a personal matter, but it needs to be listened to, and if something is there that attracts people, they need to pay attention to it because it may be a little invitation from God to get closer."
"We fill our lives with all kinds of things, much of which is really not that important, so going there to that shrine puts them in touch with God, who lives inside, and that deep longing for peace and unity with God that we were born with, we were created with."
To meet the needs of guests, the diocese has appointed two priests to serve full-time, as well as upgraded sidewalks and restroom facilities. More parking space is next on the agenda.
The bishop also plans to explore the possibility of building a larger church and conference center and expanding the gift shop.
the rest plus photos at GB Press Gaz.Bishop David Ricken always wanted to go to Lifest. But since taking over as head of the Catholic Diocese of Green Bay in 2008, something else always came up.
“So last year I put it on the schedule to be here today,” Ricken said Sunday. “I’ve heard just wonderful things about it, so I’ve got a lot to learn. I just need to be around as many young people as I can. They’re not only the future but the present, so we’ve got to reach out to them and thank them for what they’re doing.”
Ricken led 9 a.m. Mass from the Thrivent Café Stage on the final day of the 13th annual Lifest celebration at Sunnyview Expo Center. Hundreds worshipped as intermittent showers trickled down on the large tent.
“It’s exciting that the bishop is taking time out of his day and out of his Sunday to be here,” Becky Livingstone of Oshkosh said.
Sharon Oberkrieser of Oshkosh, who attends St. Raphael’s in Oshkosh with husband Bill and son Jacob, appreciated the Mass after having enjoyed the music, ministry and prayer at Lifest, she said.
