March 10, 2006

'I'm a blessed man'—Bishop Choby installed; takes seat as diocese’s new shepherd

Andy Telli and Theresa Laurence, Tennessee Register

NASHVILLE. In his first greeting to the people of the Diocese of Nashville, Bishop David R. Choby quoted a line in the novel Diary of a Country Priest.

In the novel, as a priest lies dying of cancer, he tells his friend, “Everything is grace.”

“The statement “everything is grace” has been revealed to me in your love for me,” Bishop Choby said at the end the Mass for his episcopal ordination and installation as the 11^th Bishop of Nashville on Monday, Feb. 27.

“I am a blessed man. I am a fortunate bishop to have such a wonderful people to shepherd,” said Bishop Choby, 59, a native of Nashville and only the second priest of the diocese appointed as its bishop in the diocese’s 169-year history.

More than 900 people filled the Cathedral of the Incarnation in Nashville for the Mass and another nearly 400 watched the Mass on closed circuit television in the Cathedral’s Fleming Center. The Mass also was shown on the NewsChannel5 + cable television channel.

It was the first time a priest had been ordained a bishop at the Cathedral since it was dedicated 92 years ago.

Archbishop Thomas Kelly of Louisville was the principal consecrator and the ninth and 10^th bishops of Nashville, Bishop James Niedergeses and Bishop Edward Kmiec of Buffalo, respectively, were the co-consecrators.

“There is great history here and more importantly there is the love of great shepherds” in the Diocese of Nashville, Archbishop Kelly said during his homily.

The gospels and the rite of ordination “give us a glimpse of the Church as Christ wants it to be,” a concrete symbol of God’s love in the world, Archbishop Kelly said.

“The crucial test of a shepherd’s discipleship is selfless love … an attitude of living for one another,” he said.

Archbishop Kelly noted that in the gospel read at the Mass, “Christ commands, love one another.”

“How strong this describes the reality of our church … the sentiments of Bishop Choby,” Archbishop Kelly said. “It will be his task ... to unite his people all in one in the great love of Jesus Christ.”

Archbishop Kelly urged Bishop Choby to reach out to the poor and marginalized “and gather them into the fold.”

“I commend to you to keep watch over the whole flock to which the Holy Spirit now appoints you,” he said.

In the Rite of Ordination, Archbishop Kelly, as the principal consecrator asked Bishop Choby several questions, including:

• “Do you resolve to preach the Gospel of Christ with constancy and fidelity?”

• “Do you resolve to guard the deposit of faith, entire and incorrupt, as handed down by the Apostles and preserved in the Church everywhere and at all times?”
• “Do you resolve to build up the body of Christ, his Church, and to remain in the unity of that body together with the Order of Bishops under the authority of the successor of St. Peter the Apostle?”

• “Do you resolve to render obedience faithfully to the successor of the blessed Apostle Peter?”

• “Do you resolve to guide the holy people of God in the way of salvation as a devoted father and sustain them with the help of your fellow ministers, the priests and deacons?”

• “Do you resolve, for the sake of the Lord’s name, to be welcoming and merciful to the poor, to strangers, and to all who are in need?”

• “Do you resolve as a good shepherd to seek out the sheep who stray and gather them into the Lord’s fold?”

• “Do you resolve to pray without ceasing to almighty God for the holy people and to carry out the office of high priest without reproach?”

To each question, Bishop Choby answered, “I do.”

These questions, Archbishop Kelly said, “contain all we need to know about the task of the bishop. … It is not an easy task, but it is a glorious one.”

Speaking on behalf of the 35 other archbishops and bishops concelebrating the ordination and installation Mass, Archbishop Kelly told Bishop Choby, “We will receive you into our ranks and we will welcome you gratefully and heartily for the harvest is great and the laborers are few. We need you to be with us, to preach the gospel and to search out the poor and to serve them well in the local church.”

Bishop Choby was appointed to lead the Diocese of Nashville on Dec. 20, 2005, by Pope Benedict XVI. He served as diocesan administrator since November 2004 after his predecessor, Bishop Kmiec, was installed as the Bishop of Buffalo.

Archbishop Pietro Sambi, the new apostolic nuncio to the United States, was on hand to read the appointment letter during the Mass. Archbishop Sambi arrived in the United States to assume his new position on Friday, Feb. 24, and attended Bishop Choby’s installation three days later.

He told the packed Cathedral that he was happy to be in Nashville as “one of your own native sons will be ordained in the fullness of the priesthood.”

Addressing Bishop Choby, Archbishop Sambi spoke of the last page of the Gospel of St. John in which Christ asks Peter three times if he loves him and tells him to tend his sheep.

“Take care of your lambs,” Archbishop Sambi said to Bishop Choby, “they belong to the Lord.”

At the end of the Rite of Ordination, as Archbishop Kelly escorted the new bishop to the cathedra, Archbishop Kelly asked the crowd, “He looks good there doesn’t he?” The congregation responded with warm applause.

In his greeting at the end of the Mass, Bishop Choby thanked all the bishops and the more than 150 priests who participated in the Mass.

He thanked the two men who preceded him as Bishop of Nashville.

“Through the years, Bishop Niedergeses has been a wonderful example to me of faithfulness and generous service to the priests and the people of this diocese,” Bishop Choby said.

“Bishop Kmiec, thank you for your years of service,” he added. “You leave us a great legacy especially in your efforts to promote Catholic schools and education and I will certainly … devote myself to building upon that legacy.”

He also thanked all those who had worked to prepare the ordination and his family and friends.

“As I take up this new responsibility in my life, your love and support is going to be the breath I breathe in my job as your bishop,” Bishop Choby said.

