Washington’s new archbishop seeks to ‘know and understand this magnificent community of faith’

WASHINGTON (OSV News) — Hours after Cardinal Robert W. McElroy of San Diego was announced Jan. 6 as the new archbishop of Washington, the prelate praised his new archdiocese as “truly sacramental in the rich diversity of its traditions and perspectives.”

He also pledged to “show reverence for the grace of God which is already present in your midst and in the commitment to discipleship that underlies this local church.”

“I come as your bishop seeking to know and understand this magnificent community of faith,” Cardinal McElroy said. “As your pastor, an essential element of my mission is to encounter the hearts and the souls of the disciples who form our local church.”

In a virtual news conference at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in Washington, Cardinal McElroy addressed his new flock via the Archdiocese of Washington’s YouTube channel because a major snowstorm shut down the city.

“I want to give thanks to God for the grace-filled life of this local church and to Our Holy Father, Pope Francis who today makes me a member of that church,” Cardinal McElroy said.

Early Jan. 6, Pope Francis accepted the resignation of Cardinal Wilton D. Gregory, Washington’s archbishop since 2019, and named the San Diego prelate as his successor. As required by church law, Cardinal Gregory had submitted his resignation to the pope when he turned 75, which was two years ago, on Dec. 7, 2022.

The new archbishop of Washington said he has embraced Pope Francis’ emphasis on synodality and its call for the faithful to “build up a church centered in the Eucharist and devoted to the Word of God and the sacraments which sustain us.”

“Synodality calls us to walk humbly as a church, acknowledging our faults and sinfulness, and seeking forgiveness,” said Cardinal McElroy, who is 70. “It seeks the participation of every disciple in the church’s journey in this earthly pilgrimage, and is oriented toward the building of unity in society rooted in God’s justice, which cares especially for the unborn, the poor, the marginalized and the dispossessed.”

He said that in the Archdiocese of Washington, “for the past 85 years, the Catholic community has radiated the light of Christ throughout the District of Columbia and the surrounding five counties in Maryland.”

The archdiocese is home to more than 671,000 Catholics in D.C. and Maryland’s Montgomery, Prince George’s, St. Mary’s, Calvert and Charles counties.

Cardinal McElroy praised the archdiocese for its “rich parish communities of faith” and its “path-breaking development of lay ministries and apostolates, and the nurturing in lay leadership in the church that is genuinely participative and inclusive.”

The Washington Archdiocese, Cardinal McElroy said, boasts “ministries of the African American community, which is so foundational for the entire life of this local church, and the ministries to the multitude of peoples that seek and find God’s presence in this place — from Central America, Mexico, the Caribbean and South America; Europe, Asia and Africa.”

The people of his new archdiocese, the cardinal said, are “men and women who form the people of God, struggling in a world filled with turbulence, hardship and illusion, to follow the pathway of Jesus Christ … (and are) called to be both dispensers and receivers of mercy and forgiveness.”

He noted that the Archdiocese of Washington has experienced “mountain-top moments” such as the visits of St. John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis and has endured “moments of failure and shame,” including reports of the sexual abuse of minors.

“In this mixture of the mountain top and failure, we are no different from the first disciples of the Lord,” Cardinal McElroy said. “It is to this community on the journey of faith that the Holy Father has called me to be bishop and pastor.”

He said that in the upcoming months, he will meet with the priests of the archdiocese because “I want to support them in the priesthood we all share, with all of its wonders and its hardships,” and also meet with parish lay leaders “to understand their dreams, their hopes and their sadness about the church at the parish, diocesan and universal levels.”

“Through this pathway, I can become oriented to the life of the archdiocese in all of its wonder and complexity,” Cardinal McElroy said. “Forming a vision for the archdiocese for the coming years will have to be a truly collaborative effort if it is to guide us through the challenges we now face and will face in the future and help us to seize the opportunities for pastoral growth that lie within our midst.”

Speaking in Spanish, the new archbishop of Washington addressed Hispanic Catholics in the archdiocese telling them that “I want to be a good pastor and I want to constantly declare that the church is the mother to all, all, all.”

Noted for his environmental protection efforts in the Diocese of San Diego, Cardinal McElroy was asked about his care for creation plans after he is installed in this archdiocese. He said, “It is a top issue in our world — how are we going to preserve the creation God has given us.”

He said that many of those efforts were spurred by the Washington Archdiocese’s Laudato Si’ Action Plan, suggesting ways that local Catholics can bring Pope Francis’ 2015 encyclical on the environment to life in their homes, parishes, schools and institutions.

He said “one of the great challenges for the church and the world at this moment is the care for our home here on the Earth,” and he said it is important to foster concern for the environment among young people because “they are the future who are going to help save our planet which is God’s creative work. It is a grace given to us by God.”

When asked about how he would work with the incoming Trump administration, Cardinal McElroy called for “greater unity in the political and cultural sphere.”

“All of us as Americans should hope and pray that the government of our nation is successful in helping to enhance our society, our culture, our life and the whole of our nation,” he said. “I pray that President (Donald) Trump’s administration and all those state and local legislatures and governors across the whole of the country will work together to make our nation truly better, and to talk through the major issues that we face.”

The cardinal mentioned immigration as an issue that, in terms of the Catholic Church, “might be in contrast with some of the priorities the president-elect has been talking about.”

“The Catholic Church teaches the country has a right to control its own border and our nation’s desire to do that is a legitimate effort, but at the same time we are called to always have a sense of the dignity of every human person,” Cardinal McElroy said. “A wider, indiscriminate mass deportation across the country would be something that would be incompatible to Catholic doctrine, so we will have to see what emerges in this administration.”

Cardinal McElroy said Cardinal Gregory — appointed by Pope Francis in 2019 as the seventh archbishop of Washington and elevated to the College of Cardinals the following year — displayed “courage, a deeply pastoral heart and abiding faith in God and the dignity of the human person” as he “made critically important contributions at crucial moments in order to bring the Gospel of Jesus to the heart and the soul of the Catholic community here in Washington.”

“This enduring legacy will long remain a treasure for us all,” Cardinal McElroy said of Cardinal Gregory.

At the Jan. 6 conference, Cardinal Gregory said, “As I reflect upon the past nearly six years in this wonderful local church of Washington, my heart is filled predominantly with joy and gratitude for the many blessings, always appreciated but rarely deserved that God has granted me.”

He thanked the priests, auxiliary bishops and the faithful, noting that “we have loved one another, cared for one another, challenged one another to be the Catholic Church Jesus Christ calls us to be.”

Cardinal Gregory said that he plans to remain in Washington after his retirement and serve where needed.

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