Archbishop McGovern offers a glimpse of his vision for the archdiocese

After his initial week of holy liturgies and the receptions and receiving lines that followed, the new shepherd of the Archdiocese of Omaha has begun settling in.

Though Archbishop Michael G. McGovern will be busy meeting and listening to people in his first weeks, he offered some general thoughts on what he envisions for the archdiocese.

Here are some of his priorities and plans, which he outlined in a press conference at St. Cecilia Cathedral in Omaha following his Installation Mass on May 7:

THE BIG THREE, ESPECIALLY THE RIGHT TO LIFE

“I’m looking forward now, especially to emphasizing Catholic education, Catholic healthcare and the dignity of the human person,” Archbishop McGovern told reporters. “There’s such a need for us to respect one another as human beings, and how we help encourage that at every level. That’s a priority for me.”

Human dignity demands respect for life at all stages, from conception until natural death, he said, and especially for the most vulnerable.

“I think of the defenseless child in the womb waiting to be born” and those who are suffering or nearing the end of life.

Archbishop McGovern mentioned attempts in Illinois – where he served before being assigned to the Archdiocese of Omaha – to promote and sanction so-called physician-assisted suicide.

People “have to speak up that life is good, even when it’s difficult,” he said. There are ways to ease suffering, including palliative care, which offers help “in a way that respects their dignity.”

VOCATIONS!

Encouraging vocations is always important, Archbishop McGovern said, “whether that’s women becoming religious sisters, young men considering the priesthood … even lay people who want to be missionaries, even just for a couple of years.”

“That sense of being called by the Lord and sent out to a people, to a place, for a purpose. I think it’s very important, for young people especially,” to know “that God does call, God does send us.”

They need “to discern, to listen to what God is saying” and ask ‘How is God speaking to me today, and how do I best respond?”

MEETING THE FLOCK

From the moment he knocked on the door at St. Cecilia at his installation, “I felt like I was being received into this community,” the archbishop said. “I feel such a tremendous welcome here.”

“I hope to show to people that whatever trust they place in me, that I earn it, that I never want to take anyone for granted.”

He said he looked forward to becoming part of people’s lives, remembering that “I’ve got to buy into your world before I ask you to buy into mine. That’s what I tried to do in Belleville for five years, going to things like parish summer fests or different activities in parishes, and just sort of trying to share life with people, to say, ‘I really want to be here with you.’

“I think that that really opened doors for me in southern Illinois, and I trust it’ll help open doors here in Omaha.”

That process begins as he hits the road.

“I suspect that I’m going to be doing a lot of listening these next few weeks,” Archbishop McGovern said. “I hope not to be in the office so much but really be out in the parishes.”

He said he’s eager to go to the rural areas of the archdiocese and to meet some of the many farmers in northeast Nebraska.

Farmers live “a very challenging life,” he said, “and I have a lot of respect for them. I think they’re very close to God.”

Being close to the land and to nature, farmers see “God’s goodness, God’s creation,” and through their work, can “offer a loving response to God.”

TAKING STOCK

“I think there’s so much good going on that we shouldn’t lose sight of it. Sometimes when the good is constant,” that happens, Archbishop McGovern said.

With the arrival of a new archbishop, people might sense a new moment, a time to evaluate.

“It’s like December 31st,” he said, “when you kind of take stock of everything at the end of the year, and you think about what happened since last December 31st.”

“Assessing the situation, the many blessings, but also looking on the horizon: What do we still need to do? What remains for us to do together to promote our faith, to promote the common good, to promote the Kingdom of God?”

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