The View from 2,500 Feet

It was two days shy of the third anniversary of “The Call.” July 7, 2010, Wednesday, very hot; very humid. It was two days shy of the third anniversary of that Monday, July 9, 2007, when at 3:35 in the afternoon, sitting at the desk in my office in Green Bay, Wisconsin, I received the call from the Apostolic Nuncio (the Pope’s Ambassador to the United States) telling me that Pope Benedict XVI had appointed me the Twelfth Bishop of Pittsburgh.

On July 7, 2010, two days before the third anniversary of that call, Father Daniel Straughn, my priest secretary, and I left the Seminary at 6:30 in the morning to travel to Saints John and Paul Parish in Franklin Park to meet Father Joseph McCaffrey, pastor of that parish, and my longtime best friend, Monsignor William Ogrodowski. Father McCaffrey and I worked together in then-Bishop Wuerl’s office more than two decades earlier—he as the Bishop’s Master of Ceremonies and I as the Bishop’s Secretary.

Father McCaffrey is a multitalented guy. In addition to being a very dedicated priest and a very capable pastor, he also serves the FBI as a chaplain and is a licensed pilot. Yes, he flies a plane. For years, he has been teasing me to join him on a flight. On July 7, I took him up on the tease.

After departing from Saints John and Paul, the four of us travelled an additional hour’s drive by car to a small airport in New Castle, where we boarded the four-seater plane. For the better part of four hours, we flew over all six counties of our diocese. From my view from the copilot’s seat—the view from 2,500 feet was breathtaking. I recognized the familiar highways, landmarks and particulars of each of the counties. “Father Mac” flew us over our family homes: Father Straughn’s family home in Carnegie; Monsignor Ogrodowski’s former family home in Carrick; “Father Mac’s” former home in Muse; my former family home on Longvue Circle in Ambridge. We flew over Queen of Heaven Catholic Cemetery in the South Hills where Father Straughn’s sister, Aimee, is buried and over Holy Savior Catholic Cemetery in Pine Township where my mom is buried. We flew over each of our current respective residences, over Kennywood Park, over the cities of Pittsburgh and Washington. But what thrilled me the most was seeing so many of our churches where so many of you meet God: Immaculate Conception and Saint Hilary in Washington; Mary, Mother of Hope and Saint Vincent de Paul in New Castle; Saint Kilian in Adams Township and Saint Ferdinand in Cranberry Township; Saint Paul Cathedral in Oakland and Sacred Heart in Shadyside; Madonna del Castello and Word of God in Swissvale; Christ, the Light of the World in Duquesne and Holy Cross in East Pittsburgh; Holy Rosary in Muse and Saint Benedict the Abbot in Peters Township; Saint Thomas More in Bethel Park and Saint Patrick in Canonsburg; among many, many more.

As I looked down from the moving perch of a single-engine, four-seater plane, I couldn’t help but think of you, all of you, and how much I treasure you as the faithful of Pittsburgh. At the same time, I felt ever so humbled to be your Bishop.

The view I had from 2,500 feet was spectacular not only because of the beauty of God’s creation but most clearly because of the beauty of you, each one of you, faithful of the Church of Pittsburgh. I reflected on how you, each of you, faithful of the Diocese of Pittsburgh, are a masterpiece of God’s love, created in His image and likeness, the “apple of His eye,” as God Himself describes it.

Over the course of the last three years, many people within our diocese and outside of it ask what it’s like to be Bishop of my home diocese.

Let me tell you what it’s like using the refrain from Psalm 136 (verse 1b).

• Each day, I have to pinch myself to know that it is true, it is real that I have been called to shepherd this local Church. How humbled I am.

“HIS LOVE ENDURES FOREVER.”

• Each of the six counties carries a different but beautiful twist on what it means to be the people of God: Allegheny, Beaver, Butler, Greene, Lawrence and Washington. How lucky I am.

“HIS LOVE ENDURES FOREVER.”

• Each of the 212 parishes seeks to pass on the Good News of Jesus within the Mass, through all the sacraments and with the people coming together in faith. How encouraged I am.

"HIS LOVE ENDURES FOREVER.”

• Each of the four vicariates with each of their respective districts is growing together in holiness. How challenged I am.

“HIS LOVE ENDURES FOREVER.”

• Each of the 260 active priests in the diocese, my brothers, the 41 deacons, the nearly 1,200 religious sisters and 29 religious brothers continue to give their lives each day out of love for Jesus and for you. How inspired I am.

“HIS LOVE ENDURES FOREVER.”

• Each of the 40 seminarians, 23 with whom I live at Saint Paul Seminary, convince me how much the Church is Alive! How hope-filled I am.

“HIS LOVE ENDURES FOREVER.”

• Each of the nearly 700,000 members of the Church of Pittsburgh, struggling day in and day out to live your faith despite your wounds, doubts, uncertainties. How graced I am.

"HIS LOVE ENDURES FOREVER.”

Yes, there is something heavenly seeing the diocese with a “view from 2,500 feet.” If you will, it is a sneak peek of what God sees. May what He sees be what you see. May what He sees be what I see.

“HIS LOVE ENDURES FOREVER.”