Thanksgiving weekend, 2008, is almost here. It’s time for memories and sentiments of appreciation. 25 years ago during Thanksgiving weekend I was making my spiritual retreat in preparation for ordination to the episcopacy on Dec. 13. In so many ways, it seems like yesterday. In other ways, it has been a long, challenging but satisfying journey.
It all began for me on Oct. 12, 1983, when I received a call from the Pope’s representative in Washington, D.C., the then-Archbishop Pio Laghi. He informed me that the Holy Father had named me an Auxiliary Bishop of Chicago and Titular Bishop of Stagno. I was so stunned by his message that when our conversation ended, I couldn’t remember the name of the titular See! By the way, it was an old suppressed diocese in present-day Yugoslavia.
When the call came, I was going out the door on my day off to play golf with my buddies. Obviously it became a very different kind of day off. I wasn’t supposed to tell anyone until Oct. 18. Then three days later I received another call and I was told that the announcement was postponed until Oct. 31. I began to wonder, “Trick-or-Treat?” This second call was good news because it confirmed the message I had received three days earlier, one that I began to suspect was a practical joke on the part of some of my priest friends. It was no joke.
On Oct. 31 of 1983 the then-Archbishop of Chicago, Joseph Cardinal Bernardin, had returned from a synod in Rome and was present for the announcement that he was going to be able to ordain four new auxiliary bishops for the archdiocese on Dec. 13. We were all trotted out for a press conference. Everyone was all smiles. There had not been new bishops in Chicago for a long time. People seemed glad. My family was pleased. When friends would ask me how I ever became a bishop, I would glibly reply, “The Pope thinks I’m Polish.”
The ordination took place at Holy Name Cathedral on a cold December day. Friends and relatives came from all over the place. The ceremony began at 2:30 p.m. and ended by 4:40 p.m. Cardinal Bernardin did not believe in long liturgies. He told us he would be the only one to speak. If all four of us got up to say something, in his judgment, the liturgy would have been unnecessarily prolonged. I must say that, from my experience in attending such episcopal ordinations in other places over the years, he was right. People do tend to talk too long on such occasions.
At the time of my nomination as a bishop, I was serving as rector of Chicago’s college seminary in Niles, Illinois. The Cardinal said I should leave that job and he appointed me vicar of one of six vicariates or regions in the Archdiocese of Chicago. I was to oversee more than 50 parishes in the Northwest suburbs of Chicago and Lake County. There were more than 400,000 Catholics in that area, as many as we have here in the whole Archdiocese of Portland. The duties of the bishops-vicars, as far as the Cardinal was concerned, were three-fold: problems, personnel and planning. Back then I was naive enough to think I could handle whatever problems might arise in the parishes. I am no longer so naïve. The traces of original sin are everywhere and problems never cease, even here in western Oregon.
For 3 ½ years I served in that capacity. When the Cardinal began to hint that maybe I was going to become the bishop of another diocese, I told him I was still trying to learn the job that had become mine after my ordination in December, 1983. He said that decision would not be mine. And sure enough, in May, 1987, the Cardinal called me and told me I should prepare to move to Minnesota and become the Bishop of Winona. Interestingly, my predecessor, Most Rev. Loras Watters, had been my spiritual director in the seminary. I was pleased to be reconnected with him but I really did not know many folks at all in the diocese. In fact, the two months between the appointment and the installation were in many ways a time of grieving, letting go of all that was familiar and convenient and preparing myself for the unknown challenges ahead.
In Winona I was installed at Sacred Heart Cathedral on a very hot summer day, July 29, 1987. They had a nice little home for me right next to the cathedral. The pastoral center was across the street. People were warm and friendly. Even though I was unfamiliar with the diocese, pastorally and geographically, all kinds of good folks stepped forward and helped me find my way. Those were 10 ½ blessed years. I was still youthful, healthy and energetic. God had been good to me.
Then on Oct. 15, 1997, the telephone rang at 6 a.m. It was the apostolic nuncio, Archbishop Agostino Cacciavillan, who was calling to tell me that the Holy Father was appointing me as Archbishop of Portland. Cardinal Francis George’s speedy departure for Chicago after less than a year in the bishop’s chair here prompted this assignment. Folks here found out about the appointment on Oct. 28 of that year, the feast of Saints Simon and Jude.
Once again God’s people have come through. I have been blessed with many wonderful co-workers here in the vineyard of western Oregon. The clergy, religious, laity have all been supportive and energetic in confronting the challenges we have faced together, not all of them to our liking nor of our making. The focus on evangelization, building the kingdom of God together here on earth, has energized many of us. We have become disciples in mission together. That is my greatest delight.
This Thanksgiving then I surely will be praising God for his goodness to me these 25 years as a bishop. It has been a truly blessed life, certainly making my faults more evident, but also blessing me with graces untold and undeserved. I celebrated my 25th anniversary of ordination as a priest when I was still an auxiliary bishop in Chicago. I am delighted to be able to celebrate my 25th anniversary as a bishop with you.
All of you are invited to join me on Sunday, Dec. 14 in thanking God for the gift of my call to serve as a bishop. There will be a celebration of the Eucharist at the Chiles Center on the campus of the University of Portland at 2:30 p.m. Following the Mass there will be a public reception in the Chiles Center. Come one, come all. There should be plenty of room for all of us at the Chiles Center.
Like yourselves, I certainly don’t know what the future will hold. I am still in the saddle and glad to be here, but my service as chief pastor of this archdiocese won’t last forever. God always provides. I have always taken to heart the prayer of Pope John XXIII when he was serving as our Holy Father. At the end of a long day, he would go to his personal chapel, kneel down and pray as follows: “Dear Lord, I have tried my best today. Some of the Cardinals are unhappy. Some of the problems are overwhelming. News reports reflect the displeasure of many with the things I have done. But, Lord, I’m tired. It’s your church and I am going to bed.”
That blessed man obviously had no messianic complex. Nor, hopefully, do I. Whatever good God has been able to accomplish through me is to his credit, certainly not mine. And whatever good we have been able to accomplish together I wish to acknowledge and celebrate with you. God bless. I hope to be able to pray with many of you on Dec. 14.
