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	News Briefs: Women's deanery meetings Jefferson Deanery WATERTOWN -- "May your light shine today" is the theme of the Jefferson Deanery fall meeting Thursday, Oct. 18, at St. Bernard Parish here. Registration is at 4:45 p.m. followed by the recitation of the Rosary at 5:10. A concelebrated Mass will be offered at 5:30 with Msgr. Duane Moellenberndt, Sun Prairie, diocesan moderator, as homilist. The program at 7:30 will be the Zelinski Family Violinists. The children, ages two to 17 and members of St. Henry Parish, Watertown, will perform. There will be a special collection for St. Bernard's pro-life group. Reservations are due October 12 to Sue Johnson, N1662 Wood Rd., Watertown, WI 53098. Cost is $10. Lafayette Deanery TRUMAN -- The Lafayette Deanery fall meeting will be held Thursday, Oct. 25, at Immaculate Conception Parish here. The theme is "Dying Well, the Hospice Story." Registration is at 5 p.m. followed by a concelebrated Mass at 5:30 with Msgr. Duane Moellenberndt, Sun Prairie, diocesan moderator, as homilist. There will be a dinner and silent auction at 6:30 followed by the business meeting at 7:15. At 8 p.m. speakers will include Deanna Wilson, director of Community Care and director of Hospice and Home Care at Upland Hills Health, and Joyce McPhail, director of nursing at Upland Hills Hospital, Dodgeville. Reservations are due October 15 to Charlotte Kendall, 15506 Cty. Rd. Z, Darlington, WI 53530. Cost is $6. Family Caregiver Training program MADISON -- Aging Services of Catholic Charities announces a new program that is guided by Catholic social teaching of respect for human life and human dignity. This service is for families seeking support as they find themselves responsible for the care of a loved one. The Family Caregiver Training program provides, in one day, the basic skills needed for care giving. It covers essential skills, including lifting, positioning, transferring, skin care, and managing incontinence. Safety issues are also discussed such as fire safety, preventing falls, medication safety, and infection control. Participants practice using assistive devices that make care giving less physically demanding. Emphasis of the training is caregiver's safety. It provides encouragement and support as families care for their loved-one with respect and dignity. The Caregiver Training program provides follow-up consultation service by the trainer. While a caregiver receives training, their loved-one can receive care through Home Health United. To learn how to register for a Caregiver Training class, call Jean Mueller at Catholic Charities Aging Services at 608-833-4800 or visit www.catholiccharitiesofmadison.org or e-mail: tjmueller@tds.net Eucharistic Adoration, Rosary at Boscobel BOSCOBEL -- Eucharistic Adoration will be held at Immaculate Conception Church, 405 E. Le Grand St., here, on Saturday, Oct. 13, from 11 a.m. to 12 noon. The Rosary will be recited at 12 noon. Free back, shoulder screenings offered MONROE -- Autumn is a time when sometimes shoulder and back pain occur with increased activity. Monroe Clinic is offering free 10-minute back and shoulder screenings on Tuesday, Oct. 16, and Thursday, Oct. 18, from 3 to 7 p.m. The screenings will be held in the physical therapy department on the lobby level of Monroe Clinic Hospital, located at 515 22nd Ave. in Monroe. Space is limited and appointments are required. Call Monroe Clinic Physical Therapy at 608-324-1178. Building awareness of breast cancer BARABOO -- During National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, St. Clare Hospital and Health Services invites the community to remember the impact of breast cancer and the importance of early detection. Throughout October, pink ribbons will decorate an evergreen tree in the St. Clare Healing Garden. Anyone is welcome to place a ribbon on the tree in honor or memory of someone whose life has been affected by breast cancer. Ribbon will be available free of charge at the hospital's front desk. In addition, St. Clare will offer coupons for reduced-cost mammograms for women over 35, on sale at the front desk throughout October. The coupons, for $75 exams, are valuable to those who do not have health insurance, have high deductibles, or insurance that does not cover the service. The coupons can be redeemed up to one year. Nominate someone for "Profiles from the pew" To nominate someone to be featured in "Profiles from the pew," download a nomination form (PDF file, 269 KB). "Profiles from the pew" runs in the Catholic Herald print edition NOTE: The nomination form is a Portable Document Format file (PDF), which can be viewed using the freely available Adobe® Reader® software. Many computers already have this software and will automatically open the document when you click the nomination form link, above. Adobe Reader is a registered trademark of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries.

