With whatever problems we may have, we don't do "smudging and purification"!
Dn. Roberthttp://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2008/01/17/news/state/18-bishop_g.txtCatholic Diocese of Great Falls-Billings installs new bishop
By SUSAN OLPPhotos
Of the Gazette Staff
GREAT FALLS - More than 1,000 people filled Holy Spirit Catholic Church on Wednesday afternoon to see the Rev. Michael Warfel installed as bishop of the Diocese of Great Falls-Billings.
About 20 bishops and archbishops and more than 70 priests joined the throngs of adults and children at the installation ceremony and Mass that lasted two hours.
Warfel came to Montana from Alaska, where he served in ministry for more than 30 years, first as parish priest and then for the past 11 years as bishop of the Diocese of Juneau.
At the start of the ceremony, clergy entered the airy sanctuary two by two as members of Montana's American Indian tribes beat on drums and sang.
Tribal members also performed a smudging and purification ceremony, and the fragrant smoke from the sweet grass mingled with the incense from the Catholic censer. The installing prelate, Archbishop John Vlazny of Portland, Ore., in opening remarks, said the bishops of several Western states, including Oregon, Idaho, Washington, Montana and Alaska, often gather. Knowing Warfel through that connection, Vlazny told the people in the crowded pews, "You indeed have been blessed."
Then Archbishop Pietro Sambi, the papal nuncio from Washington, D.C., who represents Rome, stepped forward to address the crowd.
"I am truly happy to be with you this afternoon as Bishop Warfel is solemnly installed as the seventh bishop of Great Falls-Billings," he said in a heavy Italian accent.
Sambi went on to say that there are three essential aspects to serving
as a bishop. The first is the ability to model how to live a Christian life, to provide an example of holiness, charity and humility.
"Like the Lord Jesus rising early and going off on his own to pray, the bishop should be a man of prayer for himself and for his apostolic mission," Sambi said.
Second, he said, a bishop must be an authentic evangelizer, and, third, he must be a unifier of people.
Sambi thanked Bishop Anthony Milone, Warfel's predecessor, for his service to the diocese. Milone resigned in July 2006 for medical reasons.
Sambi also expressed appreciation to the Rev. Jay Peterson, who served as interim administrator for the 18 months between Milone's resignation and Warfel's appointment. Sambi then read the apostolic letter from Pope Benedict XVI announcing Warfel's appointment.
Warfel acknowledged that he was accepting the position of his own volition.
"I am here with great excitement and joy to serve the people here," Warfel said. "It is my desire to do nothing more than serve with the love of God manifested by Christ on the cross."
He then sat down in an ornate wooden chair and was handed a golden staff, signifying his installation as bishop of the Montana diocese. The room erupted in applause.
Tribal members then beat drums and sang a song of honor, and one of the singers handed a feather to Warfel.
As the Mass proceeded, Warfel injected humor when he stood to deliver the homily. Eleven years and few weeks before, he said, when he was a happy and content priest in Anchorage, Alaska, he got an early-morning phone call - "5:40 to be precise" - and was told the papal nuncio wanted to speak with him.
"What's a nuncio?" Warfel asked on the phone, garnering laughter from his audience. "Well, it was early and I'd only been awake a minute."
That's when he learned from the papal nuncio that he had been appointed the bishop of the Juneau Diocese.
"He said the Holy Father appointed you bishop of Juneau and, of course, you accept, don't you?" Warfel said, smiling. Four weeks later, Warfel was the bishop of Juneau.
Then, 11 weeks ago and a few days, he said, he was a happy and contented bishop living in Juneau when he got another call, this time inviting him to become bishop of the Diocese of Great Falls-Billings.
"Not only did I know what a nuncio was," he said, "but I recognized his voice almost immediately."
It also helped that the phone call came a little later, at 7 a.m.
"I said without much of a pause, 'Of course I accept,'" Warfel said, adding that he's learned the importance of accepting a call whenever it comes.
At a retreat 11 days ago, Warfel said,he asked for grace in his new post to be a strong, loving leader.
"I want to be your shepherd," he told his audience, "to be with you in times of celebration and in time of hardship, struggle and suffering."
His focus in the coming months will be to travel and meet as many people as he can in the diocese.
"At the same time, I will continue what I've always done as a pastor and a bishop, to do the mission of the church," Warfel said.
That mission, he said, includes providing encouragement and support to help people grow in their faith; to reach out to Catholics disenfranchised from their faith; to reach out to people without a faith; and to reach out to other faiths.
"We must pray for unity and actively make the effort to achieve it," he said.
Finally, Warfel stressed the importance of fighting against poverty and injustice, and helping those caught in either situation.
"We must take concern for the poor and vulnerable utterly seriously," he said.
(just teasing...)