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Parish ministry marks new phase in bishop's life

By Tony Staley
Compass Editor

	ARE YOU READY FOR JESUS? Bp. Robert Morneau talks with second graders who were preparing for First Communion at Resurrection School in Allouez. Bp. Morneau, who is marking 40 years of priesthood this year, is pastor of the Green Bay-area parish. (Rick Evans photo)

Bp. Robert Morneau's life took a sharp turn nearly 1½ years ago. After 40 years in the priesthood he became a pastor for the first time, and that's brought major changes to his life.

Previously, he had largely set his own schedule - giving retreats, talks, workshops to bishops, priests, sisters and lay people around the U.S. and abroad, while assisting in diocesan operations and administering confirmation in parishes.

But as pastor of Resurrection Parish in Allouez, a Green Bay suburb, he finds the demands of the day often shred the best "to-do list."

"You have to adjust your schedule according to your responsibilities," he said. "Initially, it was learning to be more available to the interruptions of pastoral life. Before, I was more free to design my own week. Now my week is designed for me. Funerals come up, hospital calls, the prison, so it's much more of a reactive life than a proactive life. Before, I could make plans and do things. Now you respond to daily calls and emergencies and the needs of the parish."

In a parish of 1,350 families, 46 organizations and a school, there can be many unexpected things. Plus, there's the need to meet regularly with staff and to evaluate personnel, including the hard decisions of hiring and firing, he said.

Teamwork means more communications and meetings, he said.

"That's both helpful and frustrating at times. Sometimes you can just do something on your own and get it done. Here, you have to talk to five people before you implement it."

Despite the seemingly never-ending demands, Bp. Morneau said he enjoys it overall because Resurrection is blessed with a good pastoral staff and good, dedicated parishioners.

"Sure, I like it," he said. "It's like being married. Do you like it? Yeah, sometimes; sometimes not. Or does a doctor like being a doctor? Yeah."

Then he hastens to add: "It's a wonderful way of life. You get great opportunities to learn from people and touch their lives: preaching every Sunday, counseling people, being at the bedside of people dying. You're right there at the center of their lives. Sometimes it's very difficult, but it's also very, very rewarding too."

Biography Bishop Robert Morneau Who: Bp. Robert Morneau Born: Sept. 10, 1938, at New London Parents: Leroy and Catherine (Fealey) Morneau Education: Bear Creek High School; St. Norbert College, De Pere; Sacred Heart Seminary, Oneida; The Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C. Ordained: May 28, 1966, by Bp. John Grellinger at St. Francis Xavier Cathedral, Green Bay Assignments: June 1966, assistant, St. Mary Parish, Bear Creek, and at St. Mary of the Lake Parish, Lakewood September 1966, faculty, Holy Family College, Manitowoc November 1966, chaplain, Newman Club, UW campus and at Park Town Home, Manitowoc March 1970, Vicar for Religious April 1972, Board of Consultors (and again in September 1975) January, 1977, chaplain assistant at Holy Family Hospital, Manitowoc, and faculty at Silver Lake College, Manitowoc. Feb. 22, 1979, Ordained Bishop and named auxiliary of Green Bay March 1979, appointed diocesan vicar general April 1979, Board of Consultors (as auxiliary bishop) June 1980, Board of Trustees June 1984, Member of College of Consultors (re-appointed in 1990 and 1995) July 2002, Vicar for Priests Jan. 1, 2005, pastor, Resurrection Parish, Green Bay, and continuing as vicar general January 2006, College of Consultors; coordinator of Ministry to Priests Program

In some ways, Bp. Morneau's life mirrors that of his late father - a physician in Bear Creek from 1932 to 1970. As a country doctor with a solo practice, Dr. Leroy Morneau was always on call to deliver babies, set broken bones or meet other medical needs as they arose. Dr. Morneau worked from his home. Bp. Morneau, from his office window, can see the rectory, perhaps 200 feet away.

The two shared both their work in healing - one spiritual, the other physical - and their love of gardening, though again with a difference. Dr. Morneau grew flowers, Bp. Morneau raises vegetables - asparagus, rhubarb, strawberries, lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, green beans, spinach and potatoes.

"I'm against the death penalty for everything except rabbits," he said with a laugh. If pressed, he might add ground hogs, deer and raccoons, all of which have feasted at his table of plenty.

Besides gardening, Bp. Morneau jogs two miles a day, five days a week; golfs on Mondays and an occasional Sunday afternoon; and plays racquet ball Thursdays.

His usual golf opponents are retired Bp. Robert Banks, Fr. Willie Van De Loo and Fr. Dave Lewis. Rumor has it that Bp. Banks recently beat him at golf for the first time in more than 15 years. Not so fast, Bp. Morneau said: While Bp. Banks beat him by a stroke on the back nine, Fr. Lewis forgot to keep score on a hole on the front nine, so it's unclear who won overall.

As a member of three book clubs, Bp. Morneau reads three books a month on theology, the sacraments, saints, history and fiction.

But it's not a casual read. He pulls quotes from each book and writes them down. He divides these into categories, such as love, death or faith. This helps him retain what he reads, plus gives him material for future talks or writings. Plus, he may write a review for some publication.

Then there's poetry. He started memorizing, he said, inspired by actors who performed in different Shakespearean plays each day. He began with his favorites, including ee cummings, Robert Frost and Emily Dickinson and knows 60-80 poems, although he confesses that if he doesn't use them, his memory loses them.

He writes poetry based on what happened the previous day. It forces him to slow down, reflect on what he did and put his experience into words, he said. He said he's written "a couple of thousand poems which are stacked everywhere," of which two or three poems a month are "OK."

He also writes for The Compass, Deacon's Digest, St. Anthony Messenger, Cistercians and Rite. Paulist Press has commissioned him to do a series of daily reflections for Advent/Christmas.

He's written many books and would like to do a book featuring a poet and one of their poems for each day of the year.

And he wants to read all of Shakespeare and run a marathon, though he's not sure he wants to do all that training.

Bp. Morneau said his life reflects his belief in stewardship, that everything we have is a gift from God. He said his understanding of stewardship is best described in The Gift, a children's book he wrote: God surrounds us with the gifts of light, love and life and asks us to give these gifts away to others.

We don't always know why God gives us certain things, but we need to be stewards of those gifts anyway, he said.

"I have been blessed in having opportunities," he said, including teaching philosophy and religious studies at Silver Lake College in Manitowoc shortly after his ordination, serving as vicar for religious, assisting part-time at parishes and as a hospital chaplain, and since February 1979 as an auxiliary bishop - the first U.S. bishop named by Pope John Paul II. "He showed great insight," Bp. Morneau said with a laugh.

These opportunities were both unexpected gifts and challenges to use what God has given him, he said.

"I would never have chosen teaching, number one. I wasn't trained to teach. I got my degrees in philosophy and theology, but I was never trained in teaching at all, so I would never have chosen teaching.

"I would never have started writing except that I got involved in vicar for religious things and began to do a lot of reading.

"I wasn't a reader until I went to college. I played ball all the time. So I wasn't a reader and I wouldn't have chosen that.

"Then I became a bishop and got to meet a lot of different people and travel to Rome. It's a whole different experience, a cultural experience. It's been an enlarging experience. Parish life is an enriching experience. So there's grace all over the place. It comes in different forms."