Tag: Diocese of Madison

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Mary C. Uhler, Catholic Herald Staff

John Huebscher to retire after 29 years with WCC

MADISON — John Huebscher says that the Catholic Church has “always been tugging at my sleeve.”

“I’ve always been interested in the Church,” he said in an interview prior to his retirement this month as executive director of the Wisconsin Catholic Conference (WCC), the public policy voice of the state’s Catholic bishops.

“I even thought about entering the seminary,” he said. In fact, his pastor encouraged him to visit the seminary in Milwaukee in 1967 and he met the rector in his office.

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Michael Schultz

Why play on Sundays? Because we have to

To the editor:

Why does the Madison Area Independent Sports League (MAISL) play on Sundays? First and foremost it is due to Diocese of Madison Policy: DBA 6420 (the A in DBA stands for “All” so it governs school and religious education programs): Section I. Travel to games must be kept to a reasonable distance especially on days preceding a school day. Therefore, games after supper are discouraged prior to school days. The player’s education and health must be safeguarded by the coach.

This means we can’t play on weeknights after approximately 5:30 p.m. unless it is a reschedule, and most of our coaches can’t make games prior to that time due to work schedules.

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Kevin Wondrash, Catholic Herald Staff

O’Connor Center project nearing completion

A look inside one of the fully-furnished apartments to be available at Holy Name Heights, located in the Bishop O’Connor Catholic Center (BOC) in Madison. (Catholic Herald photo/Kevin Wondrash)

MADISON — People in the Diocese of Madison were recently given a “sneak peak” at the progress of the Bishop O’Connor Catholic Center (BOC) redevelopment.

The building served as Holy Name Seminary from 1963 until 1995. In 1998, it reopened as the Bishop O’Connor Catholic Pastoral Center. It has been serving as the home of diocesan offices and other organizations such as Catholic Charities, the Catholic Herald, Relevant Radio, and Catholic Mutual Group.

Within the last few years, studies were done to determine how to make better use of the building.

A decision was made for a historic redevelopment of the building, which would include converting part of it into 53 residential apartment units, to be called Holy Name Heights, along with still housing the diocesan and organization offices.

Gorman & Company was engaged by the diocese to serve as the developer of the $21 million project and provide architectural and construction services, and property management for the redevelopment.

Gorman successfully nominated the BOC as an historic landmark and had it placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

This designation enabled Gorman & Company to procure $5.8 million in historic tax credits to leverage for project costs.

Building tour

As dozens of potential tenants, former Holy Name students, and other interested guests sat in the Bishop O’Donnell Holy Name Memorial Chapel for the “sneak preview,” Msgr. James Bartylla, vicar general of the diocese, welcomed everyone to “an early vision how things are changing as we redevelop into these apartments.”

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Bishop Robert C. Morlino, Bishop of Madison

Rejoice during the Year of Mercy

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.

Dear Friends,

This past Sunday — Gaudete or “Rejoice” Sunday — provided plenty of reason for rejoicing.

In addition to our celebration of the rapidly approaching Feast of Christmas (which celebrates not only the Incarnation of the Lord, but also our hope in the Second Coming) we marked, in a particular way, the beginning of the Year of Mercy in the Diocese of Madison.

Opening the Holy Doors

On this past Sunday we opened the Holy Doors, which are present at the two sites of the Cathedral Parish (St. Patrick Church and Holy Redeemer Church) and at the Schoenstatt Founder Shrine.

As I mentioned in my letter for the opening of the Year of Mercy, these doors should be a place of pilgrimage for us and they bear with them a plenary indulgence granted by Pope Francis.

It should be noted, however, that the indulgence does not simply come upon passing through the doors. There is spiritual conversion that is to be done. You need to grow in freedom from the attachment to sin.

A primary symbol of this Year of Mercy is the entrance through the Holy Doors. So, I encourage you to take the time and consider making several pilgrimages through one of the Holy Doors of Mercy.

In the second reading of this past Sunday (Phil 4:4-7) we have that wonderful admonition from the Lord. “Rejoice in the Lord always! Rejoice!”

Now, if you look around the world with all the violence, and at the collapse of the culture in our own country, and at the war against the Natural Law, against the law of human reason, which is being waged, there’s reason not to rejoice.

But St. Paul says to rejoice anyway — “Rejoice in the Lord always!” Nothing is so big that it can conquer the joy of Christ. Nothing.

Keeping Christ in the forefront

This Year of Mercy could also be called the “Big Picture Year,” where we keep the big picture in mind — Jesus Christ is still risen from the dead!

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Bishop Robert C. Morlino, Bishop of Madison

On the Year of Mercy

year of mercy diocese of madison door of mercy
Bishop’s Letter

“I desire that the year to come will be steeped in mercy, so that we can go out to every man and woman, bringing the goodness and tenderness of God! May the balm of mercy reach everyone, both believers and those far away, as a sign that the Kingdom of God is already present in our midst!” — Pope Francis, Misericordiae Vultus, 5

“We serve to ensure that all individuals throughout the 11-county diocese are graciously invited every day to meet the person of Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, face to face and be changed by Him.” – Mission Statement of the Diocese of Madison

To the faithful of the Diocese of Madison,

In calling for an Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy, our Holy Father, Pope Francis, has issued a call meant not only to urge a return to the Almighty, but also to reinvigorate and inspire those of us who try to live lives as followers of Jesus Christ. In fact, the Holy Father has also unintentionally, but not surprisingly, endorsed our own diocesan “mission.”

The Holy Father begins his Bull of Indiction, Misericordiae Vultus, with the following words: “Jesus Christ is the face of the Father’s mercy. These words might well sum up the mystery of the Christian faith.” In carrying out our diocesan mission of “inviting others to meet the person of Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, face to face, and be changed by Him,” we are inviting them to meet the face of the Father’s mercy — to meet mercy incarnate. This invitation is one which is tied up in a challenging realization with regard to who God is and who “I” am, and it should be a profound and even startling invitation for each woman and man who lives in, and grapples with, a world that is nearly completely lacking in mercy.

Our world and our culture offer a great deal of lip-service to certain notions of tolerance and license, but these notions are grounded in a premise that truth is what you make it, and is subject to change, if public opinion is swayed to agree on the matter. Absent a grounding in the Truth and a foundation in humanity’s authentic encounter with mercy itself, all attempts at justice and mercy are mere shadows, structures built on sand. To experience mercy and to grant mercy, individuals and cultures must be anchored in the Truth and in a recognition of sin and repentance.

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