Bishop John M. D'Arcy

  • History of the Annual Bishop’s Appeal

    Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades explains the meaning of his diocesan coat of arms to those gathered for the Annual Bishop’s Appeal kickoff dinner at the Grand Wayne Center in Fort Wayne on Thursday, Aug. 19.

    Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades kindly asked me to write an article on the history of the Annual Bishop’s Appeal and its importance for the mission of the Church in our diocese. I welcome the opportunity. As I recall how the appeal unfolded, I am struck at how quickly this initiative became not only a fundraiser, but an instrument of evangelization and a means of what the Church calls “communio.” This is a central work of the bishop — to bring people together in Christ.

    Also, from the beginning it was directed to help the parish, lifting a burden and awakening new resources to strengthen the life of the parish.

    In my first months as a bishop, I was approached by priests who explained to me the great burden of the system in place: A 13 percent tax on all income: Collections, fundraisers, school tuition. I remember Fathers John Suelzer and Bob Epping, CSC, and I recall an important and courageous public intervention by Father John Pfister.

    Quickly, we formed a committee of 10 priests and six laity under the dynamic chairmanship of Father Bill Schooler. They met over many months at various parishes.

    Having received their report, I met with them at Sacred Heart Parish, Warsaw. I told them I accepted their report completely, with one admonition. The report advised that the bishop should be “out front” in the appeal. I promised I would be so, but told them this would not carry the day. The parish priest would have to be “out front.” If the priest made it his own and gave it his support, it would be successful. This, plus the fact that from the beginning the appeal was parish-oriented, represent the fundamental reasons why our effort brought such blessings and achieved widespread acceptance. Indeed from this past appeal alone $1 or $2 million is being returned to parishes which have exceeded their goal.

    Communion
    The appeal has brought us into closer communion with each other. Communion between priests and their bishop. Communion between priests and their advisors. Increased communion between our two major cities, created by alternating the leadership in the diocese each year. Communion and evangelization through the video, in which people see and support the work of the Church from one end of the diocese to the other.

    Parish schools
    The struggle to preserve and strengthen Catholic schools across the country is well known. As the appeal developed, assisting schools became a shared effort between the diocese and the parishes. I recall a meeting in Syracuse with priests, educators and business leaders. The priests, even though they would bear the burden suggested an effort to increase the appeal by one half million dollars, so that we could have a substantial increase in teachers’ salaries. It was achieved, and the partnership between the diocese and the parishes helping parish schools, grew rapidly and was strengthened later by the Legacy of Faith, which gives almost a million dollars every year to parishes with schools and returned over $9 million to all parishes.

    The high schools
    The subsidy previously given by the diocese to the high schools varied with enrollment. This presented serious budgeting problems. The four Catholic high schools, so beloved in our diocese and so important for many reasons including as a ground for vocations to the priesthood, have a special place among us. The appeal stabilized the finances of the high schools, provided funds for students who otherwise could not have attended our high schools, kept tuition increases moderate and secured the future of these educational gems.

    A historic development
    When the appeal began, the salaries of our teachers were inadequate. An adversarial relationship existed between the diocese and the teachers. We were losing teachers to the public schools. Sometimes a teacher would be with us two or three years and then go to the public schools. Often they would leave after a few weeks at the beginning of the school year. All this has changed.

    In the past year, one could read about communities all over our diocese, laying off public school teachers and the freezing of salaries. This is regrettable and something which we hope will not continue. At the same time, we should note the situation in our schools. Because of the Annual Bishop’s Appeal and the Legacy of Faith, last year every full-time teacher in our schools received an increase of $800. In the year just beginning they will receive an increase of $900. No teachers have been dropped for financial reasons. This is a result of the generosity of our people to the Annual Bishop’s Appeal and the Legacy of Faith. It is important that this progress continue.

    Strength even in the
    economic downturn
    In the last year, unemployment in some parts of our diocese, was over 18 percent and some of our communities were among the hardest hit in the nation.

