Former St. Andrew pastor tells new diocese that ‘faith comes from hearing’
DETROIT — Bishop Jeffrey Monforton pledged to serve the people of his new diocese at the Sept. 10 ceremony at which he was ordained to the episcopacy and installed as fifth bishop of Steubenville, Ohio, succeeding Bishop R. Daniel Conlon.
“I am here for you as, together, we build up the Body of Christ in our beloved diocese,” Bishop Monforton said during his remarks at the conclusion of the ordination Mass.
“We are a family of faith, and I am glad to be your shepherd,” he said.
The former rector of Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit served briefly as pastor of St. Andrew Parish in Rochester before the July 3 announcement of his episcopal appointment.
He pointed to his episcopal motto, “Faith Comes From Hearing,” saying it “celebrates the approaching Year of Faith, and should be a striking reminder that contrary to some pervading sentiments in our post-modernist culture, faith does not grow in a void. ‘Faith comes from hearing.’”
“It has been said,” Bishop Monforton continued, “that there are three types of people: those who make things happen; those who watch things happen; and those who have no idea what is happening.
“It is counterintuitive to believe that our faith is private. Today we heard from Jesus Christ himself that our faith is meant to be proclaimed, to be shared, even at the expense of being persecuted by those who have no idea what is happening,” he said. “We are a family of faith and I am grateful to be your shepherd. In the words of St. Augustine: ‘For you I am a bishop, and with you I am a Christian.’”
Cincinnati Archbishop Dennis M. Schnurr was the lead consecrator at the ceremony, witnessed by a congregation of about 2,000 people in the fieldhouse of the Franciscan University of Steubenville, and seen at home by many more who watched it on television or on the Internet.
Cardinals Adam Maida and Edmund C. Szoka, and Archbishop Allen Vigneron were among the many bishops and archbishops present and serving as co-consecrators. Deacon Robert Slaton, who was serving his year in the transitional diaconate at St. Andrew Parish and who will be ordained himself to the priesthood Sept. 29, read the Gospel at the Mass.
Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, apostolic nuncio to the United States, read the letter from Pope Benedict XVI calling the new bishop to his office, and said he knew that Bishop Monforton would try his best to teach, govern and sanctify.
Archbishop John Nienstedt of St. Paul-Minneapolis, who was the seminary’s rector when Bishop Monforton was himself a seminarian and who was the new bishop’s pastor during his first assignment as an associate pastor, delivered the homily.
Archbishop Nienstedt advised his former student that bishops must be “stewards of the practical aspects of the Church,” but also that he should “never let the busyness of the day interfere with your prayer life.”
Several days after his installation, Bishop Monforton left for Rome to attend “bishop’s school” — a week-and-a-half orientation program for new bishops at the Vatican.
Born in 1963 in Detroit, Bishop Monforton is the eldest of three sons of Marc Louis Monforton and Virginia Rose (Ackerman) Monforton. His father died last year.
He attended Tinkham Elementary School and John Marshall Junior High, Westland, and graduated from Wayne Memorial High School, Wayne.
After high school, he attended Wayne State University and then entered Sacred Heart Major Seminary, Detroit, from which he received a bachelor of arts in philosophy degree in 1989. While studying at the Pontifical North American College, Rome, he received a bachelor’s in sacred theology in 1992; and, then, he obtained a licentiate in sacred theology and was awarded a doctorate in sacred theology from Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome.
On June 25, 1994, he was ordained to the priesthood at the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament, Detroit, by then-Archbishop Maida. Following his ordination, he served as associate pastor at the National Shrine of the Little Flower, Royal Oak, from 1994-96, while also serving the faculty at the parish high school for two academic years in the department of religion.
For seven years, from 1998-2005, he served as the personal priest secretary to Cardinal Maida. During that time, he also was a member of the Sacred Heart Major Seminary faculty and assisted weekends at St. Paul on the Lake, Grosse Pointe Farms, and St. Jane Frances de Chantal, Sterling Heights.
In April 2005, he traveled with Cardinal Maida to the Vatican and remained there for the funeral Mass of Pope John Paul II, the conclave and the election of Pope Benedict XVI.
On July 1, 2005, then-Fr. Monforton was named pastor of St. Therese of Lisieux Church, Shelby Township, and that same year was conferred the title of monsignor by Pope Benedict.
In addition, Bishop Monforton was named as an apostolic visitor by the Congregation for Catholic Education to participate in the recent apostolic visitation of U.S. seminaries and houses of formation for the academic year 2005-06.
In 2006, he became a member of the Madonna University, Livonia, board of trustees.
Since 2008, the bishop has been a board member of the American Friends of the Vatican Library.
On Aug. 24, 2006, he was named by Cardinal Maida as the 12th rector of Sacred Heart Major Seminary. He was installed as the rector Oct. 29, 2006, and concluded his six-year term as Sacred Heart’s rector May 5.
Patricia DeFrancis of the Steubenville Register contributed to this report.
