Men of Christ Madison's fall conference is this Saturday, October 24 in Sun Prairie! Join Bishop Hying and men from across the Diocese of Madison for a day of prayer, brotherhood, and renewal, focused on the life and example of St. Francis of Assisi and Jesus' call for him to "rebuild My Church." Visit menofchristmadison.com/ to learn more and to register, and be sure to take advantage of their current offer to save $10 per ticket when you register 3 or more men. Invite your friends, brothers, dad, and any other man in your life!

Calling all young artists! As part of our celebration of the Sacred Heart of Jesus this year, we are running a Sacred Heart Art Contest for youth in grades Kindergarten through High School! The contest has four different divisions: Grades K-2, Grades 3-5, Grades 6-8, and Grades 9-12. One winner and two runners-up will be chosen from each division. Submissions must be hand-created, original art, with the Sacred Heart of Jesus as the primary subject. Drawings, paintings, and sculpture may be submitted; entries may not be AI-generated or otherwise created digitally/with a computer. The submitting student must live within the Diocese of Madison. Submissions are due December 1 and winners will be selected by Bishop Hying and announced December 18. The winners and their pieces will be showcased in the Catholic Herald, the Diocese of Madison's website, and the diocese's social media channels! Visit madisondiocese.org/sacredhea… for full rules, prizes, and more!

Today, the Church in the United States remembers Ss. Jean de Brebeuf, Isaac Jogues, and their companions. These 8 French Jesuits (6 priests and 2 lay oblates) were martyred between 1642 and 1649 in what is now upstate New York and eastern Canada. They lived and ministered primarily among the Huron tribe, but they were hated by the neighboring Iroquois tribe, who were suspicious of both the Huron and the French. They all met their ends through torture and murder at the hands of hostile tribes. May we seek their intercession and example, especially in the obstacles and difficulties that we may face in our own evangelization efforts. Ss. Jean de Brebeuf, Isaac Jogues, and the North American Martyrs, pray for us!

Pope Leo greeted pilgrims at the Sunday Angelus, his first scheduled event since leaving the hospital on Saturday. He expressed his sincere gratitude to everyone who prayed for him.

It's World Mission Sunday! The Pontifical Mission Societies, a worldwide network at the service of the Pope that supports the missions and young Churches through prayer and charity, celebrates World Mission Sunday on the second to last Sunday in October. This special day is an opportunity for every baptized Catholic to answer the call to spread the Gospel to all nations by making a donation that supports the Church in mission territories. World Mission Sunday funds help to educate seminarians and religious, build churches, train catechists, and so much more. Watch Pope Leo XIV's video message for the 100th World Mission Sunday here: youtube.com/watch?v=p1Bwzdet… Make a gift to World Mission Sunday at give.pontificalmissions.org/…

In 1970, a $3,000 World Mission Sunday grant helped build the first church in the young Diocese of Nakuru, Kenya. Fifty-six years later, the diocese has 62 parishes, 122 local priests and 239 local sisters, and its Catholic community has grown from 72,510 to 677,202. On October 18, the Church celebrates the 100th World Mission Sunday. Your gift supports young Churches like Nakuru across 1,130 mission dioceses. Give: give.pontificalmissions.org/…

Each year, our diocese offers Rachel's Vineyard retreats for women and men who are seeking healing, mercy, and peace after abortion. The retreat is a process designed to help participants get away from the daily pressures of life in order to focus on buried emotions and begin healing through a supportive, trauma-sensitive approach. The next retreat will be the weekend of November 6-8. Visit madisondiocese.org/rachel to learn more about the retreat, or contact [email protected]. Confidentiality is assured during the entire process of inquiring about, registering for, and attending the retreat.

This weekend, the Diocese of Madison takes up the International Combined Collection. This collection started as a way to help several worthy and needy causes through a single appeal; your support of this collection will help mission and ministry around the world. From building a chapel in the Fiji Islands, to evangelization efforts in Africa, or providing humanitarian aid and disaster relief, the impact of your gift reaches the most remote places of the world, where sometimes help is scarce. Visit madisondiocese.org/internati… to learn more about this collection and to make a donation. Thank you for your generosity!