    Despite the severe economic downturn, the deepest and most prolonged since that of the Great Depression, our most recent Annual Bishop’s Appeal was the highest in history.

    Here are the totals for the last three years:
    • 2007-08: $5,542,447
    • 2008-09: $5,568,513
    • 2009-10: $5,745,113

    How was all this possible in such difficult times? It is possible because our people love their faith, appreciate Catholic education, love their priests and want the Church to continue and grow.

    Now the 24th appeal
    The appeal just ahead of us takes on a special importance. For the first time in 25 years, we have a new bishop. He has left his home diocese to offer himself to Christ for us and for our diocese, and he has come with a spirit of dedication.

    As I have done every year, I will increase my gift this year and will increase it by a larger amount than in the past. I hope all will do this as a welcome to the new bishop, but even more to help him build up the Church so the mission Christ has given to him and to us may be brought to fulfillment.

    Our schools, the education of priests, our service to the poor, our ministry to young people, the care of retired priests and the strength of our parishes, depends on your generosity and mine. The call for generosity is from Christ. Let us be generous to Christ and his work, in response to the Lord’s generosity to us.

    Posted on August 24, 2010, to:

  • Bishop-emeritus looks back, reflects on ‘retirement’

    Tim Johnson, our editor, kindly asked if I would share a few words in order to observe May 1, 25 years to the day of my installation as the eighth bishop of this diocese.
    My thoughts are of thanksgiving to God for the gift of presiding over this beloved See for a quarter of a century.

    Everything that has been accomplished is the fruit of the grace, won for us at great cost by Christ Our Savior.

    I give thanks to all those with whom it was my privilege to serve. Demanding years, surely, involving serious decisions. Decisions not always understood, but guided by the Holy Spirit. Overall, my reflections are ones of joy and gratitude. What a joy and privilege to have served as pastor of this historic See.

    People ask, “How are you doing?” I always say I am “adjusting,” and that is true. During Lent, I gave several parish missions and heard many confessions. In a few weeks I will preach a retreat to the bishops of Michigan and Ohio. I will give a retreat for sisters in June and two retreats are set for priests in the months ahead.

    So it is somewhat like the life I had as an auxiliary bishop with emphasis on things at the heart of the priestly vocation: Hearing Confessions, preaching, retreats and Days of Prayer, and taking part in parish missions. A busy life, and very beautiful, and close to the reasons we became priests. Spiritual formation: The area in which I was trained. So, still busy but a less frenzied pace and a chance to walk more than in the past.

    Do you miss it?
    This is another question that comes. Of course, I miss it. Does a man miss his wife when she is no longer with him? The ancient idea of a bishop is that he is married to his diocese. You carry it in your heart for all these years, sharing the ministry with the priests, consulting parish laity and religious. You are giving up a relationship which is a service of love. But the love continues and you serve the Church and the diocese by prayer, and the ministry of preaching and teaching, and the sacramental ministry of giving Confirmation and celebrating the Eucharist. (I have 19 Confirmations this spring.) I feel this new life growing. I can attend to my number one goal after retirement: More prayer in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament and good spiritual reading. All of which helps one’s homilies and helps one also in the confessional. The more attuned any priest or bishop is to Christ in prayer and reading, the more effective he will be.

    Other goals
    I have made a little progress on the computer. The effort to learn Spanish is not fully launched, but plans are being made.

    I am very encouraged, as we all are, by our hard working, very able, and pastorally devoted Bishop Rhoades, who is surely giving his whole heart and soul to this diocese.
    Now, wouldn’t you be disappointed if I did not speak of a certain baseball team. Alas, it seems like it will be the “summer of our discontent” for the Red Sox. So far they have not contacted me to pitch batting practice. I am ready if they call.

    I remember May 1, 25 years ago with joy and gratitude. My dear mother was present with my three sisters and their families. I give thanks to God for His grace, which helped us face the decisions and challenges that awaited. I pray for you all every day and extend to you my gratitude and love.

