Omaha archbishop the night before Bp. O’Donnell’s ordination: “Be a humble shepherd to all people”
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Hymns, incense and intercession filled the Cathedral of St. Joseph the evening before Bishop Ralph B. O’Donnell’s ordination and installation, as several hundred people from throughout the diocese prayed Solemn Vespers with him.
The altar where the new bishop would minister in persona Christi — in the person of Christ — at Mass the next day held a crucifix and a single flickering candle.
“As we pray for the Holy Spirit to come down upon you, may you be a shepherd and a sign of hope and help for all the people you will serve in the years ahead,” Archbishop Michael G. McGovern of Omaha, Nebraska, Bishop O’Donnell’s home archdiocese, told him in the homily for the service.
Joining them in the Cathedral were Cardinal Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States, who presided; Monsignor Robert A. Kurwicki, who was serving as diocesan administrator; and a vast assembly of bishops, priests, deacons, religious and lay faithful from all over this diocese and beyond.
Among them were Bishop O’Donnell’s mother, siblings and other members of his family.
Archbishop McGovern encouraged the bishop-elect to be a self-sacrificing shepherd and to help all people discover Christ and turn to him as their Savior.
The archbishop thought back to a five-day spiritual retreat he had taken before being ordained a bishop in 2020.
On Day 3, his retreat director asked him, “Who is the Jesus you want people to discover?”
“I offer that question this evening to Bishop-elect O’Donnell,” Archbishop McGovern said in his homily.
“Who is the Jesus you want the people of this great diocese and beyond to discover?” he asked. “I hope your answer includes the truth that Jesus Christ is the Good Shepherd who walks with us, and if we follow him in life, leads us to the Father’s house.
“This is the Jesus we can hope as priests, as bishops, that people will discover through our ministry, through our life together in community,” he stated.
The archbishop pointed out that Bishop O’Donnell in the course of his own life has experienced Jesus’s loving care as a shepherd.
“In turn, you have offered to be a shepherd for others, as Christ has called you in your ministry of deacon and for many years as a priest of Omaha,” Archbishop McGovern noted. “And now calls you to be a shepherd for the people of the Diocese of Jefferson City.”
This presents an opportunity for the new bishop to grow closer to Christ, the Good Shepherd, “and in turn to help others through your ministry, through your life, to discover Jesus the Good Shepherd in THEIR lives.”
He pointed to the documents of the Second Vatican Council, which reinforce that being “good shepherds who know their sheep and whose sheep know them” is an essential part of the life of a bishop.
“To do this effectively, bishops should order their lives in keeping with the needs of the times and so be ready for every good work, enduring all for the sake of God’s chosen ones,” the Council Fathers wrote in “Christus Dominus,” the Decree on the Pastoral Office of Bishops.
So, who specifically needs a shepherd today in the world and in this diocese? Archbishop McGovern suggested beginning with people who are poor, sick and otherwise in need.
“They do not need discussions and theories,” he proclaimed. “They need love!”
Likewise, people who are hungry cannot wait for the rest of the world to come up with a perfect answer — “they need effective solidarity TODAY, NOW.”
The same goes for people who are dying, for immigrants, for defenseless people who are still in the womb: “They need loving human presence and a caring hand.”
Those are some of the people who need help and hope, who need a shepherd in their lives today.
The archbishop noted that Bishop O’Donnell was to be ordained and installed on the Feast of St. Simon the Zealot and St. Jude Thaddeus, two of Jesus’s 12 Apostles. People throughout the world turn to St. Jude for intercession as the patron saint of people who are helpless or hopeless.
“They are people who need a good shepherd in their lives,” the archbishop said.
In that spirit, Pope Leo XVI sent Bishop O’Donnell to this diocese to be a shepherd who is eager to serve, to be an example to the flock, “trusting that the Lord Jesus who is guiding and helping you will enable you to be a strong shepherd for your people, sharing with them their burdens and their sorrows, and leading them to the font of joy in life with Jesus Christ, who offers us his love and his friendship.”
