About Things Visible and Invisible with Bishop Donald J. Hying
Hosted by Bishop Donald J. Hying of Madison, Wisconsin, "Things Visible and Invisible" discusses life, faith, current events, culture, history, and more, all in relation to Jesus Christ and his Church.
October is Respect Life Month, and Bishop Donald J. Hying reflects on the dignity of every human life, from conception to natural death. He speaks about the grave evil of abortion and the church's work to support mothers and families, the growing threat of euthanasia and the gift of palliative care, and why a person's worth never depends on what they can produce or do on their own. Drawing on the meaning of the crucifix, Bishop Hying offers a vision of compassion that embraces suffering rathe...
30 Sept 2026
St. Thérèse of Lisieux | The Little Way
St. Thérèse of Lisieux died at the age of 24, a cloistered nun who by her own account had done nothing remarkable – and yet she became one of the most beloved saints in the history of the Church. In this episode, Bishop Donald Hying reflects on his favorite female saint: her "little way" of doing small things with great love, the spiritual darkness she endured at the end of her life, and the extraordinary power of her intercession. Along the way he shares why Thérèse, who promised to spend he...
23 Sept 2026
Jason Evert on Chastity and Gender
Bishop Donald Hying sits down with renowned Catholic speaker and author Jason Evert for a conversation about love, the human person, and the Theology of the Body. Evert makes the case that the Church's message is good news, not a list of rules: chastity, he says, is the virtue that frees us to love and to know when we are truly loved. Together, he and the Bishop explore why so many young people are turning to the Church for something lasting, and how the Gospel speaks with both clarity and co...
16 Sept 2026
Consecrated Virginity | Called and Chosen
In the second of a two-part conversation, Bishop Donald Hying continues his conversation with Karen Paschke, a consecrated virgin living in the world in the Diocese of Madison, as she shares her conversion and discernment story. Raised Lutheran, Karen spent 15 years away from God before waking one morning in 2009 knowing she had to come home. She entered the Catholic Church in 2010, and not long after, an unexpected question set her on the path to a vocation she didn't know existed. Karen rec...
9 Sept 2026
Consecrated Virginity | A Life Set Apart
What does it mean to give your life entirely to God while living an ordinary life in the world? In the first of a two-part conversation, Bishop Donald Hying speaks with Karen Paschke, a consecrated virgin living in the world and a high school math teacher here in the Diocese of Madison. Unlike a religious sister who steps away from the world into community, a consecrated virgin gives herself completely to Christ in the midst of everyday life. Karen reflects on the interior consecration at the...
2 Sept 2026
Four Holy Habits | Friday Penance
In the fourth and final episode of his series on the Four Holy Habits, Bishop Donald Hying reflects on Friday penance, offering some small act of sacrifice or mortification on the day the Church remembers the Lord's passion and death. Drawing on Jesus' words about fasting when the bridegroom is taken away, Bishop Hying explores why self-denial has always been part of the spiritual life. Anything worthwhile requires sacrifice, and when there is less of us – less ego and less excess – there is ...
26 Aug 2026
Four Holy Habits | Confession
Continuing his series on the Four Holy Habits, Bishop Donald Hying turns to the third habit: monthly confession. Drawing on the account in John's Gospel of the risen Christ appearing to the apostles on Easter night – breathing the Holy Spirit on them and commissioning them to forgive sins – Bishop Hying reflects on why the sacrament of reconciliation is Christ's own gift to the Church, and why we confess to a priest. He explores the social nature of sin and forgiveness, the grace the sacramen...
19 Aug 2026
Four Holy Habits | Daily Prayer
Continuing his series on the Four Holy Habits, Bishop Donald Hying turns to the second habit: daily prayer. At its heart, prayer is communion with God. Bishop Hying looks to the prayer life of Jesus himself, who spent whole nights absorbed in prayer to the Father, as the model for our own prayers. He explores the many forms prayer can take, from the Mass and the Liturgy of the Hours to the Rosary, Lectio Divina, meditation, and contemplation, and offers honest encouragement for anyone who str...
12 Aug 2026
Four Holy Habits | Reclaiming Sunday
Bishop Donald Hying opens a four-part series on the Four Holy Habits – the simple spiritual practices he has invited every Catholic in the Diocese of Madison to embrace since launching the Go Make Disciples initiative. He begins with the first and most important: keeping holy the Sabbath. Bishop Hying reflects on why each Sunday is a "mini Easter," why the Eucharist stands at the very center of Catholic life, and what it would mean to reclaim Sunday not only as a day for Mass but as a true da...