    Posted on April 20, 2010, to:

  • Homily for Msgr. J. William Lester

    Bishop D’Arcy offers the homily for his dear friend and colleague Msgr. J. William Lester at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. Video of this homily can be found at www.TodaysCatholicNews.org.

    Mass of Christian Burial, Feb. 25, 2010
    He was the first priest of this diocese whom I met. The first among those beloved priests with whom my life would be intertwined forever in prayer, and pastoral care for our people — priests from whom I would ask so much, whom I would come to love as friends and sons, which the Church calls the relationship between bishop and priests. It could be said of Msgr. Bill Lester in relationship to Christ and to his bishop, what Christ said of His apostles, “You are the ones who stood by me in my trials.”

    In those early days working together with the good Monsignor, as our staff sometimes called him, seeing his goodness, his high intelligence, his zest for life, his clear ethical sense, seeing all the people he knew — old and young — often from his days as principal at Central Catholic or from the Cuban boys whom he welcomed and cared for — who came here without parents — for whom he would be father and mother. Seeing his joyfulness and the energy he brought to his ministry and to the sound advice he would give — seeing it all and helped so much by him — I grew easily to trust him, and love him, and early on I had this thought: “Someday, perhaps not too far away, because he is older than I — I will probably speak at the Rite of Christian Burial.” It was a painful thought at the time.
    And so it has come, much later than I first expected. We bring him back to the cathedral where he was ordained — and where he led the restoration of this beautiful house of God.

    As I began to prepare, the words did not come. So many consultations, so many meetings, such a good friendship — how does one speak of a priest friend? The tears came quickly, tears of mind and heart; the words — slowly and with great difficulty.

    What can I say about this sterling priest, a priest for all seasons, for a homily is not a eulogy — but a reflection on the Sacred Mystery, the Mystery of Christ, which is our salvation? A reflection on the One in whom we hope and whom we look forward to meeting, and this Eucharist presents a promise of that meeting. It surely is appropriate to ponder the place of the priest. As Catholics, we are a sacramental Church, the visible is important to us. We see here in this beautiful cathedral the great Catholic Tradition of making the invisible — visible. Msgr. Lester had a clear sense of this. Once, I asked him if in the restoration we were honoring Mary sufficiently. “Bishop,” he said, “the whole cathedral is a song to Our Lady.”

    These works of art in this Church are sacramentals. The priest, however, receives a sacrament and is a kind of sacrament. The priest is asked to make present Christ — the Good Shepherd — to make Him visible, to become a kind of stained glass window through which people may see the Good Shepherd.

    “I am the Good Shepherd. A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. A hired man, who is not a shepherd and whose sheep are not his own, sees a wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away. And the wolf catches and scatters them. This is because he works for pay and has no concern for the sheep. I am the Good Shepherd, and I know mine and mine know me, just as the Father knows me and I will lay down my life for the sheep.” — John 10. The hired man works for pay, Bill Lester was no hired man. He embraced his vocation to make visible the Good Shepherd. Just as we are called to look through the appearance of bread and wine and see the Body and Blood of Christ — we priests cooperating with grace must make it possible for our people to look through us and see Christ the Good Shepherd who laid down His life for the flock.

    This kind of love. Total, caring, visible, unselfish even to laying down one’s life must be made visible — and the salvation of souls depends upon it. It is what people hunger for in a priest. The people crave a good shepherd, not a hired man — that is why there is sadness in this cathedral — we have lost a shepherd after the heart of Christ.

    I think Jesus Christ has given us this day, the very day after we priests gathered for our regular Lenten Day of Prayer — with Archbishop Hughes as preacher — to hear beautiful truths about two priests: St. Paul and St. John Vianney. We gather one day later to ponder the life of a good shepherd who made present the generous heart of Christ.

