Category: Bishop Morlino’s Columns

On
Bishop Robert C. Morlino

God’s unfailing mercy and our response

Dear Friends,

Last week I was blessed to be in Rome for the ordination for two of our men (Scott Emerson and Gabriel López-Betanzos) to the Order of Deacon in St. Peter’s Basilica. It was a wonderful event, and I was so pleased to experience it, with so many faithful from our parishes and some brother priests.

I know you’ll all join me in prayer for our two new deacons and the three we saw ordained this spring (Deacons Chahm Gahng, Christopher Gernetzke, and Tafadzwa Kushamba), as they make their way to priestly ordination this coming June 26!

Read More
On
Bishop Robert C. Morlino, Bishop of Madison

God will be generous in our obedience

Dear Friends,

As with most anniversaries and milestones, it’s hard to believe it was 15 years ago, this past Sunday, that I knelt on the floor of the Cathedral of St. Helena, with the Gospel book opened over my head, being commissioned and ordained a bishop.

In some ways, that morning in Helena, Mont., seems like an eternity ago, and in other ways, it seems like just yesterday.

Read More
On
Bishop Robert C. Morlino, Bishop of Madison

The Cross as part of our faith

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 we celebrated the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross.

This Feast Day takes place each year on the 14th of September and so, while it is a major feast day for the Church, it is often missed by those who do not attend daily Mass, or at least Mass on major feasts.

This year, however, we were particularly blessed to have the feast fall on a Sunday, and so important is the feast that it actually “trumps” the typical Sunday readings.

It is indeed an important day — so much so that it used to be followed by three Ember Days of prayer and fasting.

Why is it so important? It is not the feast of the Crucifixion of our Lord; obviously we mark that on Good Friday. And, in fact, each time we approach the altar for Mass, we represent the Sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross, we recall His suffering, death, and resurrection; why have a special day just for the exaltation of the Holy Cross?

Because, in our Catholic faith symbols matter! We are a physical people, whose very bodies are destined to be glorified, and so the physical, tangible things of this world matter.

Read More
On
Bishop Robert C. Morlino, Bishop of Madison

Correcting each other in a ‘loving’ way

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,

I pray that you’ve all had a restful summer . . . as it seems, sadly, that we’re coming very quickly upon its last days! For myself, I’m maintaining hope that the winter is mild. I know that such a hope might be foolish — but I’m a man of hope, nonetheless!

In considering the readings of this past Sunday, I think it’s very important that we reflect together, once again, on the theme of fraternal correction — which is what the first (Ez 33:7-9) and the third (Mt 18:15-20) readings were about.

Fraternal correction is the way we correct one another as brothers and sisters in Christ. We do so not in arrogance, nor in contempt, but with love. Fraternal correction in the Church is a service of love.

In our day and age, nobody wants to correct anybody (unless perhaps it’s anonymously, of someone we don’t know, and in an online forum — which is certainly not charitable correction). To correct someone directly, someone whom we actually know, requires us to make claims about right and wrong, and about what is good and evil. Nobody wants to do that because, “you have your own truth and I have my own truth and we just peacefully coexist and it’s all just wonderful!” . . . except that it’s not. It’s a confused world.

In this confused world, it’s politically incorrect to correct anyone for anything! For instance, you even have to be careful, lest you say that ISIS is a group of extremist Islamic terrorists, who are absolutely wrong. Now, that’s obviously true, but some can’t say that. Because, after all, “we simply don’t see the world as ISIS does. They have their own truth, so we have to be polite when we deal with them.” . . . Just as I’m sure they are polite when they are beheading people.

Read More
On
Bishop Robert C. Morlino, Bishop of Madison

Bishop Morlino calls canonizations a ‘special gift from God’

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,

Last week I was blessed to take part in the wonderful Canonization ceremony and Mass of Thanksgiving for St. John Paul II and St. John XXIII. The experience certainly was one of the most precious of my entire life.

I was blessed to visit Rome for the first time in the mid-’70s and God’s providence has enabled me to return a good number of times. Yet, never once have I seen Rome so crowded as it was during those days leading up to the Canonizations. More so than the crowds that might gather at a secular event such as a World’s Fair, I was reminded of the crowds that fill the streets at World Youth Days.

‘Reverential joy’ in the air

There was not only a wonderful spirit of devotion, but also a tremendous number of energetic young people who moved around the city, even through the night, attending the numerous programs and opportunities for prayer in the various churches around Rome.

 

Read More
On
Bishop Robert C. Morlino, Bishop of Madison

All time belongs to Him

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,

It is always strange to prepare a column for this issue of the Catholic Herald.

As I write, it is Monday and we’ve just entered into Holy Week. When this issue arrives at your homes, it will most likely be Holy Thursday, and yet this will also serve as the “Easter issue.”

We’ve just experienced Palm Sunday, when we rejoiced and sang “Hosanna!” as Jesus rode triumphantly into Jerusalem.

So should I reflect upon those moments of worldly glory? Should I rejoice with all the gusto of Easter, knowing that you may read this in the glow of those days? Or, should I consider the darkness of Christ’s passion and death, bearing in mind that you may read this column on Holy Thursday or Good Friday?

Of course it wouldn’t be the end of the world to do any of this, and the point is not really the tension of writing this column.

We live in a world of tension

I reflect upon it though, because it’s actually the tension in which we live day-in and day-out.

For us, Christ’s life, His passion, His death, and His raising to new life all are present at once.

 

Read More
On
Bishop Robert C. Morlino, Bishop of Madison

Being ‘with the Lord’

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,

“With the Lord there is mercy and fullness of redemption (Ps 130:7).” We were reminded in the Responsorial Psalm of this past Sunday. And these are precisely the thoughts to which we should turn our minds and hearts as we come upon Holy Week, Easter, and the celebration of His Divine Mercy.

I would like to take a look briefly at the three major ideas in the above verse, “With the Lord there is mercy and fullness of redemption.”

What does it mean to be ‘with the Lord’?

“With the Lord . . .” What does it mean to be with the Lord?

Read More