Category: Bishop

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Bishop Robert C. Morlino, Bishop of Madison

Our suffering brings us closer to Christ

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,

You’ve been right at the heart of my prayers in the recent days and weeks. In addition to my usual prayers for your growth in the virtues of faith, hope, and love have been prayers for your warmth and safety, as well as for your joy in these frigid days!

I have been very fortunate to take some time for rest and renewal in warmer climes, as I’m blessed most always to do in January. (There are a number of things for which I am grateful to my predecessor, Bishop Bullock, but on a personal level, I’ll always remain grateful for his wise advice — and precedent — that I take my time for vacation in January, and not in the summer!)

I don’t take for granted for a moment the blessings that I’ve received. I’m grateful and I’m hopeful that such moments of leisure can prepare me all the more for my service.

And so it is with only the slightest sense of irony that the Lord has drawn to my mind the following three words and phrases from our readings this past Sunday: purification, suffering, and a sign of contradiction. And each of those words accompanies the readings, in order. Purification is spoken of in the first reading — Mal 3:1-4; suffering in the second reading — Heb 2:14-18, and a “sign of contradiction” in the Gospel reading — Lk 2:22-40.

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Bishop Robert C. Morlino, Bishop of Madison

Encountering Christ through life changes

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,

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light;

upon those who dwelt in the land of gloom a light has shone.

You have brought them abundant joy and great rejoicing!

(IS 9:1-2)

The Lord our God has truly brought us abundant joy and great rejoicing in the person of Jesus Christ. It is a joy and a light which dispels all darkness, and it is a joy and a light which must be shared. It is the joy and light which is our Gospel!

Most of you have surely heard of the apostolic exhortation of Pope Francis, released at the end of our Year of Faith, which was just about month ago.

The Exhortation is titled Evangelii Gaudium — the Joy of the Gospel, and it begins like this, “The joy of the gospel fills the hearts and lives of all who encounter Jesus. Those who accept his offer of salvation are set free from sin, sorrow, inner emptiness, and loneliness. With Christ joy is constantly born anew (EG, 1).”

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Bishop Robert C. Morlino, Bishop of Madison

Let the joy of the Lord be our strength

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,

In these last days of Advent, before our joy-filled celebration of Christ’s Incarnation and the Christmas Season, we are offered a taste of that joy (during this penitential season) on Gaudete Sunday.

In the book of Nehemiah, but also in the book of Chronicles, there is a prayer which goes simply: “Let the joy of the Lord be our strength” (Neh 8:10).

As a matter of fact, in many of the translations of the Mass (in both Spanish and Italian, for instance) that phrase is inserted at the time of the final dismissal. “The Mass is ended, let the joy of the Lord be our strength, and let us go in peace.”

Before the new English translation came out, I myself was known to use that dismissal. Blessed Pope John Paul II never left it out when he was celebrating Mass privately. “Let the joy of the Lord be our strength, and let us go in peace” — that is the perfect attitude with which we should leave Mass.

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Bishop Robert C. Morlino, Bishop of Madison

Be more than ‘nice’ during Advent

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,

Already Advent is upon us. We have concluded our Year of Faith with gusto, and now we are called to undertake, once again, the journey of a liturgical year.

This journey begins, as always, with our preparation for entering into the most pivotal moment of human history — the moment that God became man.

That the eternal Creator of the universe should have come amongst us, not only to dwell, but to call us to a life with and like Him, means a complete reordering of everything — every single thing.

The profound reality of the Incarnation and its implications for our lives is why we have a season of Advent each year; we take the time to consider how each of us responds to the presence of God in our lives, and what that means for us.

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Bishop Robert C. Morlino, Bishop of Madison

Remembering the beauty of our Faith

Dear Friends,

This past Sunday, on the Solemn Feast of Christ the King, we concluded our Year of Faith celebrations.

The occasion was marked by Pope Francis in Rome — as he completed what Pope Benedict had begun, with the inspiration of the Lord.

I marked the occasion at the celebration of my Stational Mass at St. Patrick Church in Madison, and hopefully you all marked the occasion with some particular focus upon the Creed in your own parishes and in your own families.

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Bishop Robert C. Morlino, Bishop of Madison

Church living in midst of confrontation

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 at the meeting of the Bishops’ Conference in Baltimore, our Apostolic Nuncio, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, who serves as the personal representative of Pope Francis in the United States, addressed us bishops on behalf of Pope Francis.

In the first place, I thought it was interesting that a great deal of his address to us was focused on quotations from Pope Paul VI and Blessed John Paul the Great.

This is a sure sign that Pope Francis wishes to be seen in continuity with his venerable predecessors, a fact which he made clear recently as he affirmed Archbishop Agostino Marchetto’s account of the hermeneutic of continuity as a proper interpretive key for the Second Vatican Council.

But, I want to focus on one particular thought that Archbishop Viganò raised.

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