New Archbishop Seeks To Follow In Footsteps Of Pioneer Bishops, Priests

INDIANAPOLIS (CNS) -- In serving in a state often called "the last frontier," the newly named archbishop of Anchorage, Alaska, said he hopes to follow in the footsteps of some of the nation's pioneer bishops and priests, including those who served his home Archdiocese of Indianapolis.
    "I have thought often of our own Bishop Simon Brute and his work as a missionary bishop, founding the Diocese of Vincennes, the future Archdiocese of Indianapolis," Archbishop Paul D. Etienne told The Criterion, the archdiocesan newspaper.
    "I also think often of the Jesuit priest, Father Pierre DeSmet, who is credited with celebrating the first Mass in the Rocky Mountain West in 1840. DeSmet and Brute would have been contemporaries, and I often wonder if their paths ever crossed before Brute's death in 1839," he added.
    Archbishop Etienne made the comments in an email to the paper Oct. 4, a few hours before he had to attend a news conference in Anchorage on his appointment that day by Pope Francis to succeed Anchorage Archbishop Roger L. Schwietz, who is retiring.
    A native of Tell City and ordained a priest of the Indianapolis Archdiocese, the new archbishop has been the bishop of the statewide Diocese of Cheyenne, Wyoming, since December 2009. When he was named a bishop, he was pastor of St. Paul Parish in his hometown.
    He told The Criterion he was stunned to receive a phone call from the apostolic nunciature in Washington Sept. 24 telling him the pope had named him to lead the Anchorage Archdiocese.
    He said he "asked for the night to pray before giving an answer. Of course, prayer led me to say 'Yes,' which is the only response when the Lord asks something of any of us through his church."
    As it turned out, a last-minute change in his schedule allowed a couple of free days to "absorb the shock of this appointment," Archbishop Etienne said.
    "It was only in hindsight that I realized part of the grace God provided was to have two days with nothing on my calendar so I could pray and reflect," he said.
    "I came to realize that God used this time of silence to speak to the depths of my heart," Archbishop Etienne continued, "already pouring in an abundance of grace with which to meet the new challenges."
    One of those challenges will be leading a church almost at the metaphorical edge of the earth.
    "About two weeks ago, before I received this news of becoming the new archbishop of Anchorage, I told my pastoral leaders (in the Cheyenne Diocese) that there is not one part of this earth that is not under the pastoral care of some bishop," Archbishop Etienne said. "Little did I know that I would be soon sent to one of the peripheries of the church in the United States.
    "My prayer this past month has focused much on my role as a successor to the apostles," he added. "This has brought me much peace, and indeed, is another way God was preparing me for this moment."
    The Anchorage Archdiocese encompasses more than 138,000 square miles, reaching north into Alaska's interior and east into the Aleutian Islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
    Archbishop Etienne described a phone call he had the day before his Oct. 4 Anchorage news conference. It was Archbishop Christophe Pierre, the apostolic nuncio to the U.S. who told him: "You are being sent as a missionary bishop.
    Confidence in "the faith and trust" of the nation's early pioneer bishops, "let alone the people of God, bring me much consolation and inspiration," he told The Criterion. "The response from morning prayer this morning (Oct. 4) seems to be my mantra for the day: 'My God stands by me, all my trust is in him.'
    "In similar fashion, today's Gospel gives me the image of the day," the archbishop said. "I, like Mary, sit at the feet of Jesus, content to be his servant, his friend, to hear his voice, to receive his love, and to know that in Christ I have all that I need."