THE
P RTAL
March 2016
Page 21
“Great are the works
of the Lord”
Fr John Hodgins, Parish of St. Thomas More, Toronto, Canada
reports on the Episcopal Ordination of Steven Joseph Lopes,
First Bishop of the Personal Ordinariate of The Chair of St Peter
They gathered
from all over North America in the Chancery Great Hall at Our Lady of
Walsingham in Houston, Texas; priests, deacons, clergy wives and laity rubbing shoulders with bishops
and cardinals at the reception following Evensong on the Vigil of the Feast of the Presentation
Sitting quietly with a Houston
parish hostess was Cardinal
William Levada. He is the retired
archbishop of San Francisco –
Bishop Lopes’ home diocese – as
well as Lopes’ former boss at the
Congregation for the Doctrine
of the Faith in Rome: a mentor
indeed.
Monsignors Steenson, Newton,
and Entwistle of, respectively,
North America, the United
Kingdom, and Australia.
In his opening remarks,
the host, Cardinal DiNardo,
thanked the beloved retiring
Ordinary, Monsignor Jeffrey
Steenson, for his remarkably
On the day of the ordination,
grace-filled leadership through
the Feast of Candlemas, Mass was
the initial days, which laid the
the first order of the day and then
foundations of the Personal
later a barbecue with Bishop-elect
Ordinariate of the Chair of
Lopes on hand to greet hundreds
St Peter. He remarked upon
from the local community as well
the roles played by Cardinals
as those from around the globe.
Levada and Müller of the
Congregation for the Doctrine
Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, the
of the Faith, who had worked
first cardinal in the “Deep South”,
with the young Fr Steven Lopes
has been a great and continuing
to establish the Ordinariates
friend to the Ordinariate. He,
following the lead of our
together with Mgr Jeffrey Steenson, convinced the revered Pope Emeritus, Benedict XVI.
Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston to give Fr John
Hodgins, the Parish of St Thomas More, Toronto,
Following his first blessing of the congregation,
Canada, the church of Our Lady of Walsingham.
Bishop Lopes thanked all present, noting in
particular the meaning of the motto he had chosen as
The Church of Our Lady of Walsingham had begun bishop, Magna Opera Domini which translates: “Great
as a Pastoral Provision (Anglican Use) parish. It is are the works of the Lord.” The newly anointed bishop
now a cathedral, and we are told that a future larger exhorted members of the Ordinariates to be zealous
cathedral is now in the preliminary planning stages. in the proclamation of the Gospel and evangelisation.
The Ordination, broadcast worldwide on EWTN from In the presence of ecumenical guests, Bishop Lopes
the Co-cathedral of the Sacred Heart (the original urged everyone to take seriously the