Bishop Nienstedt: No time for 'culture shock'

By KEVIN SWEENEY

Journal Editor

NEW ULM -- In the six months since his installation as only the third bishop of the Diocese of New Ulm, Bishop John Nienstedt said he hasn't had time for culture shock.

Bishop Nienstedt grew up in the Detroit area, and served most recently as an auxiliary bishop of the Detroit Diocese. He might be excused for wondering what he had been thinking when he traded the major metropolitan area of Detroit for the mostly rural New Ulm Diocese.

"Since I've been here people have asked me about culture shock, but I'm not aware of it," said Bishop Nienstedt. "I've been very busy. I've been trying to get to as many parishes as I can, and so far I've visited 60 out of 82. I've visited 12 of the 18 Catholic elementary schools, and I've visited the three high schools at least three times each."

Getting to know Diocesan staff and the jobs they do, and the issues they deal with have kept the bishop's agenda full, as well.

"I do miss being away from family and friends I've known through 54 years, being able to call someone up on a night off and meeting for dinner. But we are supposed to 'give up our father and mother, our family and friends to serve the Lord,'" he said.

The warm reception of the people he has met has also helped him feel welcome, Bishop Nienstedt said.

Bishop Nienstedt was installed as Bishop of New Ulm in August. He was selected following the retirement of Bishop Raymond Lucker the previous year. He found a diocese of far-flung rural parishes and towns, where the challenge is to use the limited resources of priests and religious to serve the needs of the people.

He also found a diocese well organized to deal with that task. A Commission on Parishes, organized by Bishop Lucker, has been examining the needs and planning for the years ahead. Many parishes are clustered, some served by nuns serving as parish administrators rather than pastors.

"We have to see where we can best utilize the number of priests and religious in our churches and schools," said Bishop Nienstedt. "Many of our parishes are clustered, and we have to see if there is a way to do that on a greater scale."

Bishop Nienstedt made religious vocations an issue in his very first sermon in the diocese, at his installation. He called for a special focus on vocations by calling for every diocesan meeting to start with a prayer for vocations. He also invited diocesan members to pick up the old Catholic practice of abstaining from meat on Fridays, not just during Lent but all year round, as a means of praying for vocations.

"Prayer is a powerful tool for those who believe in God. Prayer is not just lip service, but engaging the Lord, to see what He wants for us, and to let Him know what we want from him."

Prayer becomes more potent, said Bishop Nienstedt, when actions are joined to words, when it is not just "heart felt, but stomach-felt."

The Friday abstinence is strictly voluntary, said the bishop. "I'm delighted with the number of people who are responding."

He has found an added bonus to the meatless Fridays for vocations, one he hadn't anticipated. The Catholic schools in the diocese have joined in with meat-free lunches on Fridays. "When students ask, 'Why are we having this?' they remember, 'Oh, yes, it's for vocations,' and it gets them thinking. It's a consciousness raiser."

The bishops travels around the diocese have impressed him with the importance of rural life, he said.

"I love driving along the country roads, seeing the fields last fall. I've never seen corn turning so gold, ready for harvest. Now there's the black earth out there, and I can't wait for spring. I've never seen that before."

He's getting a quick education in the issues of rural economic justice, he said. "I've been doing a lot of reading, and we have Chris Loetscher on the diocesan staff who's very conversant in the area, and he's been feeding me a lot of information.

"I realize something that people who live in the big cities don't know, that this is America's heartland. The people in Washington had better take notice that the biggest part of our country is devoted to agriculture, and if the ag industry is strong, the nation is strong, and if it's weak, it weakens the nation as a whole."

In the coming year, Bishop Nienstedt said the Church will be doing some study on the way the Church celebrates its liturgy, and do some fine-tuning on what has developed since the Second Vatican Council 30 years ago.

He also wants to look at Catholic education, not just schools and youth education, but at continuing education for youth and adults. Religious education shouldn't end at Confirmation and graduation from school.

"Our engagement with God is lilke a marriage -- we should be growing more deeply appreciative of our partner as we grow older."