'Successors to the Apostles'

Bishops Walsh and Sullivan ordained in joyous cathedral rite

By CLAUDIA McDONNELL

In a ceremony marked by ancient ritual and contemporary prayers, with greetings offered in three languages, two priests of the archdiocese who are known for their work among the poor and immigrants were ordained bishops at St. Patrick's Cathedral.

Auxiliary Bishop Gerald T. Walsh and Auxiliary Bishop Dennis J. Sullivan received standing ovations before and after the the rite of ordination, and rolling waves of applause when they entered the cathedral and when they walked down its aisles for the first time as bishops, each holding a crosier in one hand and raising the other hand in blessing.

Cardinal Egan ordained them and was the celebrant and homilist at a Mass Sept. 21, before a congregation of about 2,200 including family, friends and parishioners of the new bishops. Bishop Walsh has been the pastor of St. Elizabeth's parish in Washington Heights for six years, served for two years as secretary to Cardinal O'Connor and was director of Catholic Charities' Department of Family and Children's Services.

Bishop Sullivan has been pastor of SS. John and Paul parish in Larchmont for a year and previously was pastor of St. Teresa's parish on Manhattan's Lower East Side for 21 years.

A spirit of joy and anticipation filled the cathedral as the cardinal welcomed the congregation on "this very happy day when the Lord gives us two new successors to the Apostles.

Each of the new bishops spoke to the people just before the Mass concluded. Bishop Walsh thanked God for his vocation to the priesthood; Pope John Paul II for the opportunity to serve as a bishop; and Cardinal Egan for his "kindness and support.

Bishop Sullivan expressed his "fidelity and gratitude to the pope, promised full cooperation with Cardinal Egan's ministry, and told his fellow bishops, "I am humbly among you as one of you.

He called the priests of the archdiocese "an exemplary presbyterate, and said, "There could be no prouder identity for me than: 'I am a priest of the Archdiocese of New York.'

Underscoring the varied cultures that make up the archdiocese and their own linguistic fluency, both bishops spoke in English and Spanish. Bishop Sullivan, whose parishioners at St. Teresa's included Asian immigrants, also offered a greeting in Chinese.

The cardinal, in his homily before the rite of ordination, noted that the Church's liturgical directives call for bishops to be ordained on a Sunday or a feast day, preferably that of an Apostle. The day of ordination, Sept. 21, is the feast of St. Matthew the Apostle, and the cardinal said that a more fitting day could not have been chosen, particularly because of the way that St. Matthew was called. According to the Gospel, Christ was walking beside the Sea of Galilee when he saw Matthew - a Jewish tax collector known as Levi - and said to him, "Follow me.

Tax collectors were shunned by the Jews, the cardinal explained, because they collected money from their own people for the despised Romans and because they were considered to be ritually impure, so the people were shocked when Matthew was called, but he rose and followed Christ.

"It was all very uncomplicated, immediate, free of drama, the cardinal said, and he compared Matthew's response to that of Bishops Walsh and Sullivan. They also heard the call of Christ, answered it and remained faithful to it throughout years of service as priests, he said. Now they have heard a call "from the Lord and Pope John Paul II to serve as bishops and to carry out the mission of the Apostles, "repeating all that has been revealed, completely, accurately.

Cardinal Egan described a painting, "The Calling of St. Matthew by the Italian master Caravaggio, that hangs in the Church of St. Louis of France in Rome. It depicts Christ and St. Peter beckoning to Matthew - indicating that "our bishops are called by Jesus Christ through Peter, the cardinal said.

Like St. Matthew, Bishops Walsh and Sullivan responded to Christ and "left all things, the cardinal said. They chose to forgo secular careers and families of their own to "embrace a wider family, the Mystical Body of Jesus Christ. He said that he was asking the new bishops also to leave behind any concerns about their worthiness, hesitation about saying yes, or fears they might have.

