In February of 1967, Bishop Cletus F. O’Donnell was appointed by Pope Paul VI as the second Bishop of Madison succeeding Bishop William P. O’Connor.
Tag: bishop
A look back: Diocese of Madison experiences growth under Bishop O’Connor
When the Diocese of Madison was established in 1946, there were 122 diocesan priests and 13 Religious Order priests serving 82,000 Catholics in the 11 counties of the diocese.
By the time Bishop William P. O’Connor retired in 1967, the diocese had a total of 290 priests, including 63 belonging to Religious Orders, serving a Catholic population of 180,640.
The meaning of light
Last Wednesday evening, I experienced the beautiful prayer of Tenebrae, named after the Latin word for darkness.
Since the earliest centuries of the Church, believers gathered during the Easter Triduum to offer Scripture readings, texts from the Church Fathers, and hymns to honor the suffering, Passion, and death of the Lord.
Bishop Jerome Hastrich known for his work with the poor and minorities
Thirteenth in a series on the 75th anniversary of the Diocese of Madison
As a priest and bishop, Bishop Jerome J. Hastrich will be remembered especially for his service to the poor and minorities.
He was asked in an interview for the Catholic Herald Citizen when he first became interested in helping the poor and minority groups. The native of Milwaukee answered, “About 1929 when I was in high school.” He added that it was during the Depression and his own family was poor.
Before he entered the seminary, he taught religion to the poor at Holy Cross summer school in Milwaukee and taught Sunday school at St. Benedict the Moor and St. Gabriel Parishes.
Easter greeting
Easter message from […]
State bishops warn of harm to First Amendment freedoms under Equality Act
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MADISON — Wisconsin’s Catholic bishops have issued a letter urging the faithful to actively oppose H.R. 5, a federal bill that if signed into law would dramatically limit First Amendment freedoms, especially the free exercise of religion. Known as the Equality Act, H.R. 5 would alter provisions of the federal Civil Rights Act, adding “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” as categories of people protected from discrimination.
The Catholic bishops of Wisconsin affirmed that “every person is made in the image of God and must be treated with respect and compassion. Individuals have a right to live free of discrimination or harassment.”
Nevertheless, the bishops explain that the Equality Act actually fosters inequity and intolerance. “As Catholics, we are called to shield individuals from discrimination, accompany the vulnerable, and be a voice for the voiceless. However, the Equality Act would require religious entities to abandon the very principles of faith that undergird their ministry and service. Under the Equality Act, ministries would not be able to acknowledge the biological reality of male and female.”Honoring St. Joseph
Issuing Patris Corde, (“With a Father’s Heart”), Pope Francis has declared a special year to honor St. Joseph and to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the declaration of Joseph as the patron of the Universal Church.
A look at faith and culture over time
When we take a long, hard look at our culture today, it is painfully clear that we are in a profound crisis.
The racial, economic, political divisions in society, exacerbated by COVID, the elections last fall, and the violence in our midst, have become a profound obstacle to unity, peace, compassion, and even truth.
We are made in God’s image
A beautiful, basic tenet of our faith, articulated in the creation account of Genesis, is that every human being is created in the image and likeness of God, the imago Dei.
The Scriptures narrate the words of God Himself: Let us make man in our image and likeness.
This conviction is the bedrock of the Church’s defense of human dignity, proclamation of inherent rights, and responsibilities of each person and a motivation for all of our concern for the poor, the young, the elderly, and the suffering.
Candidates and catechumens promise to go forward to the Church
While these past almost 12 months have been filled with reasons and methods to “distance” ourselves from one another, dozens of people growing in their faith recently had a chance to come closer to something.