Bishop-elect takes oath, insignia blessed at vespers

By DAWN PROSSER
Director of Communications
 
On the eve of the May 1 episcopal ordination of Bishop John E. Keehner, the diocese held a solemn vespers service at the Sioux City Cathedral of the Epiphany with clergy, visitors and the faithful present.
 
Bishop David J. Bonnar of the Diocese of Youngstown presided at the service and Bishop Walker Nickless, seventh bishop of the Diocese of Sioux City, served as homilist.
 
Father David Esquiliano, rector and pastor of the Cathedral Parish, welcomed the attendees who gathered to pray together leading up to the ordination including civic leaders and religious leaders of other faith traditions. He offered a special welcome to the clergy and laity from the Youngstown Diocese who traveled to northwest Iowa to be part of the ordination events.
 “We are grateful for your presence tonight and even more grateful that you have so generously shared Bishop-elect John Keener with us,” Father Esquiliano shared. “Thank you for forming, supporting and accompanying him so well throughout his priestly ministry.” 
Bishop Bonnar invited the bishop-elect to the altar to lay his hand on the book of Gospels and made both the Profession of Faith and Oath of Fidelity. Bishop-elect Keehner signed the documents followed by the Youngstown bishop.
 
In the sanctuary, a small table displayed the episcopal insignia that would be presented to the bishop-elect in the ordination Mass the following day – episcopal ring, pectoral cross, miter and crosier. Bishop Bonnar blessed the items with holy water and prayed over them.
 

Pectoral cross and ring

The episcopal ring and pectoral cross had originally belonged to Bishop James Malone of the Youngstown Diocese and were a gift to the bishop-elect from his home diocese. The bishop-elect had been ordained a deacon and priest by Bishop Malone. The crosier was a gift from the priests of the Youngstown Diocese and the miter was a gift from the bishop-elect’s former parishes in his recent pastorate: Our Lady Queen of Peace Parish Ashtabula, Corpus Christi Parish in Conneat, St. Andrew Bobola Parish in Kingsville and Assumption of the Blessed Mary Parish in Geneva.
 
 
Advice to successor
In his homily, Bishop Nickless reflected upon a similar vespers service in the Cathedral the evening of Jan. 19, 2006.
 
“I have to admit I remember little of what Archbishop Charles Chaput (former archbishop of Denver) said as he preached the homily as I am doing now. Bishop-elect Keehner, I venture to say you probably won’t remember anything of what I say tonight,” Bishop Nickless said with a laugh. “I know you will remember this event and this experience.”
 
Bishop-elect Keehner, he said, is most likely is thinking about the ordination Mass and the responsibilities that follow once he is made bishop.
 ​Photo gallery​​​
“You are thinking about tomorrow as you will be ordained the eighth bishop of the Diocese of Sioux City. What does the future hold? What’s going to happen in your episcopal ministry as it unfolds before us?” Bishop Nickless said.
 
Both were called to the episcopacy, Bishop Nickless pointed out, while they were serving as pastors of their beloved parishes – one in Denver nearly 20 years ago and one in Ohio last January – when their lives were changed by a phone call from the apostolic nuncio.
 
He recalled at the 2006 vespers service before his ordination, Archbishop Chaput compared a bishop’s responsibility to that of a liver – to purify the church and cleanse it of impurities. A few years later Bishop Nickless found a different interpretation that “made a lot more sense to me.”

Bishop-elect Keehner's family and friends

“In discharging the duty as father and shepherd, a bishop should be among their people as those who serve,” he said. “They should be outstanding in their spirit of love and concern for all, true fathers whose God-given authority all will obey with joyful heart … Bishop-elect John, I pray for you tonight that you can be that kind of bishop – a shepherd and father as you begin your ministry here.”
 
Reflecting upon the reading from Hebrews proclaimed at the service, Bishop Nickless compared his successor’s responsibilities to the Scripture passage.
 
“Bishop-elect John, you, too are called to be like Jesus, holy, innocent, undefiled as you lay down your life for your flock in service of the people. Intercede for them before the throne of God,” he said.
 
Once ordained, the bishop-elect will to bring the word of God and God’s love and mercy to his flock in the church of northwest Iowa, Bishop Nickless said. He will also serve as a mediator between God and his people, like Christ.
 
“This is an awesome task and can only happen if you live out every day the motto you have chosen as bishop, ‘He must increase; I must decrease,’ like John the Baptist, your namesake. Wrap the mantle of humility around you and all you do as bishop. Make Christ the center of your life,” Bishop Nickless advised.
 
As the seventh diocesan bishop has become acquainted with his successor, he said he recognizes the bishop-elect’s “humility, unassuming nature and love for the people of God.”
 
As guidance for the next shepherd of the diocese, the bishop recited the prayer of St. Thomas More for good humor:
 
“Grant me, O Lord, good digestion, and also something to digest.
 Grant me a healthy body, and the necessary good humor to maintain it.
 Grant me a simple soul that knows to treasure all that is good
 and that doesn’t frighten easily at the sight of evil,
 but rather finds the means to put things back in their place.
 Give me a soul that knows not boredom, grumblings, sighs and laments,
 nor excess of stress, because of that obstructing thing called “I.”
 Grant me, O Lord, a sense of good humor.
 Allow me the grace to be able to take a joke to discover in life a bit of joy,
 and to be able to share it with others.”

“My brother, John, share your joy with us. Shepherd us well,” Bishop Nickless concluded.