Episcopal ordination draws people from throughout archdiocese

Archbishop Daniel M. Buechlein prays over Bishop-designate Christopher J. Coyne as transitional Deacon Dustin Boehm of Greenwood, left, and Deacon Joseph Holderried of St. Margaret Mary Parish in Westwood, Mass., hold a Book of Gospels over the new auxiliary bishop’s head on March 2 at St. John the Evangelist Church in Indianapolis. This part of the ordination is a sign that the faithful preaching of the word of God is the pre-eminent obligation of the office of the bishop. (Photo by Mary Ann Wyand)

Criterion staff report

Jeanette Kannapel has seen her share of bishops’ ordinations and installations.

The longtime member of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish in New Albany attended the ordination and installation of Bishop Paul D. Etienne of Cheyenne, Wyo., in 2009 and Bishop Gerald A. Gettelfinger of Evansville in 1989.

She also attended Bishop William E. Lori’s installation as the bishop of Bridegport, Conn., in 2001.

Bishop Etienne is a former pastor of Our  Lady of Perpetual Help Parish in New Albany, and Bishop Lori is a native of New Albany. Bishop Gettelfinger was the vicar general of the Archdiocese of Indianapolis before being appointed to lead the Evansville Diocese.

Kannapel can now add the ordination of Bishop Christopher J. Coyne to her list.

“We just came up as representatives from our parish. It was a beautiful, beautiful ceremony,” she said of Bishop Coyne’s ordination Mass on March 2 at St. John the Evangelist Church in Indianapolis. “I think we’re going to have a good auxiliary bishop who has good ideas and a lot of energy.” (Related: More news and photos from the ordination of Bishop Coyne)

Sandy Bierly is also no stranger to episcopal ordinations and installations.

“It’s just such a beautiful ceremony,” said Bierly, a member of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish in New Albany, who also attended the ordination of Bishop Etienne and Bishop Lori’s installation.

Witnessing the ordination of a bishop, they said, is inspiring.

“We have a greater appreciation, I think, for the office and just priesthood in general,” Kannapel said.

“It shows the beauty of our Catholic faith,” Bierly added.

The women weren’t the only members of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish in attendance. And they weren’t the only ones to attend Bishop Etienne’s episcopal ordination in Wyoming.

Jeff Powell, who is in his third year in the archdiocese’s deacon formation program, can make that claim as well.

Powell called the March 2 liturgy “amazing,” and said it was similar in many ways to what he experienced in Wyoming.

“I was just saying that I had lived 53 years and didn’t see any and now, in less than two years, I’ve been to two episcopal ordinations,” he said. “And I may never see another one. Who knows?”

Powell said he liked hearing Bishop Coyne discuss the new evangelization and outreach. He also liked the fact that the new bishop, like Father Eric Augenstein, his pastor at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish, is using the Internet to evangelize, and taking a hands-on approach to blogging and podcasting.

“I think that’s something that the Church is still catching up to,” he said. “The communication in the world today has changed so much from years past.”

As one of the co-ordaining bishops for Bishop Coyne, Bishop Etienne said he didn’t have the words to express how special the experience was—especially being able to return to the archdiocese where he served for so many years.

“This place will always be home. And to be invited to be a part of this celebration as a co-ordaining bishop in a church where I was [the] pastor in a diocese where I was ordained a priest—it really has been a very meaningful experience today,” he said, “a powerful experience, and a renewing experience for my own priesthood and episcopacy.”

Father Robert Robeson, the rector of Bishop Simon Bruté College Seminary in Indianapolis, said he was hopeful that Bishop Coyne would take an active interest in the seminary.

The new bishop was scheduled to lead a day of recollection in January at the seminary, but a snowstorm in Massachusetts forced him to postpone the visit, Father Robeson said.

“I just saw him yesterday at lunch, and he said to me, ‘I owe you a visit.’ ”

Father Robeson said he hopes the new bishop can visit the seminary this spring.

“I think he has a lot to offer. Certainly, with his experiences as a pastor and working for the Archdiocese of Boston, I think it will be exciting for the guys to have a chance to get to know him.”

All the seminarians attended Bishop Coyne’s ordination, Father Robeson added.

Brian Lee, a young adult Fellowship of Catholic University Students missionary at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, said he is looking forward to having Bishop Coyne in residence at St. John the Evangelist Parish, which has become a hub for IUPUI campus ministry.

“It’s hard to put words to it besides it just being exciting, you know? It’s like what Mother Teresa said, ‘Joy is a net of love by which you can catch souls,’ ” Lee explained. “When someone [like Bishop Coyne] has that life and that joy, and when people can tell that it’s genuine and exciting, even if they don’t fully understand and comprehend everything that’s going on, they still want to be a part of it. And it makes them want to learn more.”

Hospitality was the focus of the day for St. John the Evangelist parishioners and other volunteers who assisted with a variety of preparations for Bishop Coyne’s ordination at the downtown church.

“The people of St. John’s are so hospitable all the time because we are here right at the heart of the city and are always receiving visitors,” Father Rick Nagel, the administrator of St. John the Evangelist Parish, explained before the liturgy.

“Hospitality has been the spirit of our parishioners and staff,” he said. “At the turn of the millennium, Pope John Paul II said, ‘Open wide the doors to Christ.’ The [Church’s] new evangelization has opened wide the doors to Christ—and has brought an awesome man to help lead us and shepherd us along with Archbishop [Daniel M.] Buechlein—so we’re very excited to be a part of that and to be able to welcome people in our doors.”

Father Nagel, who also serves as the archdiocesan director of young adult and college campus ministry, had lots of help with hospitality duties from IUPUI students who attend Mass at the downtown church.

Spring cleaning started early this year at the huge church, Father Nagel said. “You’ve got to do some cleaning if you’re going to welcome people into your home.”

Transitional Deacon Dustin Boehm, a member of Our Lady of the Greenwood Parish in Greenwood, will be ordained to the priesthood on June 4. He proclaimed the Gospel during the ordination Mass.

“I have prayed for God’s help for Bishop Coyne, and also in thanksgiving for him saying yes,” Deacon Boehm said after the liturgy. “… I am about to say yes to the priesthood in June. He has already been a great [role] model in my life and my vocation, and he has only been a bishop for a couple of hours.”

Seminarian Timothy Wyciskalla, a member of St. Barnabas Parish in Indianapolis and a first-year theology student at Saint Meinrad Seminary and School of Theology in St. Meinrad, was the cross bearer.

“I felt a lot of joy,” he said after the ordination Mass. “It was humbling to see the whole archdiocese come together like this, and it was really exciting for us to get a new auxiliary bishop. There was a lot of joy in my heart.”

Wyciskalla said he was especially moved by the ritual handing on of the Gospel during Bishop Coyne’s ordination.

“That was probably my favorite part of the liturgy,” he said, “to know and be reminded that as priests—and as a bishop—the very center of our lives is the Gospel, … which permeates our lives and ministry. We are called to live the word.” †