    And for all of us who knew and loved him, whom he served, we are asked to grasp afresh the beauty of the priesthood of Christ the Good Shepherd, made visible and present to many in a unique and beautiful way by our dear Msgr. Bill Lester.

    The priest: Called to make present the love of Christ.
    It is a life of love. Pope John Paul II says the following.

    “Our priestly life and activity continue the life and activity of Christ, Himself. Here lies our identity, our true dignity, the source of our joy, the very basis of our life.” — John Paul II, “I Will Give You Shepherds.”

    Pope John Paul II speaks of the priesthood as an “amoris officium,” an “office of love.” A work of love “the priest, who welcomes the call to ministry, is in a position to make this a loving choice, as a result of which the Church and souls become his first interest, and with this concrete spirituality he becomes capable of loving the universal Church and that part of it entrusted to him with the deep love of a husband for his wife.” St. John Vianney, whose image graces this cathedral, in the year dedicated to him — the Year for Priests — says, and this is quoted in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, “The priesthood is the love of the heart of Christ.”

    We know what the Lord said to Peter before He gave him his mission for souls, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.”

    St. Augustine said of Peter, that Christ asked him about his love and then gave him a work to do. This unselfish love, which we priests and bishops are called to give to our people, is reflected in a beautiful article written by Pope Benedict XVI when he was a young professor of theology at the University of Regensburg in Germany. Here is what he wrote so long ago, and what we have seen lived in his life and the life of his predecessor, Pope John Paul II, and what all of us priests are called to and what the people expect of us and rejoice when they find it in us. New Testament ministry “rests on the existential posture of the servant who has learned how to allot second place to his own will in favor of the will of the person to whom he belongs. It is essential to the bearer of this Office that he stands in the service of another’s will.”

    How willing Msgr. Lester was to put his own will in second place. How did Christ’s light shine in our own diocese through the priest we bury today? In the painful times, which fell upon the Church and on our diocese, he was filled with compassion and understanding for those who had been hurt while resolved that truth would be served and the priesthood of Jesus Christ in this diocese would be purified.

    He was devoid of any smallness or meanness. In the consultations concerning the placement of priests and their transfer, I never heard one hint of advice that was self centered. He always advised what was best for the Church.
    He served as principal of Central Catholic when it contained 1,700 students. He worked with grace with the Sisters of Providence and others. He found sisters for St. Jude’s Parish when the Sisters of Providence left. He served two terms as Superintendent of Schools. He formed the first Diocesan School Board 40 or 50 years ago. He told me that in his first assignment at St. Mary’s, Huntington, he was asked to be basketball coach. “Bishop, I went to the library and found books on basketball so I could do it well.”

    Msgr. Lester and his beloved White Sox. He loved going to high school football and basketball games, down to Indianapolis with Msgr. Wolf to follow Bishop Luers in their various championship endeavors. But how can I possibly do justice to his role at filling-in in times of need? At a time of the severe shortage of priests, when a parish would be in difficulty: perhaps a beloved priest had died, as in the case St. Matthew’s, South Bend, and Bishop Crowley. Maybe a priest had left the priesthood or had been asked to leave and a parish was divided. In two cases, religious congregations, Franciscans and Missionaries of the Precious Blood, had given up the care of parishes — in one case, after over a hundred years of service. While remaining vicar general, and co-rector of the cathedral, he would be sent by his bishop to a place in pastoral difficulty. Immediately, the hurt would be eased. The people would come together. Many of them knew him from Central Catholic or some other service in the diocese. There would be the feeling the bishop has sent us his best. Christ had sent his best. Financial difficulties would be addressed. People would be greeted. The Parish Council would begin meeting. Sound homilies would be given and things would settle.
    Here are the places, leaving aside St. Thomas, Elkhart; and St. Jude’s, Fort Wayne; and St. Mary’s, Huntington, where he served in regular assignments as at this beloved cathedral parish; here are the places where he filled in for a month, or two months, or sometimes over a year, settling the waters, bringing people together, restoring trust in the diocese and the bishop, always putting his own will in second place; a healing, loving, pastoral hand.

