Most Reverend Jerome E. Listecki
Archbishop of Milwaukee
 

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

In two days, I will be celebrating the beginning of my 14th year as Archbishop of Milwaukee. I was installed on the Feast of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton (January 4). I always admired St. Elizabeth Ann Seton as a great educator and certainly one of the major promoters of Catholic education in the United States.

Her life was not easy. She married into wealth, and she and her husband had five children. However, her husband was thrown into bankruptcy, and he contracted tuberculosis. They went to Italy seeking a cure where he died. She encountered the charity of Italian Catholics which influenced her decision to convert to Catholicism when she returned to the United States. Her family rejected her because of her conversion. She started a school for girls and later formed a religious order of women.

Faced with all sorts of adversities, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton conquered difficulties through a steadfast faith in God and love for the Church. It was in sharing that charitable expression that motivated her to become the recognized founder of the parochial school system in the United States. She was beatified by St. Pope John XXIII in 1959.

I did not realize it, but she was canonized in 1975 by St. Pope Paul VI, the same year that I was ordained a priest. There was already a connection.

St. Elizabeth Ann Seton became a true inspiration for our mission with Catholic Schools in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. I know that our former superintendent of Catholic Schools, Dr. Kathleen Cepelka, had a personal devotion to her. St. Elizabeth Ann Seton’s life and dedication were an inspiration. This inspiration led to our innovative and creative school system, Seton Catholic Schools, which serves students in urban Milwaukee.

Our Seton Schools provide quality education formed in Catholic Identity. Objective evaluations have confirmed the success of our Seton Schools. However, I know that in addition to the arduous work of pastors, priests, administrators, teachers and staff, the success also belongs to our relationship with St. Elizabeth Ann Seton who accepted the challenge to spread the faith and form the lives of our children.

St. Elizabeth Ann Seton has been and continues to be an underlying force in the success of our mission with Catholic schools and our witness to the faith in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee.

I offer her words to you in prayer that we continue to be faithful to the task our God has entrusted to us:

“Do I realize it? The protecting presence, the consoling grace of my Redeemer and God. He raises me from the dust to feel that I am near Him. He drives away all sorrows to fill me with His consolations. He is my guide, my friend and supporter – with such a guide, can I fear? With such a friend, shall I not be satisfied? With such a support, can I fall?” (Elizabeth Ann Seton, in Elizabeth Seton: Selected Writings, edited by E. Kelly and A. Melville. (1987)

There can be no doubt that we, like St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, will not fear, will be satisfied, and cannot fall, when we always reach out to others because we LOVE ONE ANOTHER.

Sincerely,

Most Reverend Jerome E. Listecki

Archbishop of Milwaukee          

Note: This blog originally appeared as the January 2, 2024, "Love One Another" email sent to Catholics throughout the Archdiocese of Milwaukee by Archbishop Jerome E. Listecki. If you are interested in signing up for these email messages, please click here.