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| February 2005 |
| Pope John Paul II names Bishop Carlson
as fifth bishop of Saginaw, Michigan |
Gene Young
Managing Editor
|
Pope John Paul II has appointed Bishop
Robert J. Carlson as the next bishop of Saginaw, Michigan.
The announcement was made December 29 in Rome by the Vatican
and in Washington, DC, by Archbishop Gabriel Montalvo, apostolic
nuncio to the United States.
Bishop Carlson follows Bishop Kenneth E. Untener who served
the Diocese of Saginaw from November, 1980 until his death last
March of complications from leukemia.
Bishop Carlson was in Saginaw for the announcement there and
later that day returned to Sioux Falls for a press conference
about the appointment.
Bishop Carlson learned of his new assignment during his recent
ad limina visit to Rome to meet with the pope. “When you
become a bishop, you make a commitment to serve the Holy Father,”
he said. “I did pray about it and was given a chance to
reflect on it and the obvious answer was ‘yes’.”
Bishop Carlson has served in Sioux Falls since February of 1994
when he was named co-adjutor bishop, and became bishop in March
1995 upon the retirement of Bishop Paul Dudley.
He remains administrator of the Diocese of Sioux Falls until
his installation in Saginaw.
Upon his return from Saginaw, Bishop Carlson re-appointed Father
Charles Cimpl to serve as vicar general during the time Bishop
Carlson will be diocesan administrator in Sioux Falls. “I
have asked the Holy Father to appoint an apostolic administrator,
who will be a bishop,” the bishop said. “He will
serve in the interim until a permanent appointment is made.”
The process of naming a new bishop for Sioux Falls is expected
to take several months, but provisions will be made for administrating
the diocese in the interim.
“I’ve been blessed with a great staff here in Sioux
Falls and I have developed over the years a deep love for the
priests, religious and people as well as having shared in the
wonderful blessing which is South Dakota,” The bishop
said. “While my work is finished, a talented staff, and
soon a new bishop, will carry on the many things which had begun.
It’s God’s work, and I place it in his loving care.”
Bishop Carlson went on to explain how he has always understood
that this is the Lord’s work and not his own. But he acknowledged
that it has been a blessing for him to be part of that work
in the Sioux Falls diocese for eleven years.
During his press conference, Bishop Carlson also had kind words
for the people of the diocese. “I’d like to thank
everyone for the love and support that they have offered to
me especially when I was diagnosed with cancer in 1996,”
he said.
Bishop Carlson said had there been any remaining health issues
he would not have been assigned to Saginaw.
During his tenure in Sioux Falls, Bishop Carlson is credited
with strengthening vocations. That may have been one of the
reasons he was appointed to Saginaw. That diocese has no seminarians
to speak of and is down to 66 priests, down from, at one time,
122. “So it is certainly one of the significant challenges
of that diocese,” Bishop Carlson said.
He told the people of Saginaw he would continue to focus on
inviting young men to the priesthood. “When I became bishop
in Sioux Falls, the average age of our priests was 60, but we
have reduced that to 48.6 years.”
Bishop Carlson is also credited with strengthening religious
education programs in the diocese. He also established Our Lady
of Guadalupe Parish to serve the growing Hispanic population
in the city of Sioux Falls and he established St. Josephine
Bakhita Parish to serve the growing number of refugees from
Sudan.
The Diocese of Saginaw has a longer established Hispanic community
of about 6,000 compared to Sioux Falls. That will also be an
area of attention for Bishop Carlson in his new assignment.
“The church in Saginaw has been responding to them for
the last ten years,” Bishop Carlson said. “I met
several people who are involved in the Spanish-speaking ministry
and they seem to be addressing the issues...that will be an
interest of mine.”
Bishop Carlson was also instrumental in starting renovations
on the mother church of the diocese, St. Joseph Cathedral and
establishing the “Christmas at the Cathedral” benefit
concerts to fund an endowment to perpetuate care and upkeep
of the Cathedral.
The bishop was also key to establishing the Broom Tree Retreat
and Conference Center near Irene and a monastery to pray for
world peace in Colombia.
As for his legacy, Bishop Carlson said, “I think always
the thing you are most proud of is your relationships with people.”
“One of the things that’s true about South Dakota,
and certainly Sioux Falls, is that we’re not big enough
that any church body or any organization or the business community
can accomplish something all by ourselves. So, to the fact that
we’ve been able to inter-relate with other churches and
with the business community and the civic community, it’s
something that’s been very important to me,” he
said.
The bishop also mentioned the diocese’s success with vocations
(one of the top ten dioceses in the country for the past decade),
religious education, Catholic housing for the working poor (more
than 500 units), the Good Shepherd Center, expansion of counseling
(now more than a dozen counseling outlets) and partnerships
with the agricultural community in the diocese.
The Diocese of Saginaw has roughly the same number of Catholics
as the Sioux Falls Diocese but the geographic area of the bishop’s
new diocese will be much smaller (Saginaw has 7,000 square miles
compared to the 35,000 square miles of the Diocese of Sioux
Falls).
“Well, we’re sad,” said Sister Mary Carole
Curran, the Director of Catholic Family Services. “I suppose
we always thought that he’d be moved, but we hoped he
wouldn’t. He’s one of the most charismatic people
I’ve ever worked with.”
Father Charles Cimpl, vicar general and pastor of St. Michael
Parish, agreed. “We’ve been fortunate for ten years
to have Bishop Carlson. It’s going to be a tough month
for us, as we lose a real strong leader,” he said.
Bishop Carlson, who is 60, did say he intends to retire in eastern
South Dakota when that time comes.
But first, he will be installed as the Fifth Bishop of Saginaw
on February 24 at St. Mary Cathedral, Saginaw.
“I ask for your prayers for the next bishop of Sioux Falls
and humbly ask that you would pray for me and now, the people
of Saginaw,” the bishop said. |
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