Back in October, the Vatican
named Bishop Dennis Schnurr to the position of Coadjutor Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati.
For those of us who are curious, this appointment raises a lot of questions. Who is Bishop Schnurr? Is he a good man? Why was he appointed now? Is Archbishop Pilarczyk still in charge? What's a Coadjutor?
We did some sifting through the Internet and found out the following:
Coadjutor Archbishop Schnurr (now that's a mouth full) was born and raised in Iowa. [Quote from Field of Dreams: "Is this heaven? No, it's Iowa."] He attended Catholic schools through grade school and high school, then got his bachelor's degree at Loras College in Dubuque.
He decided to become a priest and received another bachelor's degree from the North American College at Gregorian University in Rome. (He apparently speaks English and Italian, and can understand written French and Spanish.) He was ordained a priest in 1974 and began work in Iowa. After several assignments, he went to Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., where he earned a Masters Degree in Cannon Law. He then returned to Iowa and served in several roles at the diocesan level, including vice chancellor, chancellor, finance officer and judge of the diocesan tribunal.
He made his mark on the national scene beginning in 1985 when he went to work for the United States Conference for Catholic Bishops. He worked directly with Archbishop Pilarczyk at this time and rose as high as General Secretary of the Conference. He was responsible for organizing the 1993 World Youth Day celebration that brought Pope John Paul II to the United States. On that occasion, the Pope himself named Schnurr a monsignor.
He became the Bishop of the Diocese of Duluth in 2001. As the comments to
this blog written by Cincinnati seminarians demonstrates, reports from some of the priests up there have been positive. His
farewell homily in Duluth contains some interesting quotes that might give some hint as to his priorities for Cincinnati:
No one person — clergy, religious or lay person — is equipped to address all of the challenges that the church faces in the world today. No one person — clergy, religious or lay person — can lay claim to the measurable successes or advances of a diocese or parish.
Accomplishments are realized only when, under the guidance of the bishop, all the faithful — clergy, religious and lay people — come together, each contributing their Godgiven talents to the common enterprise.
It is not the role of the pastor to strive to do everything himself, nor is it his responsibility. It is the responsibility of the pastor, however, to recognize the talents that God has entrusted to his people and to call forth those talents in the service of God and his people.
If we are to be the church as Christ intends, we must understand that “status quo” can have no place in our ecclesial vocabulary.
The mission of the church, its role in bringing about the kingdom of God, requires that the church be forever young, forever dynamic, forever moving forward. We must always be asking ourselves, “What in God’s plan must we do next?” Some find that prospect frightening because they are comfortable with the way things are right now. But the church exists in the stream of time, and to want to stay where we are means to be left behind.
Each local church is a part of the Lord’s plan for his people, and that plan cannot fail. The Lord’s love is too powerful for that. It is up to us to rely on that love and to respond to it, as individuals and as members of the one diocesan church.
Cincinnati is much larger than Duluth in terms of number of Catholics -- 500,000 to 71,000. Nonetheless, Coadjutor Archbishop Schnurr seems well-prepared at age 55 to take over as Archbishop.
So what's a Coadjutor? The Archdiocese explained the term in
this article. We still don't know when he will officially take over as Archbishop, but it will be within months of the 75th birthday of Archbishop Pilarczyk, which is in August 2009.
You can hear a 15-minute interview with the Coadjutor Archbishop by following
this link. This interview highlights how he improved vocations at Duluth, how he related to seminarians (giving reason to believe that the reactions expressed on the Cincinnati seminarian blog site were real), and his views about the role of youth in the Church. ("Youth are not the Church of the future; they are the Church of today.")
