MADISON — Two pastoral issues that Bishop Donald J. Hying of Madison plans to resolve with the Into the Deep strategic planning process include: (1) The question of our diocesan cathedral; and (2) The locations where the Extraordinary Form of the Mass (TLM) will be celebrated.
Cathedral location proposal
St. Raphael Cathedral tragically burned down in March of 2005 and was not rebuilt.
Wisely, Bishop Robert C. Morlino invested energy and resources into the building of the new St. Paul Church and Student Center at UW-Madison and the establishment of the Priests for our Future endowment fund for the education of our seminarians.
Both of these endeavors have borne rich spiritual fruit in the ensuing years.
During the interim, we have used large parish churches; such as St. Maria Goretti Church in Madison, Immaculate Heart of Mary Church in Monona, and St. John the Baptist Church in Waunakee; for diocesan celebrations and this has served our needs adequately for these intervening years.
A diocese, however, should have a cathedral.
The word “cathedral” comes from cathedra, Latin for “chair,” because the cathedral is the bishop’s church, housing his episcopal chair as a symbol of his authority, leadership, and service as chief shepherd of the diocese and successor of the apostles.
The cathedral is the mother church of the diocese and the appropriate place for the local Church, which is the diocese, to gather with her bishop for the Chrism Mass, ordinations, Holy Week, and other celebrations.
Regarding the question of the cathedral, we have three options:
- Do nothing and continue to utilize parish churches for diocesan celebrations. For the reasons mentioned above, this is not really a viable, long-term future practice.
- Rebuild the cathedral on its original site in downtown Madison. This effort would require a very robust capital campaign upwards of $50 million to accomplish. Given our current efforts to utilize more strategically the church buildings we already have, this option would seem both extravagant and difficult to execute.
- Petition the Holy See to name an existing parish church as our new cathedral.
St. Raphael Church was an existing parish church in downtown Madison when our diocese was created in 1946 and it was named as the cathedral, so this option has a strong precedent.
Bishop Hying is proposing that we petition the Holy See to name St. Bernard Church in Madison as the new cathedral.
Architecturally, it is worthy of such an identity. It lies within the boundaries of the city of Madison proper, which is required for us since we are the Diocese of Madison.
It would require a relatively modest investment of resources to make it fully functional to serve as a cathedral.
He envisions a small capital campaign to raise the needed resources to accomplish this plan, but this will still be the least expensive and best long-term solution.
You can provide feedback for this plan by going to intothedeepmadison.org/cathedral-feedback
Feedback is being accepted until Sunday, Jan. 15.
Traditional Latin Mass proposal
In regards to the celebration of the Extraordinary Form of the Mass in the Diocese of Madison, Bishop Hying seeks to implement the directives from the Holy See, outlined in Traditionis Custodes, while also being pastorally sensitive to the spiritual needs of our people who regularly worship at what is commonly called the “Traditional Latin Mass.”
Given the Holy See’s directives call for the designation of locations for the celebration of the Traditional Latin Mass but not at the principal church of any parish, our Into the Deep process would enable this to occur.
Bishop Hying is proposing that the following four sites in our diocese would remain as churches for the lay faithful to participate in Extraordinary Form Masses, located in reasonably geographically-diverse locations and celebrated in a manner consistent with Traditionis Custodes and its related directives.
The proposed sites are: St. Patrick Church in Janesville, St. Mary Church in Pine Bluff, St. Augustine Church in Platteville, and St. Norbert Church in Roxbury.
You can provide feedback for this plan by going to intothedeepmadison.org/tlm-feedback
Feedback is being accepted until Sunday, Jan. 15.
About Into the Deep
Into the Deep is a multi-year, comprehensive strategic planning process in the Diocese of Madison.
Its purpose is to realign our resources — physical, financial, human, etc. — so that we might move our parishes and other Catholic institutions from “maintenance to mission,” in order to share the life-changing good news of Jesus Christ more effectively in our increasingly secular culture.
Our hope is that by coming together and collaborating in new ways we will more effectively and fruitfully: 1) follow Jesus; 2) reclaim Sunday; 3) evangelize others; 4) engage youth; 5) equip leaders; and 6) serve neighbors both now and well into the future.
For more information, go to intothedeepmadison.org