Bishop Robert C. Morlino encouraged everyone to appreciate the “beauty” of the priesthood as he prepared to ordain Deacons Vincent Bryan Brewer, Garrett Buchanan Kau, and Stephen Christopher Petrica to the priesthood for the Diocese of Madison on May 24 at St. Maria Goretti Church.
Tag: bishop
Finding beauty in the priesthood
Dear Friends,
“The love of Christ compels us (2 Cor 5:14),” says the second letter to the Corinthians. That love, which is made manifest to us in the person of Christ, is the most beautiful thing that there could ever be. It is beautiful because God is love. He is love and He is beauty itself.
Bishops release revised end-of-life letter
MADISON — Wisconsin’s Catholic bishops have released the third edition of their pastoral letter on end-of-life health care decision-making and advance care planning, Now and at the Hour of Our Death.
The letter voices the bishops’ concern and compassion for those facing critical health care decisions, and shares a moral and ethical framework for making such decisions.
Popular document
“The conference issued the first edition of this pastoral statement in 2002. That edition and the second one issued in 2006 have proven to be our most frequently requested document,” explained Wisconsin Catholic Conference (WCC) Executive Director John Huebscher.
“In the seven years since the second edition, we have seen even greater interest in the moral questions surrounding death and dying. The bishops are resolved to keep responding to that interest. Reissuing the document is an effective way to do that.”
Blessed Mother will help crush evil
Dear Friends,
For those who are willing to see, it doesn’t take much looking to notice the evil that surrounds us. Lies and deceit, violence and murder, hatred and malice, and more and more often, vice treated as virtue.
Decree transferring St. Pius X Parish to the Jefferson Vicariate Forane
Protocol #: 021-2013 […]
Focusing on death, life, and mercy
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| This column is the bishop’s communication with the faithful of the Diocese of Madison. Any wider circulation reaches beyond the intention of the bishop. |
“Death and life have contended in that combat stupendous: The Prince of Life, who died, reigns immortal.”
“Christ indeed from death is risen, our new life obtaining. Have mercy, victor King, ever reigning!”
(Easter Sequence – Roman Missal, 1964 translation).
I choose those two lines to focus upon in this Easter Season, because they are exactly reflective of the themes that our Holy Father, Pope Francis struck during many of the early days of Easter. He has asked the question and raised the issue from Scripture, “why do you seek the living among the dead (Lk 24:5)?”
“Death and life have contended,” and life won out, so, the Holy Father asks, echoing the message of the angel, “why do you seek the living among the dead?”
A second point that the Holy Father has focused upon is reassuring us, once again, that no one with a good and open heart is outside the bounds of the mercy of Jesus Christ, won by His death on the Cross, and confirmed by His Resurrection.
And so, we’ve got two words, or groups of words: “death and life,” and “mercy,” on which we should meditate in this Easter season.
Where is mercy in the world?
“Why do you seek the living among the dead?” Christ died that there might be mercy. Let’s calmly look at our world today, and let’s look around for mercy.
Bishop Morlino comments on Pope Francis
MADISON — Less than an hour after Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio was announced as the new pope, taking the name Francis, Bishop Robert C. Morlino of Madison addressed reporters on the selection.
Bishop Morlino recalled being familiar with Cardinal Bergoglio from eight years ago, when Pope Benedict XVI was elected pope. Bergoglio was reportedly in heavy consideration to replace Pope John Paul II. Bishop Morlino said the new pope can be a leader who could “raise the Church out of mediocrity” around like world like he did in his native Argentina.
It takes bravery to follow Christ as priests
This past Sunday is often called, “Good Shepherd Sunday.” The word the Scriptures use is really not adequately translated in English as simply, “good.” The word really means, “honorable, worthy, noble,” or, “so excellent in every way that its goodness is itself beautiful.”
From the Threshold of the Apostles
“Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and abode with him fifteen days” (Galatians 1:18).
In my previous two-part preparatory article, I outlined the historical context and current format and content of the ad limina apostolorum pilgrimage, literally, “to the threshold of the apostles,” by bishops to Rome on a quinquennial basis, i.e., five-year basis.
Bishop Robert C. Morlino and the bishops of Region VII, comprising Wisconsin, Illinois, and Indiana, recently completed their pilgrimage and I’ll offer a brief reflection in thanksgiving as a privileged pilgrim accompanying Bishop Morlino on the ad limina pilgrimage.
I extend my deepest thanks to Bishop Morlino for the opportunity to assist him and accompany him on the ad limina pilgrimage.
Cathedral parish purchases former school building
MADISON — “Alert parishioners may have noticed that a ‘sold’ sign has been put on the former St. Raphael School building at the corner of Henry St. and W. Washington Ave.,” Msgr. Kevin Holmes, rector of the Cathedral Parish in Madison, wrote in the June 19 parish bulletin.