Bishop Robert Deeley
This past Friday brought a special and joyous occasion to the Archdiocese of Boston – the ordination of a new auxiliary bishop, Bishop Robert Deeley. The Good Catholic Life provided live coverage of the ordination and hosted the show live from the Cathedral of the Holy Cross. Below is the full audio of the ordination, as well as links to more information about Bishop Deeley and a full video stream provided by our friends at CatholicTV.
We all thank God for the blessing of Bishop Deeley to our Archdiocese!
Listen to the Ordination:
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Watch the Ordination via CatholicTV:
More information on Bishop Deeley:
Bishop Deeley’s Remarks at the Ordination
Forty years ago, on the day I was ordained to the priesthood, July 14, 1973, it was a very hot day, about 95Ëš. At the end of the ceremony, done in my home parish, Sacred Heart in Watertown, and, of course, without air conditioning, Cardinal Medeiros, our kindly and saintly Archbishop at the time, told me that he had never done a ceremony in such heat. I guess I get the extremes! We go from one ordination on a hot July day to a wintry blast of air on a cold January day.
My heart is full today. There is so much to take in. I have tried as I was told to listen and to participate in the ceremony. And now, in these brief words, I want to offer a word of thanks.
I offer thanks to Almighty God, who has blessed me in life with abundant gifts and called me, by faith, to baptism, and to the sacred priesthood, an honor and grace I have treasured for these forty years. Today I am grateful for this call to the episcopate, to the fullness of the sacrament of priesthood, and to greater service to God’s people.
I am grateful that I have been able to live out my priesthood within the Church, our Mother and Guide in teaching and a way of life. I thank you, Archbishop Vigano, for your presence here today. You represent for us our holy and dedicated servant, Pope Benedict XVI, the principal of unity who gathers us in the Lord as Church, and shepherds us with a heart which proclaims the love of Jesus Christ with great joy.
I thank as well all the bishops who have come to share this day with us. Cardinal William Levada, I am honored you have come to be with us. You and all the bishops represent something valuable which we know well. The communion of the Church begins with the communion of the bishops in support of one another in fidelity to the Holy Father. I thank you all for your presence. Archbishop John Nienstedt and Bishop Robert Evans have been my co-consecrators with Cardinal Seán. We journeyed to priesthood together in seminary and have celebrated with our other classmates the beginning of this 40th year anniversary. I might single out one other, Bishop Charles Scicluna, Auxiliary of Malta. He is the newest ordained, November 24, 2012, and has come the farthest. Thank you all for your presence.
It is in this great Archdiocese of Boston that I have been privileged to serve as a priest. I thank you, Cardinal Seán, certainly for ordaining me today, and for the meaningful words of your homily, but also for the leadership you give us, as we move forward in the beautiful work of evangelization. I am grateful for the priests of Boston who join us today, and to all our priests who daily bring the person of Jesus to the people they serve. I am grateful for the presence of all the other priests, my classmates and friends from different places and different ministries. It is a great ministry we are privileged to share. Please God, there will be young men among us who will come and join us in this joyful work of the Lord.
Our readings today were proclaimed by two religious women, Sr. Zita Fleming, one of my teachers “a few years agoâ€. She is of the Sisters of Saint Joseph, whose sisters and schools educated me for life, and Sr. Ella Christian of the Grey Nuns of Montreal, where I was chaplain for 11 wonderful years. Thank you for what you have done for me, for your participation, and the participation of all the religious here today. Your witness of life is a constant reminder to us of our common call to holiness.
Throughout my life my family has been, for me, a tremendous gift and a valued source of companionship. With my beloved parents, who are present with us in spirit, my brothers and I were blessed with a faith-filled home. Though Fr. Kevin and I rejoice in the gift we share as brother priests, our family has expanded with the marriages of my other brothers, and the birth of my niece and nephews, and now a whole new generation of grand nieces and nephews. I am grateful as well today for the extended family which joins us today, cousins from Ireland, California, and many places in between. It would be hard to imagine my life without my family. It continues to be a source of great mutual blessing for all of us. Thank you for your support and your presence.
Thank you to all today who are here, my friends and co-workers, parishioners from the places where I have ministered, and people with whom I have served on committees, boards and organizations, too numerous to mention. Thank you to all who have organized these events, and guided me through this beautiful ceremony. Fr. Jonathan Gaspar has chaired the Committee which did all the work, and Fr. Kevin O’Leary and the Staff of the Cathedral have arranged a beautiful Church for us to celebrate in. Leo Abbot has gathered a beautiful choir to lead us in song. I am grateful to all for the tremendous work that was involved in doing all this in a short time. Thank you!
A few days ago I found on my desk a package of letters from some school children at one of our schools, South Boston Catholic Academy. They were sent to wish me a Merry Christmas and congratulate me on my new job. A number of those letters contained a similar message to that of Maxwell who wrote, “We are praying for you. Please pray for us.†I think that sums it up. That is what we are called to do for one another as Church. Pray for each other. Another unsigned note stated “Working for Jesus must be a plesherâ€. Well, truth to tell, it is. What you and I must do, in addition to praying for each other is share that pleasure, which we see as the joy we find in Jesus Christ. Pray, then for me, as I do for you, that we might be counted among those “living the truth in loveâ€, helping others, through our lives to come to know Jesus, whose coming among us as a sign of God’s love we celebrate in these days of Christmas.
God bless you all. And thank you.
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