Q As successors to the Apostles, a bishop's role includes administrative, sacerdotal, and teaching functions. As you mark 40 years in the episcopacy, how would you advise a new bishop on balancing these various roles?
A Well I'd tell them that the pastoral aspect is the most important and that should be always his priority. Now at the same time, we live in the real world, so the bishop also has to be an administrator and he has to give attention to that. But I'd say his most important function is pastorally serving the people and also as a teacher, a teacher of the faith, of the doctrine. Those are the priorities – the pastoral ministry and the teaching – although he cannot neglect the administrative part. We have no choice, we live in a real world and we have to adjust to that world. I have a sense that we need food, clothing, shelter; we need organizations, we need offices, and so on.
Q Now that you yourself no longer have administrative duties, do you find that that change has any difference in your prayer life, in your spiritual life? Not having administrative responsibilities?
A No, I don't think so. All the time I had administrative responsibilities I tried not to neglect my prayer life or the spiritual aspects of my life.
Q Your experience as a bishop and archbishop, a cardinal and a Vatican official, has given you the opportunity to see the big picture regarding the universal Church in a way that few others can. What are your thoughts on how well the Catholic Church is doing in carrying the Gospel message into the 21st century? Are there ways that it could be even more effective?
A Well in general, I have acquired a much broader knowledge of the Church in the whole world because serving on the Congregation for Bishops we met twice a month to deal with the candidates for the episcopacy in all the First World dioceses. So in serving on that I got to know a great deal about the various countries, First World countries. But I was also a member of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, which deals with the appointment of bishops in the missionary countries, so I learned a great deal about these countries as well because I served on both those congregations for 18 years. I learned a great deal about the Church in various parts of the world. I think we tend sometimes to take too narrow a vision of the Church. To answer your question in the broad sense of the Church, I think it's doing very well. Now there have been some problems in some countries, but again that's not surprising, that's been true throughout our history. I think we are facing great challenges, particularly in the West today, where people are so distracted by many things. They're caught up in the Internet, to that type of communications, cell phones, texting, television, which makes it very distracting for them. I think it distracts them from religious point-of-view and religious values, and the importance of religion. And that's a challenge.
You ask me what can we do better – that's difficult to answer. We all acknowledge we have to keep finding better ways to communicate the Gospel and the message of Jesus Christ but we have to keep struggling to do that. Now there are many very encouraging signs. There are a number of lay movements in the world at which lay people are participating very faithfully and with great enthusiasm. I think we find also that there are some new religious communities that have sprung up that are doing very well. So, there are difficulties, there are problems, but also there are signs of hope. Great signs of hope. I think it's the Lord's Church and I think he will guide us to find the right ways to continue the mission of the Church.
The Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, last year created a new Council for the New Evangelization of Peoples. The new evangelization doesn't mean going to non-Catholics, it means the new evangelization of Catholics, or Catholics who have stopped practicing their faith. It's an outreach to people who are already Catholic, to strengthen their faith. So he established that new council precisely for that reason. If you recall, Pope John Paul II all throughout his pontificate kept emphasizing the new evangelization. That is precisely what he meant – meeting the challenge of today of finding better ways to reach people, our own Catholics, to evangelize them to be more aware of their faith, or faithful to their faith, and the teachings of the Gospel of the Church, and to the practice of their faith. I think that's very much needed, especially in the First World countries.
Q You mention some of the hopeful movements, what would be some of those?
A In Europe I think they're probably more known than in the United States. For example, there's a movement called Communion and Liberation. It's a group of lay people and the ones I've met become very dedicated. Then in Rome there's a community of St. Aegidius, it's an all lay people and have done wonderful things in the sense of promoting the faith, but also promoting social justice. Then there's the Opus Dei, they've helped a lot of people strengthen their faith. They've given a good spiritual formation to many people and priests, and I think they're doing good work. There is another group called the Procolari, which I've known several people that are part of that. They are very dedicated to their faith. They live their normal lay life but they try to live together even though, for example, I knew one group in Rome where a group of women, one was a doctor another was a nurse, they lived together but they each had their own work. But they are very dedicated and very, very servant people. I'm very impressed by that.