Seeing God in creation:
Finding the importance
of rural life

By Kat Wagner
CATHOLIC HERALD STAFF

(See also front-page photo.)

DARLINGTON -- "When we're removed from the beauty of animal life, plant life, the beauty of the seasons, the beauty of rural life . . . it's harder to see the face of God," Bishop Robert C. Morlino said during the diocesan Mass for rural life.

	Related item: For more on rural life, as well as links to information on Catholic Social Teaching and food issues, see the column on "The right to food."

"And that's why rural life is so important, especially in a place like the Diocese of Madison," he said.

The bishop highlighted that importance through his presence at the Mass and his blessing of the animals at the rural parish of Holy Rosary in Darlington October 4.

Seven priests concelebrated at the Mass: Frs. Randy J. Budnar, James H. Murphy, Monte E. Robinson, Bernard E. Rott, Francis J. Steffen, Bart D. Timmerman, and David A. Wanish, all from rural parishes in Columbia, Grant, and Lafayette Counties.

This was the first rural life Mass held in a decade, and its revival, some said, is a reflection of the growing concern for the disappearing farming community.

Father Rott, the director of Rural Life for the diocese, said that the Mass helped to highlight the diocese's connection with rural life. It helps to make you stop and think about the need to look upon all life as sacred, and ask how we treat the land, he said.

"The whole sacredness of God's creation . . . that needs to be there," Father Rott said. "If we lose that connection to the earth, to all other life, that diminishes the responsibility for human life.

"Rural life does give you that connection," he said.

Close to the land

The Mass was held on the feast of St. Francis of Assisi, and Bishop Morlino talked at the beginning of his homily about St. Francis' connection to animals and the earth.

The saint, most famous for his love of animals, was so at peace with God that he was at peace with all creatures, with all of the beautiful things in the universe, and with himself, Bishop Morlino said.

When we're at peace with all creation, we care for all creation, he said.

In the farming life, it's a wonderful thing to be close to the land, the bishop said. "Sometimes people are stuck in air conditioned places all summer, or in heated places all winter, and they don't really see what's going on with the land.

"That's why rural life and the farming life is such a treasure to society. Because no one of us is meant to be cut off from our union with other creatures," he said. "When we look at plant life and animal life and we look at the weather and we look at the seasons, this is all a reflection of the glory of God. We're meant to see the glory of God by seeing the beauty of all creation.

"You have a real advantage," he said. "And we have to keep up our prayers that rural life will stay strong in the United States."

Rural life is in so many ways the same to society as married life, he said: if there's no marriage there's no society; if there's no rural life there's no society. It's rural life and all it produces that makes life possible. And we have to pray that no injustice is done to those who work to make it possible, he said.

St. Francis was a saint of peace, Bishop Morlino said. And in his caring for creation he had a tremendous joy.

"Those in the farming community have a special pathway to that love for people, for family, for animals, for plants, for the fields, for the harvest, for all creation," he said. "And because you have a pathway, that love should and will bring you joy. May that always be yours."

Concern for rural life

Patrick Cleary, a farmer from Briggsville, said that he had enjoyed the day. He had been to a rural life event in the Diocese of LaCrosse held in nearby Adams-Friendship previously and had come to see what his own diocese would do.

He said that he appreciated the effort made by the diocese, which has not held a rural life event since 1996. "There's not a lot of rural people anymore," he said. "I guess they should do what they can."

"I really didn't think most of the bishops and priests . . . they didn't really understand what was going on out on the farms," said Mary Meylor, who has lived 40 years on a farm near Calamine. But having this Mass made her more aware that the church was more concerned about rural life, she said.