    • St. Aloysius, Yoder
    • St. Michael, Waterloo
    • St. Matthew Cathedral Parish, South Bend
    • St. Jude, South Bend
    • Queen of Angels, Fort Wayne
    • St. Joseph, Fort Wayne
    • St. Patrick, Fort Wayne
    • St. Therese, Fort Wayne
    • Queen of Angels, Fort Wayne, for the second time
    • St. Joseph, Fort Wayne, for the second time
    • St. Adalbert, South Bend
    • St. Rose of Lima, Monroeville
    • St. Mary, Fort Wayne
    • St. Patrick, Fort Wayne, for the second time
    • Most Precious Blood, Fort Wayne
    • St. Therese, Fort Wayne, for the second time
    • St. Vincent, Elkhart

    In most of these parishes, he was appointed as administrator, bringing his sharp intelligence and gracious style.
    No priest, and I include myself, has done more for this diocese than Msgr. Bill Lester. It could be said of him what St. Paul said of Christ. He was never no — he was always yes. Yes to Christ. Yes to his bishop. Yes to those in need.

    As a young seminarian, he was a Basselin Scholar, that is someone chosen by his diocese to spend an extra year at Catholic University and receive a master’s degree in philosophy. But he was happiest in this diocese, totally devoted to his brother priests and to the people. What a joy it was to meet him. His clock always seemed at high noon. His gifts were extraordinary and he used them for others.

    You know, in the ceremony for the ordination of a priest, there are places which touch on the sacrifice that a priest is asked to make.

    For example, after the priest is called forth by the bishop he stretches out — face down — on the sanctuary, as Msgr. Lester did 65 years ago in this very cathedral. Pope John Paul II used to call that gesture “evocative.” Evocative; namely, it evokes meaning and truth. It expresses the totality of the gift and the Litany of Saints is sung over the priest asking for their intercession before the throne of God.

    Also, in the instruction, the priest is told to place first the concerns of Christ and not his own.

    A third beautiful moment. When the bishop gives the priest the chalice filled with wine and the paten with the host, symbolic of the privilege of offering Mass, he says to the one being ordained, “Understand what you are doing, imitate what you handle, and model your life on the Lord’s cross.”

    All these things signify sacrifice and unselfishness.

    Yet, I do not think Msgr. Bill Lester ever thought of his life as a great sacrifice. He loved it. His song was the song of Mary. As he said of the cathedral — it can be said of him — his whole life was a song to Mary, a song of thanksgiving. “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior. For He who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is His name.”

    He was never no — he was always yes.

    Walker Percy, writer and philosopher once said to seminarians, “My hero is the parish priest.” Bill Lester is my hero. These priests are my heroes. Yours, too, I think. Let us pray that God gives us more like him and like these priests who are here to pray for their beloved brother.

    Safe home, dear Bill, safe home. May the angels lead you into paradise, may the martyrs receive you at your coming.

    Posted on March 3, 2010, to:

  • Talk – Installation of Bishop Rhoades

    January 13, 2010
    Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception
    Diocese of Fort Wayne – South Bend

    In this moment of great joy for our Diocese, I am pleased to welcome you to this historic Cathedral. Built by the holy French missionary priest, Msgr. Julian Benoit, who was a contemporary of the intrepid Father Edward Sorin, founder of the great University of Notre Dame and of many South Bend parishes, this Cathedral was built in 1860 – six years after the solemn definition of the Immaculate Conception and was dedicated to her under that title of the Immaculate Conception – and she has guided the Diocese from its beginning.

    In these two days, our Diocese has been given the privilege of living a moment of faith and receiving great teaching about the nature of the Church and the Episcopal Office.

