Madison Theology on Tap Appearance

Last Thursday, as I mentioned, I was invited to give the Theology on Tap talk for the Cathedral Parish of Madison, Wisconsin on the topic of "Faith in the Ballot Box: Catholic Conscience in the Civic Arena."

It was a wonderful chance to systematically think through and then present the huge range of material AmP has covered in recent months on the relationship between our Catholic faith and our involvement in American politics.

I drew most immediately upon Abp. Chaput's new book on the topic, as well as the most recent voting guide of the U.S. Bishops (Faithful Citizenship - PDF), as well as their excellent 1998 version, Living the Gospel of Life. Obviously these documents themselves rest on Sacred Scripture, the Catechism, Documents of Vatican II, Encyclicals, etc.

The Cathedral Parish is a tech-savvy setup, so you can already access an audio of the talk and the subsequent Q&A session through this link. It's amazing how fast an hour-and-a-half flies by when you get going. I also posted the photos that were taken to this AmP Flickr photo set.

A special surprise came with the appearance of local bishop Robert Morlino to hear my presentation. As AmP readers may remember, Bishop Morlino set aside his prepared homily on the Sunday that Joe Biden spoke his foolishness in order to set the record straight.

Since Bishop Morlino made his clarification, he's been facing a bit of local backlash from the liberal element in Madison, but appears to be weathering the storm just fine.

I'm happy to say that it appears he enjoyed the talk, and as long as I don't receive an excommunication in the mail shortly, I can presume safely that I didn't manage to confuse the issues too badly. ;-)

Special thanks go to Monica Freng, who invited me and was a wonderful hostess, as was her husband Ryan (er, "host"). Please keep them in your prayers as they have their first little one on the way. My gratitude also to Msgr. Kevin Holmes, pastor of the combined "Isthmus Catholic area", for his hospitality throughout my stay.

Mr. Brock Heinz and his wife were also extremely generous to me over the weekend. I would urge all WI-area readers to check out the excellent Men of Christ conference and their various hosted events. You can already sign up for the 2009 conference, for instance.

Thanks, finally, to all the AmP readers who made an appearance at the talk, participated actively in the before-during-and-after debate, and even stood me for a pint or two as the evening wore on!

It's always such an excitement for me to meet readers in person. Blogging can be a very impersonal affair at times and it means so much to me whenever I get the chance to meet folks in person with whom I've been corresponding!