The night before Bishop-elect Kevin Kenney’s Oct. 28 episcopal ordination, the parish where he is pastor, St. Olaf in Minneapolis, hosted solemn vespers. Bishop Michael Izen presided and Archbishop Bernard Hebda, Cardinal Christoph Pierre –– the apostolic nuncio to the United States — and other members of the clergy attended, along with his family, friends and other supporters.
The music was performed by the Choir of St. Olaf, with Marie Rooney and Philip Eschweiler as cantors. Father Eddie DeLeon, who now leads the Claretian Missionaries in the United States and Canada, gave the homily in Spanish and English.
Father DeLeon said what people hope for shapes what they live for.
“It is our leadership and the people of God that together are responsible for the building up of God’s reign as baptized women and men,” Father DeLeon said. “God reminds us time and time again that we are not alone. We will be given the grace necessary for all that God has given us. … Our bishop-elect, like Paul and so many others, are called at a time when their gifts are most needed. It is a promise fulfilled by God that change is possible beginning with the human heart and beginning tonight with your heart, and our heart.”
Following Father DeLeon’s homily, Bishop-elect Kenney stood at the altar and gave an oath of fidelity. He promised to carry out the apostolic duties entrusted to bishops, namely to “teach, sanctify and rule the people of God in hierarchical communion with the head and members of the college of bishops.”
“I will watch over the unity of the universal Church,” Bishop-elect Kenney recited, “and thus will make every effort to ensure that the deposit of faith handed down from the Apostles is preserved pure and entire, and that the truths to be held and put into practice will be passed on and clearly explained to all as they are proposed by the Church’s magisterium.”
Bishop-elect Kenney’s promises extended to diligence in preventing possible abuses “especially with regard to administering the word and the celebration of the sacraments.” Additionally, Bishop-elect Kenney promised to show paternal affection to those who “err in faith” and guide them to the fullness of Catholic truth. He said he would conduct himself consciously and reverently to become an example to the flock and “confirm the faithful in pursuit of Christian perfection.”
Toward the end of vespers, Bishop-elect Kenney joked, “I feel like I can breathe” before thanking the many people in attendance. He thought it was providential that Pope Francis released his new encyclical on the Sacred Heart of Jesus, “Dilexit Nos,” on Oct. 24, the feast of St. Anthony Mary Claret, founder of the Claretians, where the bishop-elect spent time in ministry before becoming a priest. Bishop-elect Kenney suggested that the world has lost the beating of the heart.
“But we know that (it is) beating when we see in our brothers and sisters the hurt, the pain, the sorrow, the loneliness, the joy, the blessings,” Bishop-elect Kenney said. “Family has always been important. My grandparents were very, very good examples of faith. … Let me tell you, when my dad found the Holy Spirit, our whole lives changed.”
In a story about his birth in the hospital, Bishop-elect Kenney said his mother’s former typing teacher, a religious sister, was working that day. When the teacher found out her former student had a son, she ran into the nursery, picked up Bishop-elect Kenney and brought him to his mother.
She said, “Dorothy, your son has love written all over his face.”
“But she was kicked out of the nursery to the front desk and could never go back up to that floor again,” Bishop-elect Kenney said to laughter in the pews. “But sometimes we have to take risks to find love in others. We take that risk knowing that we could be excluded, we could be ostracized, but to love is to love. … That is why so many of you are here. Because we know the love of the Eucharist. We know the love of Jesus Christ. We know the love of the Church.”