Reading in Spanish, Bishop Choby addressed the diocese’s Hispanic community, thanking them for the gifts of their culture and traditions that they bring to the diocese and urging them to remain rooted in those traditions.

Yuri Cunza, president of the Nashville Area Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and a member of St. Edward Parish, said he was very appreciative of the brief message delivered in Spanish by Bishop Choby.

By extending a welcome to the Hispanic population of Middle Tennessee, estimated at around 100,000, “Bishop Choby defied the political correctness of the times. He didn’t have to say that. It was courageous,” Cunza said.

In his job, Cunza said, he is often caught between following the law and responding to the needs of people who may be here illegally, but “who are just trying to provide for their families.”

Bishop Choby’s message of compassion toward these Hispanics who are often marginalized “was a nice touch,” Cunza said.

Due to the limited space at the Cathedral, very few Hispanics were present at the ordination Mass, but Cunza said he would help spread Bishop Choby’s message of solidarity.

“When you are far away from home, it is easy to feel disconnected and detached. The church is one of the few things you can grab hold of,” Cunza said. “Having the church back you up is inspiring.”

Bishop Choby’s comments in Spanish were not the only nod to the growing diversity of the people of the diocese. Among the gift bearers were: two sisters of the Sacred Heart Congregation from Mexico, Sister Maria Clara Mota, S.H., the mother superior of the order who came to Nashville for the ordination, and Sister Maria Hilaria Montisci, S.H., who works at the Sacred Heart Hispanic Ministry Center in Donelson with three other sisters from the order; two natives of Nigeria, Damian Ononuju and Felicia Udoji; two women from the Catholic Vietnamese community, Thi Kim and Hong Nguyen; and two members of the Diocesan Youth Council, David Oldham, a senior at Father Ryan High School and a parishioner at St. Edward Church, and Chelsea Barker, a senior at Brentwood High School and a parishioner at Holy Family Church. They were joined by Bishop Choby’s only sibling, Diane Dyche, her daughter, Mamie Thornbrue, and her granddaughter Jordan Thornbrue, 7.

“It’s been a very rich and fruitful and satisfying day,” Bishop Choby said at the reception at Loews Vanderbilt Plaza Hotel after the ordination Mass.

The day started with Mass at 6 a.m. at the Motherhouse of the Dominican sisters of the St. Cecilia Congregation in Nashville. After meeting Archbishop Sambi at the airport, Bishop Choby joined the bishops and priests attending his ordination for a luncheon at the Vanderbilt University Club.

After the luncheon, Bishop Choby arrived at the Cathedral to prepare for the Mass.

“It was actually fairly calm in the rectory at the Cathedral,” Bishop Choby said. “The ordination itself was very lovely and very moving.”

Bishop Choby assumes leadership of a diocese that covers 38 counties in Middle Tennessee. There are about 75,000 registered Catholics amidst a total population of more than 2 million.

Bishop Choby was born in Nashville and baptized in the same Cathedral where he was ordained a bishop. He attended Catholic schools growing up, graduating from Father Ryan High School in 1965.

After spending one year at Aquinas College in Nashville, he entered the seminary at St. Ambrose College in Davenport, Iowa. He also studied at Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., before being ordained as a priest on Sept. 6, 1974, at St. Henry Church in Nashville.

He was assigned to several Nashville area parishes before attending the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas, known as the Angelicum, in Rome to study canon law. He later taught canon law at the Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus, Ohio, for five years.

Since 1989, he served as pastor of St. John Vianney Church in Gallatin.

Among the bishops on hand to help ordain Bishop Choby were two classmates of his at the Angelicum, Bishop Jerome Listecki of LaCrosse, Wisc., and Bishop Robert Vasa of Baker, Ore.

Bishop Vasa, who has been Bishop of Baker for six years, said he was excited about his friend’s appointment as the Bishop of Nashville, but not surprised. “I was hoping,” he said. “I had anticipated … actually that he would be a good, good choice.”

The new bishop has already conferred with his friend for his opinions on various issues and asked for his advice, Bishop Vasa said. “He is excellent about doing that,” he said of Bishop Choby. “He has a tremendous capacity to seek out people he trusts and respects and bounce ideas off them … both inside and outside the diocese. It’s a tribute to his friends.”

Bishop Listecki said the fact that Bishop Choby grew up and was ordained in the diocese he is now leading has many advantages.

“He’s had almost a year and four months as administrator, so he’s already involved in understanding the uniqueness of the situation here,” Bishop Listecki said of his friend and new brother bishop. “And being a native son he already has a love (of the diocese). The two together is really a winning combination.”

Homepage photo by Theresa Laurence, Tennessee Register: Bishop James D. Niedergeses, the ninth bishop of Nashville, lays his hands on Bishop David R. Choby during the ordination ceremony Feb. 27 at which he was installed as the 11th bishop of the Diocese of Nashville. Bishops Niedergeses and Choby are the only two bishops in the diocese’s 169-year history who were raised in the diocese and also named bishop of it.

Top photo by Theresa Laurence: Archbishop Thomas Kelly of Louisville, the principal ordaining bishop, gives Bishop David R. Choby the crosier, a symbol of the office of bishop, during Bishop Choby’s ordination ceremony at Cathedral of the Incarnation in Nashville, Tenn. on Feb. 27.

Second photo by Theresa Laurence: Bishop David Choby receives the offertory gifts from members of his family and representatives of various cultural communities within the Diocese of Nashville during his ordination Mass at Cathedral of the Incarnation Feb. 27. One of Bishop Choby’s priorities is to better meet the needs of the increasingly diverse Catholic population in Middle Tennessee. Nearly half of the diocese’s 51 parishes offer a weekly Spanish Mass, and other parishes offer Mass in Vietnamese, Korean and Creole, the common language of the Haitian people.