News

New shepherd visits the Valley

By Joanne Flemming
Compass Correspondent

	Related article ... • True to his word: New bishop on road again

As Bp. David Zubik was inviting the members of Appleton area parishes on Dec. 21 to become "prepositions of faith" - the little people who connected God with his world - they were checking out their new shepherd.

Using words such as "dynamic," "energetic" and "devout" to describe him, they said they not only liked what they heard and saw, but were eager to be led by him.

"I think he's marvelous," said Mary Van Allen of Green Bay at St. Bernard Parish, Appleton, the regional celebration of Bp. Zubik's installation. "I think he can speak with a soft voice but with authority. I'm looking forward to being shepherded by him."

Van Allen said she was so impressed with Bp. Zubik when she met him Dec. 18 at the regional celebration at St. Bernard Parish in Green Bay that she brought her husband to Appleton to meet him in a reception line after Mass.

Joan Neton of St. Pius X Parish, Appleton, called him "a very devout and energetic man of God. I look forward to working with him."

"I think he's going to be a very, very good bishop for the Green Bay Diocese," said David Hallada of Sacred Heart Parish in Appleton. "I think he is going to draw people real close together. He makes you feel very important. He makes you feel like a real good human being. You can't help but like him."

Jane Schmit, also of Sacred Heart Parish, described Bp. Zubik as "awesome" because "he accepts people with disabilities." She explained that her son is disabled.

"That was a very big, great joy I felt. When he greeted the disabled person at his installation, I was very impressed," she said.

"I like him," said Inez DuFrane, Sacred Heart, Appleton. "He jokes."

Diane Baumgart of Holy Cross Parish, Kaukauna, found him to be "very personable." "I'm very pro-life, and his stance supports that real heavily, so I'm real excited."

In his homily, Bp. Zubik described King David, Mary and Elizabeth as "prepositions of faith" - the seemingly small people God uses to affect his will.

He said his fifth grade teacher, Sr. Mary Richard, taught him that a preposition is an "article of speech that is absolutely essential in any sentence construction to make sure the action is fulfilled." That definition "clearly applies to any number of people who either explicitly or implicitly are referred to in Scriptures," he continued.

A man like David and women like Elizabeth and Mary "were absolutely essential in God's eyes in making sure that his will would be done, that his Son would come into this earth, would become like us in all things except sin, so that we might become like him," Bp. Zubik said.

Sr. Richard, he continued, taught a larger lesson on "how important you and I are, as prepositions of faith, in the eyes of God" to bringing the message of good news to people today.

Our challenge, he said, is "to take the presence of Christ beyond the walls of the church. You and I are called to take our lives, small as we may think we are and happily so" and see how God "wants to connect us with a love-starved world."

After Mass, he thanked the people who made the regional celebration possible. Special thanks went to the Green Bay Packers who chose not to play until Monday evening.

Fourth Degree Knights of Columbus escorted Bp. Zubik before and after the Mass.