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Bishop’s Schedule:

  • Bishop Donald J. Hying Schedule

    Friday, Nov. 1, 2024, 5:30 p.m.: Mass for Solemnity of All Saints’ with Installation of pastor of St. Thérèse of Lisieux Pastorate, St. Bernard Church, Watertown

    Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024, 9:30 a.m.: All Souls’ Day Mass and Lay Them to Rest committal ceremony for cremated remains, Resurrection Cemetery, Madison; 7 p.m.: Confirmation for St. John Henry Newman Pastorate, St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception Church, Portage

    Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024, 10 a.m.: Mass for Mazzuchelli Day, St. Patrick Church, Benton; 3 p.m.: Lay Them to Rest committal ceremony for cremated remains, Mt. Olivet Cemetery, Janesville; 4 p.m.: Confirmation for St. Jane Frances de Chantal Pastorate, St. John Vianney Church, Janesville; 6 p.m.: St. Teresa of Calcutta Parish Mission, St. Joseph Church, Fort Atkinson

    Monday, Nov. 4, 2024, 6 p.m.: St. Teresa of Calcutta Parish Mission, St. Joseph Church, Fort Atkinson

    Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024: Diocesan Finance Council meeting, Holy Name Heights, Madison

    Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024: Human Life and Dignity Advisory Board meeting, Holy Name Heights, Madison

    Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024: Catholic Relief Service Board meeting; Presbyteral Council meeting; 5 p.m.: Mass and Vocation Night, St. Augustine University Parish, Platteville

From the Bishop’s Desk:

  • Knowing the Four Last Things
    by Bishop Donald J. Hying
    November is the traditional month we as Catholics ponder the Four Last Things: Death, Judgment, Heaven, and Hell. As we celebrate All Saints’ Day on November 1 and pray for all the souls in Purgatory on November 2, God draws our hearts to ponder the brevity of this life, the urgency of conversion, the beauty of eternity with God, and the possibility of losing our salvation through habitual mortal sin without repentance.
  • The Church and religious freedom
    by Bishop Donald J. Hying
    The United States Constitution guarantees religious freedom in the First Amendment. This fundamental right propelled many persecuted religious groups in Europe (including the Catholics who settled Maryland) to come to America in pursuit of religious liberty — the ability to practice their own faith as their conscience led them.
  • Devotion to His Sacred Heart
    by Bishop Donald J. Hying
    The feast day of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque is celebrated on October 16. On December 27, 1673, after another day of prayer and work was finished in the convent, St. Margaret Mary was praying alone in the chapel when the Sacred Heart appeared to her. Jesus’ body was filled with light and His Heart was on fire, bleeding and crowned with thorns.
  • The power of forgiveness
    by Bishop Donald J. Hying
    We all know that reconciliation and forgiveness lie at the heart of the Gospel. Jesus came to seek out and save what was lost, namely broken humanity, and to reconcile us to the Father and to one another.
  • How we can be led to Jesus
    by Bishop Donald J. Hying
    A recurrent debate on Catholic social media is the question of saintly intercession.
  • The mission of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul
    by Bishop Donald J. Hying
    The Memorial of St. Vincent de Paul falls on September 27. Born in France in 1581, Vincent was ordained a priest in 1600 and committed his life to the formation of the clergy and the service of the poor.
  • What is truth?
    by Bishop Donald J. Hying
    The dictionary definition of “truth” is “actuality” and “a body of real things, events, and facts.” As Christians, we know that Truth is a person, Jesus Christ, who is the fullness of the reality of God, come to us in human form.
  • God created the Earth and it was good
    by Bishop Donald J. Hying
    The creation account in Genesis is a stirring, poetic narration of God — the Divine Artist — fashioning the universe and the world into wondrous being.
  • Standing up to the abortion culture
    by Bishop Donald J. Hying
    In recent years, the abortion culture in our country has increasingly radicalized its goals, actions, messaging, and tone. In past decades, pro-abortion politicians would mouth the “safe, legal, and rare” mantra, although we knew that conviction was never the true belief of Planned Parenthood or the abortion lobby.
  • Labor Day and the dignity of work
    by Bishop Donald J. Hying
    As we celebrate Labor Day, our thoughts may turn to the end of another seemingly short summer with its more relaxed pace and to the beginning of school and the start-up of everything that goes with it.