MADISON — Mike Koval, with one year as the City of Madison Police Department’s (MPD) Chief of Police under his belt, spoke to a rapt audience of the St. Thomas More Society recently. His topic was “Law Enforcement and the Law.”
With a quick sense of humor and an openness about his Catholic faith, he gave a synopsis of how the police force ensures that citizen rights under the Constitution are protected.
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| Bishop Paul J. Swain of Sioux Falls, S.D., speaks on the topic of religious freedom to the St. Thomas More Society in Madison. (Catholic Herald photo/Kat Wagner) |
MADISON — Religious liberty is one of the first values protected in the Bill of Rights. People had come to America to avoid religious persecution and so those writing the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution knew the importance of providing for religious liberty.
Bishop Paul J. Swain, formerly in the Air Force, a lawyer, legal counsel to Governor Lee Dreyfus, and a convert to Catholicism, recently spoke as a guest of the St. Thomas More Society on the Feast of St. Thomas More.
Bishop Swain is well known in the Madison area, having spent about 40 years here, discerning his call to priesthood, converting, becoming a priest, pastor, and vicar general before being named Bishop of Sioux Falls, S.D.
The St. Thomas More Society of Madison, an organization of Catholic lawyers, jurists, government officials, and others, welcomes Bishop Paul J. Swain, bishop of Sioux Falls, S.D., to speak on “God’s Faithful Servant First: Comments on Threats to Religious Liberty.”
St. Thomas More was a king’s trusted advisor, a man dedicated to his faith, and a lawyer who gave up his wealth, his good name, and the security of his family to follow his conscience. For his heroic efforts, he is revered and it is in order to try to emulate him that St. Thomas More Societies were founded.
The St. Thomas More Society of the Diocese of Madison invites all to attend the Madison Diocesan Red Mass on Sunday, Oct. 26, at 11 a.m. at Saint Patrick Church, 404 E. Main St. Bishop Robert C. Morlino will be the celebrant and homilist.