"The Lord beckoned to you, and you answered, and you and the Lord will do the work together, he said. He instructed them to "announce the Gospel, show the way and trust in the Lord to do the rest.

Following the homily, Bishops Walsh and Sullivan were presented to Cardinal Egan for ordination, and Msgr. Thomas E. Gilleece, chancellor, read the letters from Pope John Paul II calling them to the office of bishop and authorizing their ordination. The cardinal instructed them on their duties and received their promises of fidelity. The two then lay prostrate in the sanctuary as the choir and congregation prayed the Litany of the Saints.

A key element in the ritual followed: the laying on of hands, in which the cardinal placed his hands on the head of each new bishop; the concelebrating bishops also did so. Then, as an open Book of the Gospels was held over the head of each, the cardinal recited the prayer which, together with the laying on of hands, confers ordination.

The cardinal anointed the new bishops' heads and presented each with the Book of the Gospels. Next, he placed a ring on each one's finger, placed a miter on his head and gave him his crosier - symbols of the office of bishop. He then led each to a chair placed in the sanctuary as the congregation rose and applauded.

Among some 300 concelebrants were Cardinal Avery Dulles, S.J., theologian and faculty member at Fordham University and St. Joseph's Seminary in Dunwoodie; Archbishop Henry Mansell of Hartford, Conn., and Bishop Timothy A. McDonnell of Springfield, Mass., both former New York priests; and retired Archbishop Daniel A. Cronin of Hartford.

The co-consecrators with Cardinal Egan were Auxiliary Bishop Robert A. Brucato, vicar general, and Auxiliary Bishop Patrick J. Sheridan, retired as vicar general.

Bishop Walsh, in his remarks near the end of the Mass, said that the feast day was a good choice for the ordination. According to Scripture scholars, he continued, St. Matthew often tried to bridge the Old and New Testaments "to show the unity of God's people, from wherever they come and wherever they are.

"That, I believe, is especially the work of a bishop: to be a source of unity for the Lord among his people, Bishop Walsh said. The episcopal motto that he chose is: "May they all be one.

Bishop Sullivan, in his remarks, offered a different reason why the feast day was a fitting choice. Cardinal Egan, in his homily, had said that in the Caravaggio painting St. Matthew's expression seemed to ask, "Why me?

"What was probably said about the tax collector chosen by Jesus can surely be said about me: 'Why him?' Bishop Sullivan said, and the congregation laughed. He thanked the pope and the cardinal, then offered a loving greeting to his family and drew more laughter when he speculated on what his late mother, Hanorah, would have said about his appointment.

"My mother was a very feisty Irishwoman, he declared. "If she were here today, she'd have a lot to say to me...She'd be God-blessing me and telling me to watch myself with all those big shots, he said.

He thanked his current parishioners at SS. John and Paul parish in Larchmont and his former parishioners at St. Teresa's parish in Manhattan, moving fluidly from English to Spanish and back again.

"How could I not think of my years on the Lower East Side, America's greatest neighborhood, he said. "I was blessed by so many who taught me how to love the poor, and how to preach the social gospel of the Church. He remarked that the Lower East Side is both the "oldest and youngest region of the archdiocese.

"It has parishes where saints prayed and streets where saints walked, and it still welcomes New York's most recent immigrants from Asia, he said, and he greeted them in Chinese.

He expressed his admiration for his fellow priests, and drew applause when he paid tribute to two deceased seminary classmates with whom he was ordained, Father Patrick M. Carroll and Father Patrick D. Hennessy.

Like Bishop Walsh, Bishop Sullivan referred to his episcopal motto: "In the breaking of the bread.

"As an auxiliary bishop, he said, "may I minister this breaking of the bread to show the risen Lord, as did Matthew the Apostle. May I, too, preach the good news of our Lord Jesus Christ.

As the Mass ended, the choir sang "Now thank we all our God, and the congregation streamed through the cathedral's massive main doors into the September sunshine.

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