Early history

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.^[5] 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.^[5] 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.

1946 to 2003

The Diocese of Madison was established on January 9, 1946, by Pope Pius XII. The diocese was created out of territory from the Archdiocese of Milwaukee and the Dioceses of La Crosse and Green Bay.^[6] The pope selected Bishop William Patrick O'Connor from the Diocese of Superior as the first bishop of Madison.^[7]

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.^[8] In his first year as bishop, O'Connor established the Blessed Martin Guild to promote racial understanding and convert more minorities to Catholicism.^[9] 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.^[10] 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.^[11][12] 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.^[13]

After O'Donnell retired in 1992, Pope John Paul II named Bishop William Bullock of the Diocese of Des Moines to replace him.^[14] The pope declared Reverend Mazzuchelli, a pioneer priest from the 19th century, as venerable in 1993. In 1995, Bullock closed Holy Name Seminary, a private boys high school in Madison.^[15] Bullock retired in 2003.

2003 to present

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.^[16] Morlino supported the application of Summorum Pontificum, an apostolic letter issued by Pope Benedict XVI in 2007 on the use of the Tridentine Mass. Morlino celebrated the Tridentine Mass in several parishes. He ordered all the parishes to move the tabernacles in their churches to central places of prominence. Morlino encouraged parishioners to receive 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 the ordination of priests in the diocese. He helped raise $44 million for the endowment fund "Priests for Our Future". The number of seminarians grew from six to 30 during his episcopate, one of the largest increases in the United States.^[17] Catholics in his diocese had divided opinions of him.^[18]

In May 2009, Morlino announced that due to budget cuts, he was closing the Catholic Multicultural Center, which provided food and other support for residents on Madison's south side.^[19] A handoff to local parish administration and fundraising drive was announced one week later.^[20]

In March 2009, Morlino dismissed Ruth Kolpack from her post as a pastoral associate at St. Thomas the Apostle Parish in Beloit, citing breaches of orthodoxy. In a brief meeting with Kolpack, he asked her to take an oath of loyalty and to denounce her 2003 thesis, which advocated women's ordination in the Church and inclusive language relating to God. Morlino fired Kolpack after she refused to denounce her thesis.^[21] 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 the grouping of all the parishes into 30 pastorates to be run by multiple priests. This reorganization was meant to relieve some of the administrative duties of the diocesan priests.^[22]

Cathedral fire

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

In March 2005, St. Raphael's Cathedral was heavily damaged in an arson attack. William J. Connell was arrested and charged with arson and other crimes, but was deemed incompetent to stand trial due to paranoid schizophrenia.^[23] 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 April 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 St. Bernard's Church in Madison as the new cathedral.^[22]

Reports of sex abuse

In September 2003, at a legislative hearing in Madison, a woman from Sun Prairie accused Reverend Gerald Vosen, pastor of St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Baraboo, of sexually assaulting her brother when he was age 14 in the 1970s. Vosen, who denied the accusations, was put on leave by the diocese.^[24] The diocesan review board reviewed three allegations against Vosen and in February 2003 recommended the permanent suspension of ministry.^[25] In May 2004, Vosen unsuccessfully sued one of his accusers.^[26] Appeals of the review board decision were declined in 2007 and 2015 by the Vatican.

An Eau Claire man sued the diocese in February 1994, claiming that he had been sexually assaulted by Reverend Michael Trainor in the summer of 1982. The crime allegedly happened in the rectory of St. Thomas Aquinas Church. Trainor left Wisconsin in 1994 after several parents brought accusations to Bishop Bullock.^[27] By February 1995, seven other men had joined the lawsuit, claiming abuse by Trainor.^[28] 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 parishioners.^[29] A separate suit by nine other men against the diocese regarding Trainor was filed in September 1995.^[30] The lawsuits were dismissed in 1995. New allegations of abuse against Trainor were brought to the diocese in 2002 and 2003.^[31]

In May 2018, Reverend William Nolan, a retired priest, was charged with six counts of sexual assault.^[32] He was acquitted in September 2019 of five of these counts,^[33] with the presiding judge dropping the remaining count.^[34] The diocese also investigated Nolan and later cleared him from the title of "credibly accused" priest in March 2020 as well.^[35]

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.^[32] 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.^[36][37]

Bishops of Madison

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).

Auxiliary bishops

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

Diocesan priests who became bishops

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

High schools

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

Grade schools

• 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.^[38]