Friday Flashback! On this day in 1978, Cardinal Karol Wojtyła was elected pope and took the name John Paul II. During this Respect Life Month, we are grateful for John Paul II's tireless efforts to promote a "culture of life" through his preaching and writing. His 1995 encylical, Evangelium Vitae ("The Gospel of Life"), spoke powerfully of the immense worth of every human life and warned against developing technologies and ideologies that attempted to diminish the value of the human person. "The Church knows that this Gospel of life, which she has received from her Lord, has a profound and persuasive echo in the heart of every person-believer and non-believer alike-because it marvellously fulfils all the heart's expectations while infinitely surpassing them. Even in the midst of difficulties and uncertainties, every person sincerely open to truth and goodness can, by the light of reason and the hidden action of grace, come to recognize in the natural law written in the heart (cf. Rom 2:14-15) the sacred value of human life from its very beginning until its end, and can affirm the right of every human being to have this primary good respected to the highest degree." (Paragraph 2) Let us ask Saint John Paul II to intercede for us in all of our efforts to protect all life, especially the unborn, the sick, and the elderly. St. John Paul II, pray for us! You can read Evangelium Vitae in full here: vatican.va/content/john-paul…

Today the Church remembers St. Margaret Mary Alacoque! Margaret Mary grew up in the Burgundy region of France and showed a deep love for the Blessed Sacrament from an early age. She also received regular visions of Jesus as a child, which she assumed was a normal occurrence for everyone devoted to the Eucharist. An illness confined her to bed for four years, and during that time, she made a vow to the Blessed Mother that she would enter religious life. Her health was instantly restored, but in her later teen years, wishing to fulfill her family's desire for her to marry, she began attending dances and social events with her brothers in hopes of finding a husband. One night, after returning from a ball, she had a vision of Jesus covered in wounds from His scourging; He reproached her for forgetting her vow, but also pledged His love to her. She entered the Visitation convent at Paray-le-Monial. As a nun, she carried out simple tasks with humility and patience. On December 27, 1673, Margaret Mary received her first of a series of visits from Jesus in which He revealed the love of His Sacred Heart for all of humanity to her and expressed His desire to use her as His instrument in spreading devotion to His Heart. It was from these revelations that Sacred Heart devotion as we know it today began to take shape; Our Lord encouraged St. Margaret Mary to receive the Eucharist on nine consecutive First Fridays and made great promises to all souls who would take part in this devotion, and He also asked that the first Friday after the Octave of Corpus Christi be celebrated in honor of His Sacred Heart. She died in 1690 and was canonized in 1920. If you want to learn more about Sacred Heart devotion and Our Lord's messages to St. Margaret Mary, make a plan to attend one of Bishop Hying's upcoming Sacred Heart evenings of reflection! His next events are October 21 at St. Mary's in Platteville and October 22 at St. Ann's in Stoughton. Both events begin at 7:00 pm and include Eucharistic Adoration and a reflection by Bishop Hying. Many more events are planned through the rest of the year and into 2027; check madisondiocese.org/sacredhea… and scroll down to the "Events" section for the full calendar, and check out the webpage for other Sacred Heart resources! St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, pray for us! Watch Bishop Hying's video message from St. Margaret Mary's feast day in 2020: youtu.be/dQXJA3zKjOQ (Stained-glass window from Nativity of Mary Church, Janesville. Photo by Joe Ptak.)

As you have likely heard, it was announced this week that Pope Leo XIV was diagnosed with lung cancer, prompting his surgery this past Tuesday. Let us join the worldwide Church in continuing to pray for the Holy Father's recovery and a good prognosis! One way that you can pray for him is by seeking the intercession of St. Peregrine! Peregrine Laziosi lived in Italy in the 13th and 14th centuries and joined the Servite order after a rebellious youth. At the age of 60, he developed a cancerous growth on his foot, and doctors felt they had no choice but to amputate the diseased limb. Peregrine consented, and he spent the night before his operation in prayer. As he was praying, he fell asleep and had a dream in which he saw the crucified Christ reaching down from the cross to touch his foot. Upon awaking, Peregrine's foot was healed, and doctors confirmed that the disease vanished without a trace. He lived many more years and died at the age of 84. He is now invoked as the patron saint of cancer patients. Let us seek the intercession of St. Peregrine for Pope Leo, and for all of our loved ones who are suffering from cancer. May the Lord, through St. Peregrine's prayers, grant them healing, comfort, and peaceful acceptance of the will of God as they face their illness. St. Peregrine, pray for us!

Do you have questions about end-of-life decisions like estate planning or Catholic burial practices? Are you caring for someone nearing the end of their life and want to know how to make medical decisions that are informed by our Catholic faith? Our Office of Cemeteries is offering a free event on Thursday, November 5 called "Now and At the Hour of Our Death," which will offer practical guidance and Catholic perspectives on a variety of end-of-life topics and issues. Thinking through these issues in the light of our faith can offer peace of mind and firmness of purpose. This presentation will be held on November 5 from 7:00 pm to 8:30 pm in the Upper Auditorium at Holy Name Heights in Madison and will feature Bishop Donald Hying, Damian Lenshek (Director of Cemeteries for the diocese), and Fr. Joseph Baker (diocesan ethicist and pastor of St. Maximilian Kolbe Parish). This event is free to attend; a free-will offering will be taken. This presentation will explore a pastoral letter from the Wisconsin Catholic bishops on end-of-life issues. Visit madisondiocese.org/endoflife to download the letter and to find additional resources.

