Tag: faithful

On
Bishop Donald J. Hying

How to vote according to our Catholic faith

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Many faithful Catholics have asked me to offer some direction regarding conscience formation and the moral aspect of the many issues facing us as a nation, as we approach this year’s presidential election.

We would all agree that this election has a contentious and angry divisiveness that we have not seen in our lifetimes.

This is due, in part, to the personalities, policies, and factions in play, and it certainly has been exacerbated by the COVID pandemic and social unrest (I believe that there are other, more significant and fundamental reasons for the growing tension in our society, but that’s a topic for another time).

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Bishop Robert C. Morlino, Bishop of Madison

Answering our call to holiness

Dear Friends,

As I write this column, we are in the midst of two days of the Church year, which call us both to hope and rejoicing, and also to deep prayer and reflection upon the core reality of Christianity.

The Solemnity of All Saints and the Commemoration of All Souls are, for the Church, where the rubber meets the road.

It is the time when we, who make up the Church Militant — the Church still fighting and struggling in this life — recall the whole Church Triumphant and Church Suffering.

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Fr. Robert Barron

‘It doesn’t matter what you believe . . .’

A team of sociologists, led by Catholic University professor William D’Antonio, published a survey a few years ago that received quite a bit of media attention, for it showed that many Catholics disagree with core doctrines of the Church and still consider themselves “good Catholics.”

Forty percent of the respondents said that belief in the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist is not essential to being a faithful Catholic. Perhaps the most startling statistic is this: 88 percent of those surveyed said “how a person lives is more important than whether he or she is a Catholic.”

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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.

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Chris Lee

Pope Francis calls for day of prayer and fasting on September 7

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Pope Francis waves as he leads the Angelus in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican September 1. (CNS photo/Tony Gentile, Reuters)

MADISON — At his Angelus address on Sunday, Sept. 1, Pope Francis called upon the faithful worldwide to join in a day of prayer and fasting on Saturday, Sept. 7, for peace, particularly in Syria, but also in the Middle East and throughout the world.

The pope also announced that the day of prayer and fasting will conclude with a vigil in St. Peter’s Square in Rome from 7 p.m. until midnight, local time. He asked local dioceses to arrange similar gatherings. The pope also called on fellow Christians, followers of other religions, and all men of good will to participate in whatever way they can in this initiative.

Bishop Robert C. Morlino has asked clergy in the Diocese of Madison to arrange for parish Holy Hours of Eucharistic Adoration for the particular intention of the Holy Father for this coming Saturday, Sept. 7, from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m., concluding appropriately a half hour before the typical anticipatory Mass at 5 p.m. (with applicable time modifications based on local parish Mass and Confession schedules).

“You are welcome to do additional items in conjunction with the Holy Father’s request, but this coordinated effort throughout parishes in the diocese at the direction of Bishop Morlino will show our solidarity with Pope Francis during the same time of the pope’s vigil prayer in Rome,” said Msgr. James Bartylla, vicar general of the Diocese of Madison, in notifying priests of the diocese about the day of prayer and fasting.

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