(Catholic Herald photos/Kevin Wondrash)
MADISON — Every summer during the annual seminarian gathering in the Diocese of Madison, priests and seminarians have social time and dinner together.
This year’s event on August 5 took on a special significance.
It was not only the yearly chance to get to know one another, it was also an opportunity to congratulate Bishop Robert C. Morlino of Madison for his 40th jubilee as a priest and 15th year as a bishop.
Path to Madison
Bishop Morlino was ordained to the priesthood on June 1, 1974, at the Loyola College Chapel in Baltimore, Md., for Society of Jesus, Maryland Province.
Prior to arriving in Madison in 2003, he served as a philosophy instructor at various colleges and universities and an instructor in continuing education for priests, religious, and laity before serving as a professor of moral theology at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit, Mich. He also served as rector of St. Augustine Cathedral in Kalamazoo, Mich.
He was appointed Bishop of Helena, Mont., by Pope John Paul II on July 6, 1999. He was later ordained a bishop on September 21, 1999 at the Cathedral of St. Helena, Helena, Mont.
He was appointed Bishop of Madison on May 23, 2003, with his installation on August 1 of that year.
Priests and future priests
In addition to Bishop Morlino’s “brother priests” being in attendance, the seminarians from the diocese were introduced. It helped to give an illustration of the growth of vocations in the past 11 years under Bishop Morlino.
There are currently 33 men in the seminary in the Diocese of Madison with five set to be ordained to the priesthood next year.
Toasting the bishop
Fr. Tait Schroeder, vice-chair of the Presbyteral Council for the diocese, offered a toast on behalf of the priests and seminarians.
Father Schroeder said the bishop’s motto of Visus Non Mentietur, “the vision will not disappoint,” is a “very beautiful one and appropriate one on the occasion of these anniversaries because so many years of service to the Lord and to the Church has brought beautiful visions of God’s grace, God’s mercy, and God’s beauty for yourself and those you’ve been a privilege to minister to and to serve as both priest and bishop.”
After the toast, Bishop Morlino thanked everyone for coming and celebrating the “fraternity that is so basic to the priesthood and so needed for the Church.”
He went on to say, “I believe I am here because the Lord sent me here. We have shared a lot of joy in seeing the number and the quality of the seminarians who are here. I couldn’t be a prouder ‘dad’ in that sense.”
The bishop then gave his blessing to all the priests and seminarians.