Good Priests Named Bishops

While I was on vacation last week, two Boston priests, Fr. Mark O'Connell and Fr. Robert Reed, were named auxiliary bishops for the Archdiocese of Boston. As soon as I heard the names, I thought, "these are great appointments."  Both men have great reputations among the priests of the archdiocese and among the people of the archdiocese.  They are clearly men who love being priests. 

So often when some appointment in the Church is made, a portion of the Church is thrilled and another portion is left scratching it's collective head.  In this instance, I could not think of a single priest in Boston who could possibly have any reason to be anything other than completely delighted by these appointments. I think that these appointments leave everybody who knows these two priests thinking, "This is exactly right." It is one of those times in life when you just know the rightness of the decision.

One of my goals on this blog has been to highlight the good news of life in the Church.  In talking about my experiences as a priest as a pastor and as a university chaplain, in relaying stories about encounters that I have with extraordinary lay people, and in sharing the good news about vocations to the priesthood, I try to communicate to people that there are a LOT of good things happening in the life of the Church.  This is definitely one of those good things.  Last week, two great priests were named bishops.  Two men who love the priesthood and who are happy and faithful priests were made bishops.  This is good news worth sharing.