Today is the memorial of St. Teresa of Avila! Teresa of Avila is a wonderful example of a saint who showed signs of strong devotion early in life, fell into mediocrity and laziness in her faith, but by the grace of God returned to the Lord and went on to do great things for the Church. When she was 7, she and her brother ran away from home in hopes of being martyred in battle, a plan that was quickly squashed by her uncle. She entered a Carmelite convent at the age of 20, at a time when the Carmelites were rather lax in their religious practice; nuns entertained guests in their parlors, and some were even allowed to keep pets. Teresa herself grew slack in her practice of prayer, citing her many health issues as reasons not to pray. But after an experience in which she felt in a new way the depth of Jesus' love for her, she vowed to reform herself, recommitting to the practice of daily prayer. She went on to reform her convent and then the Carmelites, along with St. John of the Cross. She wrote extensively on the interior life, and her writings earned her the honor of Doctor of the Church; she is one of only four women saints to receive this title. One of Teresa's most beloved bits of writing is a prayer that has become known as the "Nada te turbe" ("Let nothing disturb you"), which was found written in her breviary: "Let nothing disturb you. Let nothing make you afraid. All things are passing. God alone never changes. Patience gains all things. If you have God you will want for nothing. God alone suffices." May the example of St. Teresa of Avila inspire us when the practice of our faith becomes difficult or dry, and may her trust in God's providence be an example to us in difficult days. St. Teresa of Avila, pray for us! (Stained-glass window from Holy Ghost Church in Dickeyville; photo credit Joe Ptak)

Medical professionals and medical students are welcome to this year's White Mass at 11:00 am this Sunday, October 18 at St. Andrew Church in Verona! The White Mass is a special Mass that honors and prays for those engaged in or studying for the sacred work of healthcare and healing. This year's Mass will be followed by a lecture by Dr. Ashley K. Fernandes about how Catholic healthcare workers can address the challenge of physician-assisted suicide. The RSVP deadline for the lecture and lunch has passed, but please contact Dr. Elizabeth Anderson (email address is in this graphic) with questions.

World Mission Sunday, which is this coming Sunday, October 18, calls us to fulfill the Great Commission by responding to the need to spread the Gospel to the ends of the earth. Funds raised through World Mission Sunday support poor dioceses around the world by enabling them to build mission churches, train catechists, and educate seminarians and religious. Visit give.pontificalmissions.org/… to support this year's World Mission Sunday.

In this episode of Things Visible and Invisible, Bishop Hying sits down with two Madison-area high schoolers who now run an Instagram apologetics account together. They share how each pushed the other deeper into faith and what they think the Church could do better to form and reach their generation. “Evangelization Through Friendship” is available now on Things Visible and Invisible. Subscribe through your favorite podcast player, or visit madisondiocese.org/podcast for show updates and past episodes. 🎧 Available on: Apple Podcasts: shorturl.at/Mkmui Spotify: shorturl.at/G7PNu YouTube Music: shorturl.at/kSajU Amazon Music: shorturl.at/I8mRs iHeart Radio: shorturl.at/vfxME

Pope Leo XIV's surgery to remove a nodule from his lung was a success and he is now recovering at the Gemelli Hospital in Rome. Please keep the Holy Father in your prayers as he recovers!

This Respect Life Month, give the gift of LIFE to our brothers and sisters in the Diocese of Jacmel, Haiti with a gift to the Haiti Midwife Fund! In 2021, the Diocese of Madison entered into a sister relationship with the Diocese of Jacmel; through this relationship, each diocese supports the other spiritually and materially. One of the ways that we support Jacmel is through funding the salaries of two midwives who serve at the Centre de Santé Sacré-Coeur de Thiotte (The Sacred Heart of Thiotte Healthcare Center or CSST). These midwives care for expectant mothers and help deliver babies, allowing other clinics and healthcare facilities to focus their resources on other needs within their communities. Since 2024, the midwives at the CSST have assisted thousands of patients and delivered hundreds of babies. The midwives at the CSST are a sign of hope in a part of the world that is afflicted by deep poverty and social unrest. A gift to the Haiti Midwife Fund ensures that they can continue their hope-filled and life-giving work for our sister diocese. Visit madisondiocese.org/midwife to learn more and to make a donation. Thank you for your generosity!