These are the remarks that I liked, "The other day someone asked me how long it took to come up with my Episcopal motto, Ministrare non Ministrari-to serve and not to be served to which I responded 'about two seconds.' When I was first ordained a Vincentian priest--(and I am so happy to see so many of my confreres here)-the gospel reading for the ordination Mass contained those words of Jesus Christ in Mark's gospel. I was struck with the phrase then as being a perfect description of how to follow the Lord as a priest: 'to serve and not to be served and to give my life as a ransom for the many.' This was how I wanted to live out my life as a priest. This is how I want to live out my life as a bishop and how I hope to exercise that responsibility."
To serve and not to be served will be a great challenge for Bishop O'Connell. To remain humble and a servant of the people will mean renewing that pledge and promise every day he's bishop. Servant leadership is Christ-like and imitating Christ should be how every bishop serves the people of God. Administrative decisions and the many tasks of a bishop can, at times, make it difficult "to serve and not to be served", so it will take continual self-reflection, evaluation and self-knowledge to stay the course. I wish him well. It's a beautiful motto and I was moved by it. I pray he can live up to it.
I pray all bishops try to serve God's people with great humility and with a servant, Christ-like, compassionate attitude. It's what the Church needs at this time in history, in my humble opinion.
NJA
A bishop serves his people by teaching truth.....The bishop is called to be a servant of the empty tomb, not of the status quo. He leads his people to holiness by bearing witness to what the empty tomb means: joy, hope, the promise of new life.
Bishop David O'Connell-7/30/10
