Saint Christopher Parish

06/02/2025

📢 Important Announcement for Our Parish Community 📢

As part of the Diocese of Madison’s Into the Deep initiative, we are moving forward in unity and faith. This includes the formation of a new parish community.

🚨 We will soon be retiring the St. Christopher Parish page as we transition into our new identity:

🔔 Please follow us at our new home: Divine Mercy Parish - Madison, previously hosted under the St. Maria Goretti page.

To stay connected, inspired, and informed, we invite you to:

📱 Follow us on Instagram:
📧 Make sure you’re subscribed to our parish email list for updates, events, and weekly bulletins – subcribe below!
https://divinemercymadison.flocknote.com/WeeklyBulletin

Together, we are becoming Divine Mercy Parish, and we look forward to growing in faith with you in this new chapter.

05/14/2025

Just in case you were planning on going to adoration at SMG tomorrow—here’s a note!

05/08/2025

It is with joy and prayers, united to those of the whole Church, that we welcome Pope Leo XIV as the 267th pope!

Pope Leo XIV (Robert Francis Prevost, OSA), a former prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, is a Chicago-born prelate who spent many years as a missionary in Peru before being elected head of the Augustinians for two consecutive terms.

Born on September 14, 1955, in Chicago, Illinois, Prevost entered the novitiate of the Order of Saint Augustine (OSA) in 1977 and made his solemn vows in 1981.

His educational background includes a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from Villanova University in 1977, a Master of Divinity from Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, and both a licentiate and doctorate in canon law from the Pontifical College of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome. His doctoral thesis was on “The role of the local prior in the Order of Saint Augustine.”

His career in the Church has been marked by significant roles and achievements. After his ordination as a priest in 1982, Prevost joined the Augustinian mission in Peru in 1985 and served as chancellor of the Territorial Prélature of Chulucanas from 1985 to 1986.

He spent the year 1987 to 1988 in the United States as pastor for vocations and director of missions for the Augustinian Province of Chicago before returning to Peru where he spent the next ten years heading the Augustinian seminary in Trujillo and teaching canon law in the diocesan seminary, where he was also prefect of studies. He also served in other capacities there, including as a parish pastor, diocesan official, director of formation, seminary teacher, and judicial vicar.

In 1999, he returned to Chicago and was elected provincial prior of the “Mother of Good Counsel” province in the archdiocese. Two and a half years later he was elected prior general of the Augustinians and served two terms until 2013.

In 2014, he returned to Peru when Pope Francis appointed him apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Chiclayo. He was elevated to Bishop of Chiclayo in 2015. While there, he also served as vice-president and member of the permanent council of the Peruvian Bishops’ Conference from 2018 to 2023.

In 2020 and 2021, Prevost served as apostolic administrator of Callao, Peru.

Pope Francis appointed Prevost prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops in January 2023, a position responsible for selecting bishops, a position he held until Pope Francis died on April 21, 2025. On September 30, 2023, Pope Francis elevated Prevost to the rank of Cardinal. He was appointed the 266th Successor of Peter on May 8, 2025.

(Picture of the new Pope Leo XIV taken from YouTube. Bio source: Cardinalium Collegii Recensio.)

Visit madisondiocese.org/ournewpope for more information about Pope Leo XIV and the papacy. More content will be added in the coming days.

05/08/2025

05/08/2025

Habemus Papam! We have a Pope!

The Cardinals gathered in the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel have elected Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost as the 267th Pope, who took the name Pope Leo XIV.

05/08/2025

BREAKING: Habemus Papam!
White smoke has risen from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel, signaling the College of Cardinals has chosen a new pope. Of the 133 cardinals sequestered in the Vatican since May 7, one has now been elected as the 267th leader of the Roman Catholic Church. His name will be announced shortly.

05/07/2025

No smoke has been sent up from the Sistine Chapel yet today, but if you want to keep an eye on the chimney, Vatican Media is livestreaming from St. Peter Square; you can watch the video feed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEM7a3mHMR4

Let us continue to pray for the conclave and for the soon-to-be new pope!

05/07/2025

Wondering when to watch for white smoke?
On the first day of the Conclave (Wednesday, May 7), there will be just one round of voting. The first smoke signal is likely to come between 7:45 to 8:15 p.m. Rome Time (1:45 to 2:15 p.m. EDT) — white smoke if a Pope has been elected, or black smoke if not.

On the following days, the cardinals may vote up to four times each day — twice in the morning and twice in the afternoon — but the ballots are burned at most twice daily.

The first smoke signal could be seen around at 10:30 a.m. Rome time (4:30 a.m. EDT) if a Pope has been elected (white smoke). If not, a second round of voting is conducted and the smoke signal (black or white smoke) could come closer to Noon (6:00 a.m. EDT) when two rounds of ballots would be burned together.

Similarly, if a Pope is elected during the first ballot of the afternoon, a smoke signal (white smoke) could be seen around 5:30 p.m. (11:30 a.m. EDT). If not, another round of voting is held and the smoke signal (black or white smoke) could come round 7:00 p.m. (1:00 p.m. EDT), when two rounds of ballots would be burned together.

So, if you see smoke early, it’s likely white — signaling a new pope has been elected.

Learn more about the conclave process here: https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2025-05/conclave-how-a-pope-is-elected.html

04/27/2025

Make sure you join us later today at 2:30 p.m. to enjoy a special Divine Mercy Devotion event! Find more information about the schedule here:
https://divinemercymadison.org/events/divine-mercy-devotion

Today, the Second Sunday of Easter, is Divine Mercy Sunday!

Divine Mercy Sunday was instituted in response to Our Lord's requests to St. Faustina, who received visions of Him during her religious life in Poland in the 1930s. In her Diary, entry 699, St. Faustina records Jesus as saying: "My daughter, tell the whole world about My inconceivable mercy. I desire that the Feast of Mercy be a refuge and a shelter for all souls, and especially for poor sinners. On that day the very depths of My tender mercy are open. I pour out a whole ocean of graces upon those souls who approach the fount of My mercy. The soul that will go to Confession and receive Holy Communion shall obtain complete forgiveness of sins and punishment. On that day are opened all the divine floodgates through which graces flow. Let no soul fear to draw near to Me, even though its sins be as scarlet." St. Faustina records in her Diary 14 revelations from Jesus about His desire for this Feast. The Second Sunday of Easter was formally named Divine Mercy Sunday by Pope St. John Paul II at the canonization of St. Faustina on April 30, 2000.

The Divine Mercy image, which many churches display today, was also requested by Christ Himself and painted by Eugene Kazimierowski at the commission of St. Faustina and her spiritual director. Though many versions of the Divine Mercy image exist, Kazimierowski's original is displayed in the Sanctuary of Mercy in Vilnius, Lithuania, where St. Faustina spent some of her religious life after making final vows.

Today is also a pastorate feast day; we send prayers and a shout-out to our Divine Mercy Pastorate!

O Blood and Water, which gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus as a fountain of Mercy for us, I trust in You!

04/24/2025

04/23/2025

As we continue to mourn the loss of our Holy Father, Bishop Hying invites all in the diocese to join him at a special Mass for the Repose of the Soul of Pope Francis on Saturday, April 26, the day of his funeral, at 1:00 pm at Our Lady Queen of Peace Church in Madison.

Let us continue to pray for the peaceful repose of Pope Francis, and for his successor, whomever that may be.

Information about this Mass, as well as other resources related to Pope Francis, the process of selecting a new pope, and more, are available on our diocesan website, at madisondiocese.org/popefrancis.