'Whirlwind' Continues For Archbishop-elect Thompson

Editor’s note: A Celebration Mass for Archbishop-elect Charles C. Thompson will be held at 6 p.m. CDT on July 6 at St. Benedict Cathedral in Evansville. A reception will follow in the Woodward Center at St. Benedict. The Message will publish additional information in the June 30 issue.

Archbishop-elect Charles C. Thompson calls the time since June 3 a “whirlwind.” On that day, just hours after he ordained Father John Pfister and Father Jerry Pratt Jr. to the priesthood, he received a called from Archbishop Cristophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the U.S., informing him that Pope Francis had appointed him to serve as the seventh archbishop of Indianapolis.

“The last two weeks have been a whirlwind … very surreal,” he said on June 18. “I keep going back to check things – to make sure it’s actually happening.  

“It’s bittersweet,” the archbishop-elect added. “I’m honored and humbled that the Holy Father and others have confidence in me to do this, and that’s certainly a good feeling. But it’s sad leaving (Evansville). Transitions are always difficult. There is not a whole lot of planning time. One day you’re the bishop of a diocese; you get a phone call, and your entire life is changed completely.

As he talked recently about the immediate future, it’s clear that his whirlwind isn’t over just yet. “It’s all been happening so quickly, and the days are short,” he said. “There’s a lot that has to be done in these last few days.”

Archbishop-elect Thompson will ordain 21 permanent deacons in Indianapolis on June 24. He leaves June 25 for Rome, where he will receive his pallium – a vestment the Pope bestows on metropolitans as a symbol of the jurisdiction they receive from the Holy See.

This trip will also be a whirlwind of sorts. “We fly out on the 25th and come back on the 30th or (July) 1st,” he said. It’s a quick trip because I have to be back for other things.”

Because of the short notice, his family can’t accompany him to Rome – but he will have members of his extended Church family on the trip. There are three archbishops from the U.S. going on the trip, and all have ties to Indiana and the archdiocese.  The others include Joseph Cardinal Tobin of Newark, N.J., whom Archbishop-elect Thompson is succeeding, and Archbishop Paul Etienne of Anchorage, Alas., a son of the archdiocese. He is the brother of Evansville Diocesan Vicar General Father Bernie Etienne, pastor of Holy Rosary Parish in Evansville, and Father Zach Etienne, pastor of Evansville’s Good Shepherd Parish.

“I told a couple members of the Etienne family, ‘you can’t get rid of me’ because I was with them when we went to Anchorage for Archbishop Etienne’s installation,” he said. “Now they’ve got me again. Every time they do these family trips, I’m somehow tagging along or showing up.”

He said that he and the others have received invitations to an event at the U.S. embassy in Rome, and that the North American College is hosting an event. “And of course, there’s the ceremony, the blessing of my Pallium, on the Solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul – which, by the way will be my sixth anniversary (of ordination and installation as bishop of Evansville).  Those are the things I know of at this point. I really don’t know what all goes with it,” Archbishop-elect Thompson said.

He said that having the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops gathered in Indianapolis for their annual spring meeting made the announcement of his appointment by Pope Francis that much more amazing. “You have a couple hundred bishops around you all week,” he said “They’re watching your press conference, they’re reading the diocesan paper. That’s kind of overwhelming, but I have received incredible support and incredible affirmation from bother bishops, archbishops, cardinals – people I didn’t think even knew who I was.”

Archbishop-elect Thompson said that Sts. Peter and Paul Cathedral in Indianapolis, which seats about 1,000, will host his installation Mass. “We’re inviting priests from Indianapolis, Evansville and Louisville; that alone could take up a great many seats,” he said. “Bishops who attend will sit up in the sanctuary; and there will be a certain section for my family.”

It will be possible to accommodate “a few hundred” people with overflow seating at the Catholic Center, which is right across the street from Sts. Peter and Paul, for a closed-circuit broadcast of the Mass. Archbishop-elect Thompson said a light reception will follow the July 28 Mass in the Catholic Center.

The Message will continue to provide updates as information becomes available.