Father Robinson, the pastor at St. Philomena Parish, Belmont; St. Michael Parish, Calamine; and Immaculate Conception Parish, Truman, said that having the bishop at the Mass was "a sign of the care and love" of the church: "It shows concern and interest for rural life, which is at the heart of Lafayette County and of the diocese.

"The way of the farm is the way of the church," he said. The harvest and the crops have an impact on the financial health of the parish, but more than that, the church is the central, visible institution for many people in the rural community.

"I think the spiritual goes with the social," Father Robinson said. "The church here is not only their faith - it's their center of sharing."

Meylor added that the small church is "like a family" - before and after Mass, parishioners stand outside to talk and visit.

"The church is there for the sacramental things," Father Robinson said. "But the rhythms of life are lived with the rural church."

Pro-life Sunday:
Respecting life at all stages

By Kat Wagner
CATHOLIC HERALD STAFF

MADISON -- In his homily at the Respect Life Mass, Bishop Robert C. Morlino ran the gamut of pro-life issues: from abortion and emergency contraception, to embryonic stem cells, to the environment, to praying the Rosary.

But it was Pro-Life Sunday, he said - we deserve more than the usual three points.

The congregation at the Mass, which was concelebrated by Msgr. George M. Hastrich, pastor emeritus, and Msgr. Kevin D. Holmes, pastor of St. Patrick Parish, where the Mass was held, was a mixture of those pregnant, families, the elderly, and the physically disabled.

But they had all gathered to pray for the respect of the dignity of the human person.

Voting, praying

As Catholics, that prayer is the first step to a just society, Bishop Morlino said at the beginning of his homily - voting for life is the second.

	Related items this week: • Bishop Morlino --     Respect Life Month: Illness and abandonment • Pro-life event (sidebar) • Editorial -- Finding alternatives: For women to choose life • Forty Days for Life (sidebar)

He spoke about abortion, and its impact on society, starting in the 1970s with Roe vs. Wade. Legalized abortion made it seem as if human life were expendable, he said.

"If human life can be expendable, then democracy could be undermined, because democracy rests on the dignity of every person," he said.

His also reiterated the arguments against embryonic stem cell research.

"You and I have to stand up as we pray and as we vote, to promote the truth of embryonic stem cell research, which offers no promise," he said.

Contraception

Responding to the individuals who outside the church before Mass passed out information on SB129/AB377, which would require hospitals to offer emergency contraception to sexual assault victims, Bishop Morlino said, "Planned Parenthood has succeeded in framing the issue of emergency contraception in a particular way . . . in terms of the differing medical opinions on how emergency contraceptives work. If there is no agreement in the scientific community, how are bishops supposed to judge how emergency contraceptives work?"

Legal minds also disagree about how the "conscience clause" can be interpreted, he said, and those two conflicts together are the reason for the "stalemate."

"We have to pray for the wisdom . . . to frame the question in another way," he said, "so that we are competent to answer it."

If "there's something rotten in Denmark" about the way Planned Parenthood supports the bill, he said, ask your state representative to vote against it.

'Green pope'

In his fourth point, Bishop Morlino talked about Pope Benedict XVI and his recent moniker of the "green pope."

Pro-lifers are probably not often strong enough in speaking out in support of the environment, he said.

But human reason alone can conclude the existence of God from the beauty of creation, he said. "The beauty of creation is the starting point for most people to arrive at the conclusion that God exists." If the environment is damaged the starting point for the argument weakens, he said.

"That's why Pope Benedict is green," he said. "And that's why our pro-life agenda contains a strong concern for the environment."

Praying the Rosary

In his final point, Bishop Morlino reflected on the Rosary, which was to be prayed in a very visible way later that afternoon in the annual International Rosary March.

"Pro-life people pray and they hope," he said. "Pro-life people are pro-peace people."

The Rosary has been prayed for many years and led to the peaceful collapse of communism.

After the Eucharist, he said, "The tried and true path to peace is Mary's intercession through the Rosary."