Msgr. James Bartylla, […]
Category: Bishop
Throw off darkness, embrace the Eternal Day
Acedia is an uncommon word that defines a common experience. Its Latin and Greek antecedents mean “negligence” and “lack of care.”
The definition is “a state of listlessness or torpor, of not caring or not being concerned with one’s position or condition in the world. (Acedia) can lead to a state of being unable to perform one’s duties in life. Its spiritual overtones make it related to, but distinct from depression.”
Linked to boredom, lukewarmness, and apathy, acedia can particularly overwhelm us in our spiritual practice and pastoral ministry.
Work out our salvation by how we live
“Are you saved?” is a classic evangelical question which we have probably all been asked once or twice. Those posing the query usually view salvation as a specific event, the precise moment when they gave their lives to Jesus and experienced his forgiveness.
A gentleman told me once that he was saved at a Billy Graham crusade in 1978, which for him was a powerful spiritual transformation. As Catholics, we may fumble for an articulate answer to the question of salvation, which is a sign perhaps that our understanding of this central reality of faith is more nuanced.
Life and legacy of Blessed Frederic Ozanam
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| Bishop Donald J. Hying blesses a mosaic of Blessed Frederic Ozanam at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington on January 26. (CNS photo/Tyler Orsburn) |
Last week, I was honored to celebrate Mass in the National Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., and to bless a newly-installed mosaic of Blessed Frederic Ozanam, the founder of the Saint Vincent de Paul Society, on the occasion of the 175th anniversary of the Society’s presence in the United States.
I have been involved with the Vincentians for 20 years as a chaplain, serving for the last two years on the national level. In preparing my homily for the Mass, I dug deeper into the life and legacy of Frederic Ozanam, realizing with greater clarity his inestimable contribution to Catholic thought and the wisdom of the Church in addressing the social issues of the day.
Visionary founder
As a visionary founder of the Saint Vincent de Paul Society, Frederic has helped millions of Catholics to live the Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy in a practical and generous manner. He was a journalist, scholar, professor, social activist, husband, and father. He taught literature, history, and law, deeply engaged in the intellectual problems and social challenges of his day. Ozanam has much to say to our present age.
Frederic was born in Milan in 1813, going to Paris to study law, where he suffered a deep loneliness but also was befriended by André Ampère, a scientist exploring the wonders of electricity, in whose home Ozanam became a boarder.
Simultaneously a sophisticated scientist and a devout Catholic, Ampère showed his young charge that there was no inherent dichotomy between Christianity and science or between Catholicism and the social ills of workers and the poor.Lifting up contribution of Catholic education
We celebrate Catholic Schools Week in this last week of January with special Masses, fun activities, and service events in all of our schools.
This week lifts up the invaluable contribution of Catholic education to the lives of our young people and children, as they are formed to know Jesus, love Him, and serve Him as Catholic disciples of the Gospel.
I profoundly thank Dr. Michael Lancaster and everyone in our diocesan Schools Office, our principals, teachers, staff, students, and parents for the dedication, generosity, leadership, and service they offer to help our schools flourish and our children to realize their full potential as beloved children of God.
Spreading the Gospel of life is our mission
This week, we once again commemorate the sad anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision in 1973 which legalized abortion throughout our country.
Since then, millions and millions of human lives have been legally snuffed out in the very beginning of their existence without the chance of making their contribution to the world or knowing the wonder of our human experience.
Last year globally, 41 million abortions occurred. These numbers are staggering when we compare them to any other human tragedy which destroys lives.
Importance of reading and studying the Bible
Recently, Pope Francis designated the Third Sunday of Ordinary Time, which falls on January 26 this year, as the Word of God Sunday, to honor the Scriptures and to lift up the importance of Divine Revelation given to us through the Bible.
St. Jerome, who dedicated his life to translating the entire Bible into Latin, famously said that “Ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ.” As Christians, we are grounded in the Word, confident that the Holy Spirit inspired the biblical authors to write what they did as the definitive and inerrant expression of God’s communication to His people.
The power of Baptism
This Sunday, we celebrate the Baptism of the Lord, the closing of the Christmas season and an opportune moment to thank God for the remarkable grace of our own Baptism.
Jesus receives the Baptism of repentance from John, not because He needs it, but to sanctify the waters of Baptism and to identify with us in our sinful, fallen state, without ever having sinned Himself.
This compassionate identification with our weakness and death reaches its ultimate saving conclusion in the mystery of the crucifixion and resurrection.
Appointments (12-3-2019)
Msgr. James Bartylla, Vicar General, announces the following priest appointments made by Most Reverend Donald J. Hying, Bishop of Madison, effective as specifically stated below.
The following nine priests are reappointed to the office of vicar forane, per canons 553 and 554, effective December 3, 2019, for a term ending October 2, 2022, in the vicariates forane listed below:
• Very Rev. Fr. David Greenfield, V.F., vicar forane of the Columbia North Vicariate Forane
• Rev. Msgr. Duane Moellenberndt, V.F., vicar forane of the East Dane Vicariate Forane
May Holy Family bless, strengthen, and heal us
This Sunday within the Octave of Christmas, we celebrate the feast of the Holy Family, honoring the beautiful truth that God entered into the world through a family, an extraordinary one at that, but a human family.
Pondering this remarkable truth for 2000 years, the Catholic Church has a highly developed theology of marriage and family, seeing each Christian home as a domestic church, a sacred place where children are conceived, born, nurtured, and raised to know, love, and serve God.