Bishops' Schedules: Bishop Robert C. Morlino Saturday, September 3, 2005 11:40 a.m. -- Preside and Preach at Celebration of the Eucharist, Third Annual North Central Catholic Family Conference, Clocktower Inn, Rockford, Ill. Tuesday, September 6, 2005 12:10 p.m. -- Preside and Preach at Celebration of the Eucharist, St. Patrick Parish, Madison Wednesday, September 7, 2005 5:30 p.m. -- Preside and Preach at Celebration of the Eucharist and Sacrament of Confirmation, St. Mary Church, Fennimore Bishop George O. Wirz Wednesday, September 7, 2005 10:30 a.m. -- Preside and Preach at 50th Anniversary of Sacred Heart School, Sacred Heart School, Reedsburg

After summer: Resuming regular communication

		Under the Gospel Book + Bishop Robert C. Morlino

Dear Friends,

Well Labor Day is upon us, time has flown by as I knew it would, and it is time for me to return to my regular, almost weekly, communication with you through the Catholic Herald. Let me say that I am so pleased with the leadership that Mary Uhler and her wonderful staff offer to us in giving us, almost weekly, a diocesan newspaper that keeps us in touch with the various happenings around the diocese and offers solid continuing education in the faith for adults. I endorse the Catholic Herald every chance I get, and I would hope that those of you who enjoy our weekly would encourage your friends who may not be receiving the Catholic Herald to do so in the near future.

Secondly, I hope that your summer has been a blessed one, blessed with rest, recreation, solid family time together, and always deeper faith. And I pray that those of you who have been called to carry some special cross during the summer months have found yourselves open to the grace to stand with Mary at the foot of the cross, an experience which we are all called to share from time to time, and of which we are unworthy because being with Mary at the foot of the cross is being close to perfect divine holiness in Jesus and perfect human holiness in Mary, while all of us are sinners.

Changed residence

Just about three weeks ago I changed my residence, at least on a temporary basis, to St. Patrick's Rectory in downtown Madison. At the recommendation of our Priests' Personnel Board, St. Patrick's was linked with Holy Redeemer in downtown Madison and with the St. Raphael Cathedral Parish community all under the leadership of Msgr. Paul Swain as rector and pastor. Father Bill Seipp generously accepted a new assignment to pastor his home parish in Lancaster, leaving the rectory at St. Patrick's downtown vacant. It seemed good, given the location of St. Patrick's Rectory that it have a house sitter, and I will be that house sitter at least for a while.

The Bishop's residence at the Pastoral Center from which I moved is under the watch of the security service for the whole Pastoral Center campus and so is perfectly safe. If I decide toward Christmas time to remain downtown, which seems likely at this point, then other possibilities will be considered for the Bishop's Residence at the Pastoral Center, such as further housing for retired priests or return to use as a convent for some community of consecrated women or men whom might newly be called to work in the diocese.

I also chose to move downtown for three other reasons. In the first place at the time of the tragic destruction by fire of St. Raphael Cathedral, for the first time I felt isolated at my home adjacent to the Pastoral Center. It seemed to me that I needed to be downtown constantly and that was simply not possible. Just running into people near the Capitol as I take a walk to the drug store to get a few things is a life giving experience for me, and sometimes helpful to those whom I meet.

Secondly, it is helpful for me to be closer to the Capitol building itself so that, when appropriate, I can be of more ready assistance in promoting the kind of legislation that safeguards the natural moral law, as is my obligation.

And thirdly, it will give me great joy to be closer to the University of Wisconsin-Madison, allowing me easy access to the campus just to walk around from time to time, get to know the students and establish some presence there, helping in the continual promoting of priestly vocations for our diocese. So that is the rationale for my experiment in downtown living. I am deeply grateful to Msgr. Swain, the parishioners and staff of St. Patrick's, and my sisters and brothers in the St. Raphael Parish community for their warm, prayerful, and hospitable welcome.

When I am present at the lunch hour at St. Patrick's Rectory, I will be celebrating the 12:10 p.m. daily Mass with the St. Patrick's attendees and beginning on September the 25, I will begin the season of stational Masses, that is, the 11 o'clock Mass on Sunday morning at St. Patrick's will regularly be the Bishop's stational Mass when I am in the city.

World Youth Day

My main focus for today, not surprisingly, is the World Youth Day celebration with which the Lord Jesus has blessed the Church and our world in recent days. I hope that many of you were able to participate, through the competent services of EWTN, or to listen through Relevant Radio, to at least part of the wonderful happening in the Lord that occurred in Cologne Germany.

Well over one million young people participated in the final Mass and in an incredible manifestation of solidarity with Pope Benedict, in expressing an authentic, solid, and Catholic faith. I must say, and I will be returning to this topic frequently during this new school year, that the authentic spirit and teaching of the Second Vatican Council was like the air that was breathed in Cologne. There was great reverence in the liturgy, including the liturgical music (even a good bit of Latin was sung). There was an unashamed, authentic Catholicity about the whole environment: solid devotion to our blessed Mother, the beautiful Stations of the Cross prayed in over 400 churches, magnificent worship of the Eucharist outside of Mass through Procession and Benediction at many locations, and historically for the first time, before the entire assembly of young people at the evening vigil, and above all the beautiful and reverent Celebration of the Mass to conclude the World Youth Day festivities.

Many consecrated religious were to be seen in their habits and many priests and seminarians in their clerical attire, including the cassock. So many of the non-essential but extremely helpful outward signs of our faith seemed to me to be more present at this most recent World Youth Day, and I believe this to be because today's young people are perhaps more comfortable with the sacramentality and incarnational nature of our Catholic faith than some past generations.

Catholic identity is inward and outward identity - sacraments are outward signs instituted by Christ to give grace. Our use of statues, rosaries, holy water, sacred images, incense, vestments, altar bells, clerical dress, cassocks are all threads woven into a single cloth of sacramentality or physical outwardness that expresses the inward identity of who we are as Catholics. Our younger people seem not only comfortable with but even eager to embrace all of this outwardness. This sense of deep Catholic identity in these young people gives me tremendous hope for this third millennium. The future looks magnificently promising.

As I thank God for our 20 seminarians, including the 10 new ones, I feel like the most blessed bishop in the world. They too embrace authentic Catholic identity in a way that will serve us well in the future of the Diocese of Madison.

Evaluation of seminaries

Lastly speaking of seminaries and seminarians, as was indicated in brief in last week's Catholic Herald, I have been chosen as one of the Apostolic Visitors for the evaluation of seminaries. This appointment comes from the Congregation for Catholic Education in Rome which makes these assignments in the name of the Holy Father.

During the weeks October 9-14, and December 4-9, I will be serving in this capacity (also February 19-24 at a seminary yet to be determined). In October I will be the Apostolic Visitor and Chairman for the visitation of the seminaries associated with the Archdiocese of Denver. In December, serving with Archbishop Elden Francis Curtis of Omaha as Chairman, I will be an Apostolic Visitor to the Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus, Ohio.

This appointment is an honor for my brother priests, our seminarians, in particular, and for the whole diocese, but it brings with it the consequence of more absence from the Diocese than I might like and a good deal of additional work while here. And so as I seek to carry out the wishes of the Holy See for the good of the Church and especially for the future of seminaries in our United States, I ask your prayers and your patience.

Thank you very much for reading all of this. I am happy to be back in communication with you through the Catholic Herald after the summer. God bless you and your loved ones!

Praised be Jesus Christ!