Wisconsin bishop speaks about vocation, concerns of national issues

A Wisconsin bishop expressed hope for the Church’s future in a recent interview, reflecting on renewed priestly vocations and the call to remain faithful to Christ amid the moral challenges facing the nation.

Bishop Gerard Battersby of La Crosse, Wisconsin, spoke with Catholic World Report in an interview published Aug. 7, beginning with the call that led him from secular work to the priesthood at 33.

“The Lord was knocking on my door,” he said. “I refused to answer for many years, but eventually I couldn’t pretend that he wasn’t asking me the question about entering the seminary. I had to find out.”

Those years of discernment shaped Bishop Battersby’s understanding of vocation.

“A vocation isn’t a choice. It is a listening that results in hearing a call,” he said. “The initiative is with the Lord. If it is with the individual, it won’t sustain him long.”

That response, the bishop explained, must be rooted in Christ and joined to the virtues of spiritual fatherhood.

“The fundamental virtues,” he said, “that a good father and family man must have are the same virtues required to make a good priest.”

He said this understanding has shaped the Diocese of La Crosse’s approach to vocations, beginning with the renewal of priests already serving the Church.

“When our young men in discernment see [priests] in action,” Bishop Battersby said, “we want them to be inspired to think the priesthood is something worthy to which to devote their lives.”

That witness, he explained, depends upon the measure of one’s holiness. Drawing from the account in the Acts of the Apostles of the sick being placed where St. Peter’s shadow might fall upon them, the bishop described the standard he sets for his priests.

“If your shadow, like St. Peter’s, doesn’t heal, you have to work on your holiness,” he said. “We must beg the Lord, the Master, to make us holy as He is holy.”

Bishop Battersby said that such a witness leaves no room for indifference.

“If Jesus is Lord, then it is madness not to follow Him,” he said. “Following him in a lukewarm manner is not enough.”

La Crosse has emerged from what the bishop described as a lull in vocations, growing from eight seminarians “not long ago” to 17 at the time of the interview. 

“I’m convinced that the Lord is doing something wonderful across the U.S.,” Bishop Battersby said. “I think we’re poised for an amazing time in the Church.”

That sense of renewal extended beyond the seminary, as he encouraged Catholics to draw more deeply from the spiritual life of the Church.

“There are many ordinary practices that the Church recommends that can produce extraordinary saints,” the bishop said. “We must also remember that God gives us many amazing intercessors in the Blessed Virgin Mary, the saints, and the good angels. Seek their help in walking the path of holiness; they once walked the same path in life that we do today. Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus.” 

“A normal Catholic life is the path to holiness,” he added.

In the interview, Bishop Battersby also expressed concern about several national issues, listing abortion, immigration, and family well-being as particularly worrisome.

“One of my greatest concerns is that we, as a society, seem to have trouble agreeing on what the truth is,” he said. “When we can’t arrive at a common understanding of truth, we start with a shaky foundation, and that’s hard on which to build a community.”

He also addressed immigration, directing his criticism to both political parties. 

“Both sides of the aisle have been intentional in their neglect of the immigration system,” the bishop said. “It has been a political ball, which is hit back and forth. I would add that we’ve seen that unfettered immigration is not good for society at all.”

Bishop Battersby also addressed the state of the family in the nation.

“Another tremendous concern I have is the moral collapse of the family,” he said. “So many of our families are unstable and end in divorce, and the family is the building block of society.”

His concern for the nation’s moral foundation was also evident when he condemned abortion as murder rather than a woman’s right. 

“I’m not trying to be inflammatory when I say this, but we’re killing children,” Bishop Battersby said. “Abortion is not a woman’s right; it is a terrible evil and should be a concern for all of society.”

Bishop Battersby grounded his rejection of abortion in the understanding that God alone is the author of human life.

“God gives us the opportunity to share in creation,” he added, “but does he give us the power of life or death? The slaughter of innocents is something with which we all should be concerned.”

Amid the moral challenges facing society, Bishop Battersby encouraged Catholics to remain grounded in the faith.

“Know who you are, how you are called to live, and live in hope,” he said. “Live the joy that comes from being a companion of Christ.”