    The presence of Archbishop Pietro Sambi, the Apostolic Nuncio, brings close to our Diocese Pope Benedict XVI, the Successor of Peter. As Pope John Paul II told the American bishops in California at one of the old Spanish missions in 1987 – the Pope does not come from outside the local Church, but from within that Church. We also receive a catechism lesson on the nature of the Episcopal Office. The Bishop says Saint Augustine is not the name of an honor, but of a work or a service. We are still under the light of the great reforming Council, which says this about the bishop. “Sent as he is by the Father to govern His family, a bishop should keep before his eyes the example of the Good Shepherd, who came not to be waited upon, but to serve and to lay down his life for his sheep. This same Council lays out for us our response, the response of the Church to a new bishop,” as to the faithful – they should be closely attached to the bishop, as the Church is to Jesus Christ, and as Jesus Christ is to the Father, so that all things may conspire towards harmonious unity and bring forth abundant fruit under the glory of God. Bishop Rhoades, I assure you with all my heart that this will be the response of this local Church to you – beginning with me, your predecessor – we will be closely attached to you as the Church is to Christ, and Christ is to the Father. We read of the Apostles in the fifth chapter of Luke that “They brought their boats to shore; and left everything and followed Him.” You come in that same spirit. How blessed that this immediate “yes” to Christ is still alive in this Church.

    This moment gives us assurance that the Eucharist will be celebrated. Priests will be ordained. Sins forgiven. And the poor will have the Gospel preached to them. Thanks be to God.

    I also give thanks to God that I have been allowed, indeed called by Christ, to serve these holy people for almost a quarter of a century. A call and a ministry for which I never felt worthy, but which I loved and carried out with all my heart.

    Pope John Paul II, in an essay late in life, after thanking the Lord and Our Lady, also thanked his guardian angel. I, too, thank that worthy angel who accompanied me back and forth between our two major cities, sometimes late at night; and kept me from having an accident, sometimes just barely.

    However, that worthy angel chose not to protect me from an occasional speeding ticket.

    Let us give thanks to God for this great moment and live it with joy and faith.

    I pledge for whatever God gives to me now to dedicate myself in prayer and service to this beloved diocese — and to do it with all my heart.

    Posted on January 19, 2010, to:

  • Reflection on the past and future

    Some final reflections
    The Office of Bishop, said St. Augustine, is the not the name of the honor, but a work. I think the great Church father and who was Bishop of Hippo in Africa could also have written that it is a source of joy. The bishop wears a cross to remind him that he must share the cross of Christ. Indeed we are all called to this — to share in His sufferings and contribute in our small way to the work of redemption, which is always going on and the bishop must set the example.

    While you do not see many comments on it, it is true that the Second Vatican Council was a council for the reform and the renewal of the Office of Bishop. It was a return to the bishop as was understood by the Fathers of the Church and in the Scriptures relative to the apostles. Here is an example:

    Sent as he is by the Father to govern his family, bishop should keep before his eyes the example of the Good Shepherd: “I have come not to be waited upon, but to serve.” — Mt. 20, 28 and Mk. 10, 45
    To lay down his life for his sheep.

    “Destined to render their souls to God by prayer, preaching and all the good works of charity, he should be solicitous both for their welfare and for that too of those who do not belong to the unique flock, but whom he should regard as entrusted to him by the Lord.”
    — Constitution on the Church

    No wonder then that in the midst of its profound reflection and its historic constitution on the Church, a document most central to the teaching of that great council, the fathers chose to present these words of the great Augustine.

    What I am for you frightens me, what I share with you brings me consolation. For you I am bishop; with you I am a Christian. The former is the name of a duty I have received; the latter I am by grace. The former implies potential danger; the latter offers salvation. … Assist me by your prayerful support, so that my joy will be in serving you, rather than in being over you.
    — St. Augustine, Sermon 340

    Why would the great Augustine be frightened by his office? He knew, and taught that the office was supposed to represent Christ.
    Accordingly, as Christ lay down his life for the flock, so will the bishop be judged on whether or not he has followed this example in his life.

