We had a couple of meetings this morning and afternoon. We being the diocesan consultors and the diocesan priests’ council. As you may or may not know, we recently heard that our bishop was named the new bishop of Madison, Wisconsin. That means that we will be awaiting word from Rome about a new bishop.
We heard today that the news might not be forthcoming in the near future. As a matter of fact, most people think that it will be at least at the end of the year before we find out who our new bishop will be. Because of that, there are things that the consultors need to do to prepare for the interim up to and including electing an administrator from within the diocese until an episcopal assignment can be made.
Knowing all of this does not make it any easier on us. There is still anxiety about who the new bishop will be, when he will be announced, what changes we may need to face, and the like. As some of us get older — I’m raising my hand on that one 🙂 — we are also saying that we hope this one remains for a while because we don’t want to have to go through another change in a long time.
Change is never easy. Change is never fun. But change is not only inevitable, it can be life-giving and productive.