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Twentieth Sunday of the Year
18 August 2007
Dear Friends in Christ,
+Robert Joseph Baker was appointed Bishop of Charleston on 13 July 1999, and on 14 August 2007 he was appointed Bishop of Birmingham in Alabama. The Lord has given, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the Name of the Lord. God be praised for the episcopal ministry among us of Bishop Baker, and God grant us a new shepherd after the heart of Christ.
Bishop Baker will be installed in Birmingham on 2 October 2007, and until that day he will remain the administrator of the Diocese of Charleston, with all of the authority of the diocesan bishop. After October 2nd, a group of ten priests of our diocese who constitute the College of Consultors will meet to elect another diocesan administrator, usually a priest chosen from among those who worked with the former bishop in the chancery, the administrative offices of the diocese. The new diocesan administrator will then hold all of the authority of the diocesan bishop (except for the things which require being in the sacramental order of bishops, like ordaining new priests), and he will govern the diocese while we wait for the pope to appoint the new Bishop of Charleston. As an alternative to this meeting of the College of Consultors, Rome sometimes directly appoints a diocesan administrator, but in either case, the ordinary life of the Church continues without interruption.
In the recent past, the appointment of bishops in the United States has taken many months, often longer than a full year. For this reason, we should probably anticipate that we will not receive our new diocesan pastor for some time, but in that interval we can pray with the Church for a bishop who is holy and wise and learned. The Roman Missal includes a Mass for the Election of a Pope or Bishop, and the Collect of that Mass should be regularly on our lips and in our hearts as we await the appointment of the 13th Bishop of Charleston:
Lord God, you are our eternal shepherd and guide. In your mercy grant your Church a shepherd who will walk in your ways and whose watchful care will bring us your blessing. Grant this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Father Newman