Four men — newly ordained priests — have started living out their calls to the priesthood.
They are Fr. Michael Johnson, Fr. Tim Mergen, Fr. Vincent Racanelli, and Fr. Enan Zelinski.
Four men — newly ordained priests — have started living out their calls to the priesthood.
They are Fr. Michael Johnson, Fr. Tim Mergen, Fr. Vincent Racanelli, and Fr. Enan Zelinski.
These past months have been long and difficult. I pray often for the victims of COVID-19 and those who mourn them, heroic health care workers who give their all, political leaders faced with difficult choices, those suffering economic hardship and unemployment, the elderly and isolated, those who daily die from violence of all kinds, victims of hatred and prejudice, our priests, deacons, Religious, lay leaders, and faithful who all face their own crosses at this time.
Bishop Donald J. Hying of Madison, center, lays hands on Transitional Deacon Luke Powers during his Ordination Mass on June 19 at Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary Church in Sun Prairie. He is assisted by Transitional Deacon Michael Wanta, left (Photo by Molly Sweeney) |
SUN PRAIRIE — “Tonight is a perfect convergence,” said Bishop Donald J. Hying of Madison on June 19, the evening of Deacon Luke Powers’ ordination to the transitional diaconate.
“We’re in Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary Parish,” the bishop said and added that “Today is the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and this is the parish that Luke Powers was baptized in, made his First Communion, made his first Confession, and was confirmed.”
“So, this is perfect. God planned it,” Bishop Hying said.
Deacon Powers was scheduled to be ordained in the fall in Rome — where he attends major seminary at the Pontifical North American College.
Those plans had to be changed following the COVID-19 pandemic.
Bishop Hying remarked that having the ordination at the Sun Prairie parish was “second best”.Note: Bishop Donald J. Hying is serializing his Pastoral Letter on the new Evangelization Initiative being launched in the Diocese of Madison. This is the fourth and last part of that letter. For the complete letter, go to the Diocese of Madison and Catholic Herald websites.
I know that many people in our diocese are already working so hard in these efforts. Some have devoted their entire lives to the Lord and to evangelization, and for that, I am very grateful. But the Lord is challenging all of us, especially me, in this crucial moment of history, to consider what we are doing and to set out afresh.
Note: Bishop Donald J. Hying is serializing his Pastoral Letter on the new Evangelization Initiative being launched in the Diocese of Madison. This is the third part of that letter. For the complete letter, go to the Diocese of Madison and Catholic Herald websites.
As I have considered this effort of evangelization, I return often to the story of Pentecost. It is a portion of our story that is perfect for this effort, and also the starting point for my entire ministry as a bishop.
In recent weeks, we have witnessed the vandalizing and toppling of statues around the country which depict Confederate leaders, Christopher Columbus, Saint Junipero Serra, Francis Scott Key, and anyone else deemed to be offensive to the vandals.
Dear Friends and Faithful who promote, attend, support and labor in our Catholic Schools,
As summer begins, we thank all of you for the extraordinary work and care you have given to educate our children during this global pandemic.
The lives of Black people do matter. They matter profoundly, because God has created every human being in His beautiful image and likeness. Every person is of infinite value, so precious indeed, that Christ spent His life and offered His death for the eternal salvation of each individual member of the human race.
Note: Bishop Donald J. Hying is serializing his Pastoral Letter on the new Evangelization Initiative being launched in the Diocese of Madison. This is the second part of that letter. For the complete letter, go to the Diocese of Madison and Catholic Herald websites.
We may be tempted to consider the preceding exercise in recalling God’s deep, abiding, and personal love and our own response to that, a simple thing.
MADISON — The Diocese of Madison, under the leadership of Bishop Donald J. Hying, is launching a bold new initiative called “Go Make Disciples” in order to renew our commitment to the mission of evangelization.
One part of this initiative includes the addition of two new regular pages in the Catholic Herald, one dedicated to evangelization and another to catechesis (see Pages 10 and 11).
The last words Jesus spoke to his apostles before leaving this earth to ascend into heaven were to go out into the whole world and make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:19-20).