5 Aug 2026
Faith on Campus | A School of Prayer
In the second of a two-part conversation, Bishop Donald Hying and Fr. David Carrano turn from why young people are searching to what happens when they find the Church. Fr. Carrano, pastor of the St. Paul University Catholic Center at UW-Madison, describes the peer-to-peer ministry at the heart of St. Paul's – students, interns, and missionaries who build the bridges that lead others to Christ – and the remarkable number of students received into the Church this year. Together they consider wh...
29 Jul 2026
Faith on Campus | The Crisis of Meaning
In the first of a two-part conversation, Bishop Donald Hying is joined by Fr. David Carrano, pastor of the St. Paul University Catholic Center at UW-Madison, to discuss a striking development: the growing number of college students turning toward religion, and toward the Catholic faith in particular. From a front-row seat on a very secular campus, Fr. Carrano reflects on the crisis of meaning facing this generation – the restlessness, the searching, the fundamental questions young people are ...
22 Jul 2026
Conversion and Healing | A Protestant Pastor's Journey to the Catholic Faith
In the third and final part of this series, Bishop Donald Hying and Tristan Borland arrive at the heart of the story: Tristan's conversion and reception into the Catholic Church. A former Protestant Evangelical pastor now serving in the Diocese of Madison's Office of Evangelization and Catechesis, Tristan describes the tangible restoration of his faith and three dramatic miracles that brought profound healing and reassurance on the journey.
15 Jul 2026
Through the Valley | A Protestant Pastor's Journey to the Catholic Faith
In the second part of this three-part series, Bishop Donald Hying continues his conversation with Tristan Borland, a former Protestant pastor and now the Diocese of Madison's Associate Director of Marriage and Family Ministry, as his journey toward the Catholic faith turns to a difficult chapter. Tristan speaks openly about profound personal suffering in the years before his conversion, including the loss of his daughter, and the pain, fear, and hesitation that came with the prospect of becom...
8 Jul 2026
The Long Road | A Protestant Pastor's Journey to the Catholic Faith
In the first part of a three-part series, Bishop Donald Hying sits down with Tristan Borland – the Diocese of Madison's Associate Director of Marriage and Family Ministry, and a former Protestant pastor – to begin the story of his conversion to the Catholic faith. Tristan opens with his upbringing in Evangelical Protestantism, the misconceptions of Catholicism he carried, and the first encounters that led him to take the Catholic faith seriously. He reflects on the reasons that slowly drew hi...
1 Jul 2026
St. Francis of Assisi: Themes for Today
Continuing his reflection on St. Francis of Assisi, Bishop Donald Hying moves from the facts of the saint's life to the major themes that still speak to us today. Chief among them is Francis's radicality — his desire to live the Gospel in all its freshness and integrity. In this Special Year of St. Francis marking the 800th anniversary of his death, Pope Leo XIV has held up this saint as a model to emulate, one who points us with assurance toward the pristine call of the Gospel.
24 Jun 2026
The Wondrous Life of St. Francis of Assisi
Bishop Donald J. Hying explores the wondrous life of St. Francis of Assisi during the Special Year of St. Francis, marking the 800th anniversary of the saint's death. Arguably the most popular saint in the world, Francis is acknowledged by nature lovers, Protestants, and people of all faiths and of no faith at all. In this episode, Bishop Hying introduces the basic facts of his life and begins to unlock the mystery of his heart, which still draws and inspires us eight centuries later.
17 Jun 2026
Enthroning the Sacred Heart in the Home
In this episode, Bishop Donald Hying is joined by Matt Regner, a parishioner and lay leader in the Diocese of Madison, for a conversation on the family enthronement of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Together, they discuss what the enthronement is, how a family can prepare for and celebrate it in the home, and the spiritual fruits that come from placing the Sacred Heart of Jesus at the center of family life.
10 Jun 2026
St. Margaret Mary and the Promises of the Sacred Heart
In this episode of Things Visible and Invisible, Bishop Donald Hying continues the series on the Sacred Heart of Jesus by exploring the visions given to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque. While other saints knew and loved the Sacred Heart, it is St. Margaret Mary's 17th-century experience that has shaped this devotion for the past five centuries, revealing so clearly the love of God poured out in Christ. Bishop Hying reflects on each of the 12 promises Jesus made to those who hold a true devotion to...
3 Jun 2026
The Heart of Christ, the Heart of a Nation
Welcome to Things Visible and Invisible, a new podcast with Bishop Donald Hying of the Diocese of Madison exploring life, faith, current events, culture, and history, all in relation to Jesus Christ and his Church. In this opening episode, Bishop Hying reflects on the wonder of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the historic consecration of the United States to the Sacred Heart this June. On June 11, in commemoration of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. bishops wil...
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