Category: Bishop Hying’s Columns

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Bishop Donald J. Hying

God can shape us into who we are called to be, no matter the challenge

A startling truth that struck me as a young priest was the number of people I encountered in the parish who struggled with chronic depression, anxiety, chemical imbalances, a borderline personality, or other forms of psychological and mental challenges.

Many of them were married, held jobs, volunteered in the parish, and were remarkably productive but suffered profound anguish in their minds and hearts.

Sadly, a taboo still clings to psychological illness.

Most people can talk about cancer, heart conditions, and medical treatments of all kinds, but problems of the mind are often feared and denied.

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Bishop Donald J. Hying

Death from a Catholic perspective

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Beginning this month, a new series of articles will appear in our newspaper to offer catechesis and formation concerning end of life decisions, dying, death, funerals, and burial of the dead from our Catholic perspective.

No one easily faces these issues because they remind us of our mortality and fragility, but our faith in Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, helps us understand how our own death, ending an earthly existence lived out in faith, hope, and charity, becomes the sacred passage to eternal joy in the Kingdom of Heaven.

The Church encourages us to prepare for death, most importantly on the spiritual plane of being ready to meet the Lord with our interior house in order, but also on the practical level of health decisions, an updated will, funeral and burial plans, and the dispersal of possessions.

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Bishop Donald J. Hying

Care and support for rural life

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Last week, I met with Tom Nelson and a dedicated group of priests, social workers, and farmers who care deeply about the troubling crises facing our rural communities.

I listened as they spoke movingly about the fact that, in the last 10 years, 50 percent of family farms in Wisconsin have disappeared, milk prices are untenable, and no economic future exists for young people who would like to remain in farming.

COVID and its impact on the economy and the food supply chain has only exacerbated these challenges. Depression and suicide are on the rise in troubling numbers.

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Bishop Donald J. Hying

Building a monastery of the heart

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Last week, I was blessed to lead the annual retreat for the Cistercian Nuns here in our diocese.

The Valley of Our Lady Monastery in Prairie du Sac has been a sacred place of contemplative prayer, cloistered life, and beautiful peace since it was established in the 1950’s.

This community of Sisters radically dedicated to God through a life of prayer, silence, and work is a blessing for all of us. Being with them was a privilege and a grace.

Four degrees of love

St. Bernard of Clairveaux breathed new life into Cistercian monasticism in the Middle Ages during the 11th century and monasteries began all over Europe in a refreshing movement of spiritual fervor.

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Bishop Donald J. Hying

Pray the Liturgy of the Hours

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The Liturgy of the Hours is the official prayer of the Church and serves as an enriching compliment to the daily Mass.

A compilation of psalms, Scripture, prayers, and writings of the saints, the Hours are divided into seven daily prayer times with morning and evening prayer as the pillars.

Priests, deacons, most Religious, and many lay faithful pray it on a daily basis and find its rhythm and cycle to be rich spiritual fruit.

Having prayed it myself for almost 40 years, the psalms and readings have become comforting and holy companions on my path to God.

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Bishop Donald J. Hying

Keeping strong during difficult times

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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.

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Bishop Donald J. Hying

Call to a whole new way of life

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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.

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Bishop Donald J. Hying

The love of God compels us to evangelize

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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.

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Bishop Donald J. Hying

Calling those around us to discipleship

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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.

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Bishop Donald J. Hying

Mission to evangelize world is more urgent

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 first part of that letter.

Jesus Christ died for you. For you, the person receiving these words, God — the Eternal Creator — became a human being, entered into the messiness of humanity, lived, worked, loved, and prayed with those around him, and at the end of a young life, was unjustly condemned, cruelly tortured, and died as a criminal on a cross.

He did it for you.

Stop, even just for a second, and actually consider that.

You’ve likely heard it before — maybe even a hundred or a thousand times — but reconsider it; try to internalize it anew.

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