So those are a few of the lay movements that have sprung up. They are not religious, they're lay people, but they can if can, they try to live together but they still live their lay life and their work as lay people. And I think they are having a very good effect.
Q Thinking back to your time as Archbishop of Detroit, how do you now regard that entire episode in your life and ministry? You had been a bishop before in Gaylord and afterward you held you Vatican posts, so as you think back to your time as Archbishop of Detroit, how do you assess that? How do you rank that among the various things you have done in your life?
A While it was my assignment, and when you're a priest or bishop you go where you're assigned. Now, I was happy to be appointed Archbishop of Detroit but it's a very large archdiocese and a very important one, and that in itself creates a challenge. Also, that was in 1981, those years from 1981 to 1990, and the 80s were a very challenging time for the Church. Today they are too but then it was a different type of challenge. Those were challenging times but I didn't feel daunted by them or discouraged or anything, I just tried to do my job, to fulfill my responsibilities. I enjoyed very much the nine years I was archbishop. I missed being archbishop of Detroit, I missed particularly the pastoral aspects that being priests and people religious. I tried to do as much of that as I could when I was archbishop. On all the Sundays that I possibly could, I'd go to a parish, say one of the parish Masses, try to meet the people afterwards. I would take confirmations and mingle with them afterwards. I told you that during Lent I used to go to a parish every Saturday to hear confessions. So I missed the aspect of being bishop of a diocese. Yes I did miss that. But when I was in Rome that was my assignment so I tried to do the best I could there with my responsibilities.
Q Now that you have been retired several years, are you enjoying your retirement after having done so much heavy duty work for the Church in high-level positions? Or do you miss being at the center of Church life at the Vatican?
A I don't miss living at the Vatican. I do miss having my work, my assignment. I would just as soon have kept working. I was in an assignment as president of the Governorate of Vatican City State 'til I was 79. But I was a member of five Vatican congregations – the Congregation for Bishops, for the Causes of Saints, for the Evangelization of Peoples, for Clergy and for Religious – and I also belonged to the second section of the Vatican Secretariat of State, which is concerned with the appointment of bishops in countries with which the Vatican has a concordat, so I continued on until the following June (of 2008).
Q How have you been living out your ministry in your retirement years? Could you describe for us your typical day?
A As a priest, as a bishop, I live my ministry every day by celebrating Mass and saying prayers. I also go wherever I'm asked, whenever I'm asked. Tomorrow (July 12), I'll be at Our Lady of Victory Parish here in Northville to hear confessions in the afternoon and celebrate a 5 o'clock Mass. I also go to various social and fund-raising events that support the Church or functions of various Catholic groups; I try to support them with my presence.
Q In closing, tell us just what is celebrating a 40th anniversary as a bishop mean to you?
A To tell you the truth I was a little hesitant about having a celebration. I didn't want to be calling attention to myself. Whatever I did I did with the help of God and I did in fidelity to my commitment as a bishop. So I was a little hesitant, but some of the priests and Archbishop (Allen) Vigneron encouraged me to do this, so I said OK.
One part of it is I'm just amazed that I lived this long! I didn't think I ever would. As I said earlier, I'm very grateful and thankful for the years that God has given me, and I'm very grateful and thankful for all the wonderful people that I've worked with over these years in Gaylord and Detroit and Rome. I still have good friends in the Roman Curia and the Roman administration, and also among the Italian people. So I have many happy memories and that's what I think about.
I have a lot of happy memories and I made a lot of friends along the way. Some of my best friends have died but I still have others. Bishop (Kevin) Britt was my secretary for ten-and-a-half years, he was not only a secretary but a good friend and I miss him. I also had a good friend in the Upper Peninsula, a good priest friend, he died in 1990, but I still have other friends. As you get older you lose a lot of your friends and relatives.
