When Archbishop Bernard Hebda came to the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, he was the apostolic administrator. His job was to help the Holy Father find a good successor to Archbishop John Neinstedt, who resigned in 2015 amid the clergy sexual abuse crisis.
“I was just coming here temporarily,” Archbishop Hebda told “Practicing Catholic” co-hosts Leah Heselton and Father Tom Margevicius for an episode that debuts at 7 p.m. May 15 on Relevant Radio 1330 AM. “I would have never imagined that I would have been the one. I was slated to take over in the Archdiocese of Newark. I was the coadjutor, which kind of means you’re on deck. … Obviously, the Lord had another plan.”
Arriving in the Twin Cities, Archbishop Hebda found the archdiocese facing bankruptcy and criminal and civil charges. At that point, Archbishop Hebda realized the importance of relying on the insights and gifts of the lay faithful.
“When we were speaking with the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office or when we were dealing with mediation or negotiations in the bankruptcy, I was really blessed to have laypeople who stepped up to help us,” Archbishop Hebda said.
Part of his job as leader of the local Church, he explained, is recognizing “how the Holy Spirit has poured out phenomenal gifts on our priests and laypeople.”
“There is that sense that this is Jesus’s Church and it’s the Holy Spirit who’s going to lead us,” Archbishop Hebda said. “For us to be the Church that Jesus desires is going to require that we use all of those gifts. My job is kind of to identify them, to encourage people to (use them for) the common use and then just to get out of the way so that the Holy Spirit can do such great things. And we’ve seen that.”
Archbishop Hebda also credited the priests and deacons in the archdiocese as doing “phenomenal work.”
“They continue to inspire me,” he said. “I always have to try to remember to allow them to lead in whatever area they’re in. And I know that they’re assisted by great, lay ecclesial ministers and staff as well. It’s only when we’re all able to use the gifts that God has given to us that we’re going to be that Church that Jesus wants.”
Before becoming a priest, Archbishop Hebda was a political science major and a law school graduate. He had experience as a lawyer. This experience, Archbishop Hebda said, may have been one reason the Holy Father assigned him to the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.
“For a long time I always thought I had delayed (my path),” Archbishop Hebda said. “I had thought early on about being a priest and then ended up studying political science and going to law school. There was one point where I thought, ‘Oh, that had been a waste or a diversion on the path.’ Then in hindsight, now, and especially after 10 years here, I realized that was all part of God’s plan, that he needs bishops with different gifts. I don’t have the same gifts that other bishops have, but I do have that experience that helps me to be able to practically see how it is that we can move things forward.”
All of his life experiences, he said, created in him a way that allowed him to lead the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis over the past 10 years in a way “that I hope has been helpful.”
“(Leading the archdiocese) also has to always be done prayerfully,” Archbishop Hebda said. “There’s that discernment part that I’ve been striving to get better at over these 10 years as well and really trying to figure out what it is that Jesus wants for his Church in the archdiocese and to try to lead in the same way that that he did.”
To hear more from Archbishop Hebda about his 10 years as archbishop of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, listen to this episode of “Practicing Catholic,” which repeats at 1 p.m. May 16 and 2 p.m. May 17. The episode is produced by Relevant Radio and the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.
Listen to interviews after they have aired at practicingcatholicshow.com or choose a streaming platform at Spotify for Podcasters.
