Roman Catholic Diocese of Madison

In the 16th and early 17th century, the Wisconsin area was part of the French colony of New France. During this time, the French bishops in Quebec, which became a diocese in 1674, had jurisdiction over Canada and North America east of the Mississippi River.

When the British took control of New France in 1763, the bishops in Quebec continued to have jurisdiction in the region. In 1791, soon after the conclusion of the American Revolution, Pope Pius VI erected the Diocese of Baltimore. It covered all the American states and the Northwest Territory, which included part of present day Wisconsin.[6] The rest of Wisconsin became part of the territory after the Louisiana Purchase in 1803.

In 1843, Pope Leo XIII erected the Diocese of Milwaukee, which included all of present day Wisconsin. Wisconsin achieved statehood in 1848. Pope Pius IX established the Diocese of Lacrosse and the Diocese of Green Bay in 1868.[7] The Madison region would remain part of these three dioceses for the next 78 years.

During the 19th century, Reverend Samuel Mazzuchelli established 25 parishes in Wisconsin, 11 of which are in the Madison area.

The Diocese of Madison was established on January 9, 1946, by Pope Pius XII, in a . The diocese was created out of territory from the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, the Diocese of La Crosse and the Diocese of Green Bay.[8] The pope selected Bishop William Patrick O'Connor from the Diocese of Superior as the first bishop of Madison.

During O'Connor's tenure, the diocese went from having 135 priests serving 82,000 Catholics to having 290 priests serving a Catholic population of 180,640.[9] In his first year as bishop, O'Connor established the Blessed Martin Guild to promote racial understanding and convert more minorities to Catholicism.[10] He also founded Holy Name Seminary in Madison in 1965. As part of the Second Vatican Council's reforms, he established a diocesan Priest Senate in 1966.[11] O'Connor resigned in 1967.

In 1967, Pope Paul VI appointed Auxiliary Bishop Cletus F. O'Donnell from the Archdiocese of Chicago as the second bishop of Madison.[12][13]He established ministries for the deaf and the developmentally disabled. He also encouraged adult education and created a religious education consultants program to help individual parishes.[14]

After O'Donnell retired in 1992, Pope John Paul II named Bishop William Bullock of the Diocese of Des Moines to replace him. Pope John Paul II declared Reverend Mazzuchelli, a pioneer priest from the 19th century, as venerable in 1993. In 1995, Bullock made the controversial decision to close Holy Name Seminary, a private boys high school in Madison, Wisconsin.[15] Bullock retired in 2003.

Bishop Robert C. Morlino from the Diocese of Helena was named the fourth bishop of the Diocese of Madison in 2003 by John Paul II. Morlino supported the application of Summorum Pontificum in his diocese, and he celebrated the Tridentine Mass in several parishes. He ordered that the tabernacle in all the churches of the diocese should be moved to a central place of prominence. Morlino encouraged the faithful to receive Holy Communion on the tongue while kneeling, and he encouraged pastors to enlist exclusively male altar servers.

One of Morlino's main objectives was to increase vocations to the priesthood in his diocese, and he helped raise 44 million dollars for the endowment fund "Priests for Our Future". The number of seminarians studying for the priesthood grew from six to 30 during his episcopate, one of the largest increases in the United States.[16] Catholics in his diocese had divided opinions of him.[17]

In May 2009, Morlino announced that the Catholic Multicultural Center – a building that fed, educated and supported many on Madison's south side – would close in two days as part of widespread Diocesan budget cuts.[18] A handoff to local parish administration and fundraising drive was announced one week later.[19]

In March 2009, Morlino dismissed Ruth Kolpack from her post as a pastoral associate at St. Thomas the Apostle Parish in Beloit, Wisconsin, citing breaches of orthodoxy. In a brief meeting with Kolpack, he asked her for an oath of loyalty and to denounce her 2003 thesis, which advocated women's ordination in the Church and inclusive language relating to God. He dismissed her after she agreed to the oath but refused to denounce her thesis.[20] Morlino died in 2018.

The current bishop of the Diocese of Madison is Donald J. Hying, formerly bishop of the Diocese of Gary. He was appointed by Pope Francis in 2018. In 2023, Hying announced that all the parishes in the diocese would be grouped into 30 pastorates run by multiple priests so as to relieve some of the administrative duties of the diocesan priests.[21]

St. Raphael's Cathedral, Madison just after the 2005 fire.

On March 14, 2005. St. Raphael's Cathedral was heavily damaged in an arson attack. William J. "Billy" Connell was arrested and charged with arson and other crimes, but was deemed incompetent to stand trial due to paranoid schizophrenia. [22]After being deemed competent, he was tried and convicted. In June 2007, Connell was sentenced to 15 years in prison followed by 15 years of close supervision.

In 2007, Bishop Morlino released plans to erect a new cathedral on the existing site. However, the plans were never realized. In March 2023, Bishop Hying announced that he had petitioned the Vatican to designate the existing St. Bernard's Church in Madison as the new cathedral.[21]

In February 1995, several men sued the Diocese of Madison for failing to protect them as minors from acts of sexual abuse by Michael Trainor, a diocesan priest, during the 1970's and 1980's. The plaintiffs claimed that Bishop O'Donnell was aware of Trainor's abuse of children and transferred him from one parish to another without reporting him to the police or to the parishioners.[23]

In June 2019, the diocese agreed to present a list of credibly accused clergy who served in the diocese and hired detectives to assist in this investigation.[24] This agreement came after a retired priest was charged in May 2018 with six counts of sexual assault.[24] The retired priest, William Nolan, was later acquitted in September 2019 of five of these counts,[25] with the presiding judge also dropping the remaining count.[26] The diocese also investigated Nolan and later cleared him from the title of "credibly accused" priest in March 2020 as well.[27]

In March 2020, Bishop Hying announced that investigators had found two sexual abuse allegations against Patrick Doherty, a retired priest from the diocese, to be credible. Hying had already placed restrictions on Doherty.[28][29]

1. William Patrick O'Connor (1946–1967), his resignation.
2. Cletus F. O'Donnell (1967–1992), his resignation.
3. William H. Bullock (1993–2003), his resignation.
4. Robert C. Morlino (2003–2018), his death.
5. Donald J. Hying (2019–present).

• Jerome J. Hastrich (1963–1969), appointed Bishop of Gallup (1969-1990).
• George Otto Wirz (1977–2004), his resignation.

• Paul J. Swain, appointed Bishop of Sioux Falls (2006-2019).

• Edgewood High School of the Sacred Heart, Madison Home
• St. Ambrose Academy, Madison St. Ambrose Academy

• St. Joseph's Catholic School in Baraboo is a parochial school. The current school building, designed by the Wisconsin Rapids company Billmeyer and Sons and with a cost of over $500,000, has 11 classrooms. The basement has a cafeteria and a combination auditorium/gymnasium. The second building for the school opened on a filled-in ravine in 1912, northeast of its associated church. The building had three floors and a basement. The first and second floors each had three classrooms, and the second floor also housed the chapel and the library. The third floor had a 600-seat auditorium while the basement had a large banquet hall/gymnasium. The second building became overcrowded due to the post-World War II baby boom, so the third school building, north of the second building, opened in 1958.[30]