Archbishop McGovern called to mind a point the late Pope Francis made in a homily to priests during the Jubilee Year of Mercy in 2016:
“In the Eucharistic Celebration, we rediscover each day our identity as shepherds. In every Mass, may we truly make our own Christ’s words: ‘This is my Body, which is given up for you.’”
That is the meaning of the life of a priest, and accordingly that of a bishop.
The archbishop also shared something Pope Leo XIV had preached the previous day while ordaining a bishop: “The first lesson every bishop must learn is humility. Not humility in words but that which dwells in the hearts of those who know they are servants, not masters; shepherds, not the owners of the flock.”
Archbishop McGovern called upon the Blessed Mother and all the saints to watch over Bishop O’Donnell and intercede for him, “that you may truly be a humble shepherd to the people the Lord has called you to serve.”
“Always be faithful”
In the presence of Cardinal Pierre, the pope’s official delegate to this country, Bishop O’Donnell renewed his Profession of Faith and took an Oath of Fidelity to the Church and to uphold its teachings.
Standing at the altar with his hand on the Book of the Gospels, the bishop-elect spoke aloud the words of the Nicene-Chalcedonian Creed, professing the same faith that has been handed down from the Apostles, and then signed a copy of the Creed in the presence of the nuncio.
Cardinal Pierre signed the profession as a witness, with Benjamin Roodhouse JD, JCL, chancellor of the diocese, embossing it with the official diocesan seal.
The bishop-elect then spoke aloud and signed the Oath of Fidelity, which the cardinal also signed and Mr. Roodhouse sealed.
Bishop O’Donnell promised to “always be faithful to the Catholic Church and the Roman pontiff, successor of the Apostle Peter,” to respect the pope’s primacy over the Church and defend his authority and that of the legates who serve on his behalf.
He pledged to carry out with utmost diligence the apostolic duties entrusted to bishops: “to teach, sanctify and rule the People of God, in hierarchical communion with the head and members of the college of bishops.”
He promised also to help safeguard the unity of the Universal Church and make every effort to ensure that the faith handed down from the Apostles is preserved in its purity and entirety.
He pledged further to guide with gentleness everyone in error to the fullness of the truth, to be an example to the flock and lead them in pursuing Christian perfection, to promote vocations, to recognize and uphold the dignity and proper role of laypeople in the Church and to promote missionary works and the evangelization of peoples.
Cardinal Pierre then prayed a blessing over the symbols of the new bishop’s office: his crosier (bishop’s staff), miter and ring.
“Toward greater unity”
Rev. Mr. Jacob Hartman, who is preparing to be ordained a priest of the diocese, and Deacon Luke G. Mahsman, who assists the pastor of Holy Family Parish in Hannibal and St. Joseph Parish in Palmyra, assisted Cardinal Pierre.
Music for organ, harp, violin and choir helped the assembly bring the antiphonal chants to life.
Clara Underwood, a senior at Helias Catholic High School in Jefferson City, proclaimed the reading from the First Letter of St. Peter.
Rev. Mr. Hartman led the chanting of the prayers of intercession for the new bishop, the diocese and the whole Church.
Some of the prayers were in English, some in Spanish.
Near the end of the service, Msgr. Kurwicki introduced state Sen. Mike Bernskoetter and his wife Jeannette, members of Immaculate Conception Parish in Jefferson City, representing the Legislative Branch of the state government.
Father Matthew Flatley, pastor of Immaculate Conception Parish, introduced to the bishop-elect several fellow members of the Downtown Jefferson City Clergy Group: Rev. William T. Edmonson Sr., interim pastor of the Second Baptist Church, and his wife Gwendolyn; Rev. Melissa Hatfield, lead pastor of the First Baptist Church; Rev. Trevor Dancer, senior pastor of the First United Methodist Church; and Rev. Alan Bailey, pastor of Community Christian Church-Disciples of Christ, and his wife Linda.
Each greeted Cardinal Pierre, Msgr. Kurwicki and Bishop-elect O’Donnell while a harpist played Gustav Holst’s tune to “O God Beyond All Praising.”
Afterward, the people gathered for a reception in Cana Hall in the lower level of the Cathedral, where Bishop O’Donnell greeted those in attendance.