    Some memories
    As I reflect on these days, I think often of a certain scene from the past. As always, among priests there were rumors as to whom would be appointed bishop. It was generally thought that there would be more than one. In fact, there were four of us ordained on the same day, 35 years ago — on Feb. 11, 1975, the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes. Hearing such rumors, I asked a priest-friend about it. He said, “You should read everything about a bishop and then make a decision, in case it comes. If not, your reading and prayer may help you assist others in this way.” So I read extensively how the bishop is understood in the Church. I knew much about it already from my doctoral dissertation, which centered on the Second Vatican Council. But reading for study and reading for prayer is sometimes different. Having absorbed such teaching mostly from the teaching of the Second Vatican Council on the Office of Bishop, I realized it was a pastoral and spiritual office. I can remember sitting by the Atlantic Ocean outside a church used only in the summertime and telling the Lord that if it came, I would accept it and would try to live it as I have read it in the pages of the great council, and as lived by St. Augustine. The merciful Lord will be the judge.

    A great consolation and joy came when the call came. The decision was easy. I had prepared over many weeks of reading and prayer. The Lord was very close at that time.

    A great responsibility
    As I reflect on these beautiful 24 years plus, I am thankful to God. Somehow at moments like this, I think of my dear parents — immigrants from Ireland, and what they gave me, by example of their great faith. I believe I am a priest and the bishop of this diocese under God’s grace because of their example and their holiness. But it was always a holiness marked by joy. I can still hear their laughter.

    What lies ahead
    Our new bishop will preside at a Mass for Life at the Sacred Heart Basilica on Jan. 19, along with Father Jenkins, the president of Notre Dame, and others, and Bishop Rhoades has kindly asked me to preach. It will be a joy to do this. There will be many young people there who will be going to the March for Life in Washington, D.C. Included will be many of the young students who gave such fine example last spring. Bishop Rhoades and I will go as well, with many young people from our diocese. All four of our high schools will be represented, under the direction of Fred and Lisa Everett, co-directors of our Pro-life Office. After celebrating a large Mass at a large stadium, then later a Mass with just the young people from our diocese, I will go to Boston for a few weeks.

    Boston?!
    Bishop, why don’t you go to Florida and spring training. Well, maybe some day. I always find the home where I grew up and visiting with my sisters and with the priests with whom I was ordained 53 years ago to be restorative.

    I will be back to preach at several parish missions and do Confirmations and help Bishop Rhoades in whatever way he wishes. I will give a retreat to the bishops of Michigan and Ohio in May.

    A responsibility for all of us
    The council in its great teaching about bishops, place a responsibility that all of us should have in mind — priests, laity and religious and a retiring bishop in a special way.

    As to the faithful, they should be closely attached to the bishop, as the Church is to Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ is to the Father, so that all things may conspire to harmonious unity and bring forth abundant fruit unto the glory of God.

    This union with the bishop, openness to his teaching, the spirit of joyous welcome and promise of collaboration is now asked of all of us. As we live this historic moment together, let us be grateful to Christ for sending us not only a new shepherd, but one with much experience, who comes to us with many gifts. It should be a time for all of us of thanksgiving to God, and the promise of fidelity and love to our new shepherd.

    A great day at St. Matthew’s
    A beautiful Mass on the feast of the Epiphany, my final Mass as bishop at our co-cathedral. A full church and a beautiful reception afterwards. How could such a moment of separation not be filled with joy? It is a sign surely of the presence of Christ. Many thanks to Msgr. Mike Heintz, the umpire, and his worthy staff.

    Special gratitude
    Special gratitude to my good friends, Msgr. Peter Martocchio and Father Paul McPartland, who took the train from old South Station in Boston, Mass., and came across country to be with us. My friends of a lifetime.

    I will pray for all of you. Let us pray for our new bishop and accompany him, especially in his early days. And I know as a matter of faith, you will show him the love and the joy and the acceptance that you always gave to me.

    Posted on January 6, 2010, to: