Well, here goes!
Consider this blog to new an introduction, a prologue, if you will, to what lies ahead and the coming weeks.
It was November, 2018 when I decided to give this blog thing a try. I have a history of writings - articles, columns, stuff like that. And while there have been those voices prompting me to do a book, that has not yet happened and, given that they days grow more and more limited, that book will likely never happen. Matter of fact, somewhere along the line I suggested to my siblings that they should keep a handle on these writings and someday, when all is said and done, they could gather things together, find an interested publisher and reap the royalties for themselves to enjoy.
I may from time to time be inspired to pen a few words, a column, article or blog, but that book tings just seems not to be in me.
However, for those who have followed this blog for any length of time, every now and then some dots can be connected and articles can be grouped together to address some common themes.
And with this blog I am embarking on a rather deliberate grouping together of a series of reflections, writings that I am not just joining together but even giving a title, a canopy, so to speak, to bind them all together, I am calling the coming collection of writings The Book Of Bishops.
Maybe starting this on Pentecost Sunday is what is inspiring this project.
Maybe the fact that, earlier today, after the Pentecost Mass presided over by a real, live bishop, I was bold enough to remark to him that, "Pentecost reminds us that we are all entitled to red; it's not the exclusive domain of you guys!"
Maybeit's realizing that the current bishop of Detroit will be submitting his letter of retirement soon and we will be waiting for word of a new bishop for the Church of Detroit. Maybe that is part of the inspiration behind what is unfolding in this blog.
Maybe it is just a bit of nostalgic reflection that comes with reaching a certain age and stage in life. Time to look back and remember and share some stories, maybe it is that time for me.
Whatever it may be, and it likely may be any number of things, I am going to do some looking back and telling stories. Some, you readers may already have heard and will find yourself familiar with. Some may provide a surprise or two.
Whatever the result . . . here goes!
The Book if Bishops!
I have decided to do some looking back and narrating experiences I have had over my fifty-nine years as a priest (and a couple more before that) uniquely with the various bishops of Detroit.
Counting the time before those fifty-nine years began, I have experienced five bishops of Detroit (Archbishops actually.) True, when counting auxiliary or assistant bishops, there have been many more but I intend to limit these reflections to the five who were in charge, so to speak, Archbishops.
And as I reflect back, the very fact that I have stories to tell about personal interactions with such as these is its own surprise.
See, when I was ordained, my plan was to minister in the shadows. That would be a way of describing it. As I looked ahead to whatever years I might be given, my assumption was that I would quietly minister, serving as an assistant for maybe twenty, twenty-five years always with someone else in charge. Then, with a sufficient amount of seniority, I would be given a parish, probably a rather minor parish in the outskirts of the Archdiocese where I would quietly spend the remainder of my years.
That was my plan. That was how I saw my life's journey.
Suffice it to say that Someone else had other plans.
Where I assumed that, if my name came up at any time in those hallowed offices Downtown, the bishop would likely say, "Who?"
As it so often turned out in reality, when my name did come up in those hallowed offices, more often than not the bishop might just respond with something like, "Ohm, him again!"
And so begins The Book of Bishops.
Watch for more in the weeks to come.
