‘I love being a pastor,’ says priest who will replace Braxton as bishop of Belleville
The Rev. Michael G. McGovern, a pastor with the Archdiocese of Chicago, has released written and video statements about his upcoming replacement of retiring Bishop Edward K. Braxton in the Catholic Diocese of Belleville.
The Belleville diocese announced the transition in a news release emailed early Friday morning.
In his statements, McGovern, 55, expressed regret that the coronavirus pandemic isn’t allowing him to travel to Southern Illinois to meet pastors, parishioners and others in the diocese, nor can the Catholic church give details on an installation.
McGovern will celebrate his 26th anniversary as a priest in May.
“I love being a pastor most of all,” he stated. “Being a pastor has been the most rewarding and challenging ministry of my priesthood. It has been a great privilege meeting and praying with so many faith-filled people, who have inspired me with their deep commitment to Jesus Christ.”
McGovern’s full statement:
“I am honored and humbled that today our Holy Father Pope Francis has appointed me the ninth Bishop of the Diocese of Belleville. I thank the Holy Father for the confidence he has placed in me and want to express my abiding respect and full support of him, who as the successor of Peter preserves the unity of love in the Church.
“Since receiving news of this appointment a week ago, I have been praying each day for Bishop Edward Braxton and I thank him for his fifteen years of dedicated service to the Diocese of Belleville. I have been praying as well each day for the clergy, religious and lay faithful of the diocese. You are very much in prayer as I offer daily Mass.
“Last May, when I celebrated my 25th anniversary as a priest with family, friends and classmates, I was filled with gratitude for God’s blessings in my life as a priest. Little did I know that as I experienced the renewal of the Lord’s call as a priest a year ago, that it was a grace-filled prelude to God’s call to serve his people now as a bishop, shepherding the Catholic clergy and faithful of southern Illinois.
“As the news of this appointment is shared, some of you may be asking: what is our new bishop like? Who are you? I would answer and describe myself as a pastor, a shepherd. Within my 26 years as a priest, I have been the pastor of two parishes communities in Lake County: St. Mary in Lake Forest and now St. Raphael the Archangel in Old Mill Creek, a rural community close to the Wisconsin border.
“While I have served in archdiocesan ministries, I love being a pastor most of all; being a pastor has been the most rewarding and challenging ministry of my priesthood. It has been a great privilege meeting and praying with so many faith-filled people, who have inspired me with their deep commitment to Jesus Christ. Now I look forward to meeting the many faith-filled people of the 28 counties in southern Illinois; hearing your stories of how you have encountered Jesus in your lives and how much the Lord has done for you. May I ask for your prayers as I begin this new way of serving in Christ’s name as the shepherd of your diocese.
“Permit me to offer a word to the priests who serve in the Belleville Diocese. First and foremost, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for saying yes to our Lord Jesus’ call to follow him and serve his people as priests. Today I pledge to you my constant support as I strive to be a father and a brother to you. I have always appreciated that whenever I requested that my archbishop speak with me, that I have received his time, attention and counsel. I am especially grateful to my present Archbishop Cardinal Cupich for his support these past six years. Please know, my brother priests, that I am here for you and look forward to knowing you all better as we set out into a future filled with hope in the years ahead.
“I share your disappointment that due to the coronavirus we cannot be in person together today, for I would very much enjoy meeting the clergy, religious women and men, seminarians and the faithful. It is also a bit unsettling that we cannot yet set a date for my ordination and installation because no one really knows precisely when it will be safe for us to gather together for the ordination and installation liturgy. I appreciate your patience and pledge that we will make arrangements as soon as possible. In the meantime, I will be connecting with many priests and people via the phone and the internet. I thank Bishop Edward Braxton for his warm welcome as his successor and for the conversations we have had leading up to today’s announcement. I look forward to more opportunities for me to engage soon with the various leaders of the Diocese.
“This Sunday is Palm Sunday. We will walk again this year with Jesus Christ through Holy Week and enter into the mysteries of his passion, death and resurrection. My friends, let us walk together in spirit, even if our precautions about the coronavirus inhibit us from participating in the sacred liturgies in person.
“On Good Friday as our Lord was dying on the cross, Jesus invited the Apostle John to receive the Virgin Mary as his mother; and so from that hour John received Mary into his home. As we begin this Holy Week, a week when the mysteries of our Catholic faith will be celebrated with our families in the domestic church, may we too receive the Blessed Mother into our homes. May Mary, Mother of the Church, keep us close to her Son.
“Please know that you are all in my heart this Holy Week and in the years ahead. God bless you all.”
This story was originally published April 3, 2020 at 11:23 AM.
