By Bishop James Conley
I recently traveled to Rome to attend the ordination to the diaconate of Joseph Wahlmeier at St. Peter’s Basilica. Deacon Wahlmeier, Matthew Schilmoeller, and James O’Neil are seminarians studying for the Diocese of Lincoln at the North American College in Rome.
I was blessed to be there for the ordination, but my journey did not start well. I arrived in Rome Wednesday, Oct. 2, one day before the ordination, only to find out upon arrival that my luggage did not make it. In fact, my luggage did not arrive with me until two days later.
I am grateful to our Lincoln seminarians, who were able to procure enough supplies and episcopal gear to help me concelebrate the ordination Mass the next day.
There was great joy in St. Peter’s Basilica when 34 new deacons were ordained for service in the Catholic Church. Bishop Robert Deeley, bishop of Portland, Maine was the ordaining prelate.
Normally, seminarians at the North American College are ordained deacons in Rome, and are ordained priests back in their home diocese. And so, Deacon Wahlmeier will continue his studies in Rome and return to Lincoln in May to be ordained a priest. Please remember to keep all of our seminarians in your daily prayers.
It was also a blessing to spend time with the Wahlmeier family. The Wahlmeier clan were there in great numbers— 60 strong, as Joseph is one of 15 children.
I stayed in Rome for a few extra days because I wanted to witness the canonization of one of my great heroes. On Oct. 13, I had the privilege and honor of concelebrating the canonization Mass of John Henry Cardinal Newman by Pope Francis in St. Peter’s Square in Rome.
The English Cardinal was canonized alongside four very holy women: Giuseppina Vannini, Mariam Thresia Chiramel Mankidiyan, Dulce Lopes Pontes and Marguerite Bays. These five new saints point to heaven and remind us that each one of us is called to holiness.
Cardinal Newman has been an inspiration to me since my undergraduate days at the University of Kansas. The first time I read many of his writings was when I was 19 years old and was given some essays on the idea of a university.
It would often be remarked that when Newman would preach to university students at the University of Oxford, the students would say that they felt like Newman was preaching to them individually, that he spoke directly to their heart.
As I mentioned in a recent column, when Newman became a Cardinal, he took as his motto cor ad cor loquitur, “heart speaks to heart.” When I was made a bishop in 2008, I chose this same motto in my desire to speak directly to the heart.
I have always had that sense of Newman speaking to my heart as I read his works. And to read Newman is to read the man. It seems like all of his writings are located at a particular time in his life so as you read Newman, you know where he is on his faith journey.
Saint John Henry Newman converted to the Catholic Church in 1845, at the age of 44. He and a number of his students had been studying the Fathers of the Church. They were searching for the apostolic origins of the Christian faith and discovered that they were found in the Roman Catholic religion. May we all have the wonder in our hearts as we seek to know the truth more and more each day.
On the eve of Newman’s canonization, I joined Dr. John Freeh and the students of the Newman Institute for Catholic Thought and Culture for an evening with Father Ian Ker, Oxford professor and definitive biographer of St. John Henry Newman. It was wonderful to see and listen to Father Ker once again, after we first met in 1990 at a Newman Summer School conference.
All in all it was a joy to be in the Eternal City to celebrate the ordination of Deacon Wahlmeier, and to witness the canonization of one of the most inspiring and instrumental figures of my life, St. John Henry Newman.
St. John Henry Newman, pray for us!
