Bishop Burbidge: 5th Bishop of the Diocese of Raleigh

Again I'm falling down in posting these days mostly due to an inability to connect two coherant thoughts at one time. I think they call it preganacy brain. There have been some notable things that have happened in the last few weeks that I would have loved to write about, but again, my brain has not been functioning as quickly and I've been to hot to write anything. I DID however, participate in last week's installation of our wonderful new Bishop of Raleigh: Michael Burbidge. He is 49 and hails from Philadelphia. I was invited to participate as one of 122 choir members (5 of us were from St. Thomas More) where we sang some really beautiful music accompanied by brass, piano, orchestra etc. As you see in this picture, the choir was seated above the many priests on the stage. It was a great view of the pagentry and ritual that is traditional in our Catholic faith and I am humbled to have been a part of such a historic event. (The last time the Diocese of Raleigh installed a Bishop was 31 years ago.) Everything was beautiful, but nothing moved me more than seeing the hundreds of priests from across our Diocese and from Philadelphia process into an event like this. Given my vantage point, I was able to catch a glimpse of each of their faces, most old, some young. Some were singing heartily, others wide-eyed and impressed with the glory of the event. ALL part of the same apolstolic succession....beginning with Jesus and his disciples and ending with what I saw at the installation.

I know quite a few of the priests on the stage, and know how hard their jobs are. But despite their difficult vocation, they continue to follow Jesus in the best way they know how. Seeing them all gathered together makes one appreciate all that they do and how many of them it takes to share the sacraments with us. What would we do without them?



Below is a picure of the singers from STM and a dear priest friend of mine who helped orchestrate the event. Don't we all look handsome in our black and white?