St. Thomas More Society of Wisconsin

First Friday was not held this month as it fell on Good Friday.

We are again putting out the call for photos of this year's Red Mass. Anyone willing to share photos for display on this page should contact the webmaster. Thanks.

We are pleased to have Fr. Daniel Chowning as our celebrant and speaker at the March First Friday gathering. Fr. Chowning is the Prior as well as Novice Master for the Eastern Province (Province of the Immaculate Heartof Mary) of the Discalced Carmelites ("OCD"). Father Chowning has been a Carmelite for 28 years and is currently based at St. Florian's Parish in Milwaukee. He did his post-graduate studies in Spain, is a member of the Institute of Carmelite Studies and is a frequent lecturer in both the U.S.and Europe on Carmelite spirituality. Father Chowning will discuss the spirituality expressed in the life and writings of Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity, a Carmelite nun of the late 19th and early 20th centuries whom Pope John Paul II put on a fast track for canonization.

PRESS RELEASE

Milwaukee - The former director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, the retired Archbishop of Washington, D.C., and a political scientist who has authored books on the relationship of law, religion and morality will be the featured speakers in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee 2007 Pallium Lecture Series, beginning in March. Lectures are free, open to the public, and begin with a prayer service at 6:30 p.m. in the Archbishop Cousins Catholic Center, 3501 S. Lake Dr., St. Francis. A reception follows all lectures.

Speakers in the 2007 Pallium Lecture Series are:

Tuesday, March 6: God and Government: Helping the Poor without Hurting the Constitution? Jim Towey, former White House assistant to the President and Director of the Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, 2002-2006.
Towey is recognized for his efforts in successfully working with Congress to generate regulatory action that benefited faith-based initiatives. Under his leadership, 10 federal agencies, including the Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Agency for International Development, established offices to help religious organizations compete for grants. Towey worked closely with the late Mother Teresa of Calcutta and the Missionaries of Charity, serving as their legal counsel for 12 years. He met Mother Teresa in 1985 and spent a year in Mexico in one of her missions. In 1990 he worked full-time in her Washington home for people with AIDS. Towey currently is president of Saint Vincent College, Latrobe, Pa.

Thursday, March 29: The Church and Its Mission: In Good Times and Bad?Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, Archbishop Emeritus of Washington, D.C.
Cardinal McCarrick is an international human rights and religious advocate who has traveled to nations around the globe, including China, Cuba, Saudi Arabia and South Korea. He served on the U.S. Commission for International Religious Freedom and received the Eleanor Roosevelt Award for Human Rights from President Bill Clinton in 2000. Cardinal McCarrick is well recognized for his emphasis on education, vocations and meeting the needs of new immigrants, particularly in the Latino community. He continues to travel on behalf of Catholic Relief Services and is active with responsibilities for the Vatican and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Monday, June 11: Faith and Reason: Why We Do Good? Robert George, the McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence and director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions, Princeton University.
George is a member of the President?s Council on Bioethics and formerly served as a presidential appointee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. He is the author of several books, including ?In Defense of Natural Law, Making Men Moral: Civil Liberties and Public Morality,? published in 1993 and ?The Clash of Orthodoxies: Law, Religion and Morality in Crisis,? published in 2002. In 2005 George won a Bradley prize, given by the Milwaukee-based Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation for Intellectual and Civic Achievement and the Philip Merrill Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Liberal Arts of the American Council of Trustees and Alumni.

The 2006-07 Pallium Series is sponsored by the Archdiocese of Milwaukee with financial support from the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation and other generous benefactors.

The Pallium Lecture Series, initiated in 2003 by Milwaukee Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan, brings national and international speakers to discuss pertinent issues related to religion, faith and Church activities in the modern world.