Bishop Dennis Walsh consecrates the host during the Mass of his ordination and installation as Bishop of Davenport last month.
By Barb Arland-Fye
The Catholic Messenger
DAVENPORT — Gathering in Rome with new bishops from around the world provided Bishop Dennis Walsh an opportunity to experience the rich diversity of cultures, languages and experiences of the Catholic Church just days before his ordination to the Episcopacy.
“It’s great to see the Church thriving in different parts of the world, meeting the bishops from missionary territories and just hearing their pastoral issues, which are far different from ours,” Bishop Walsh told The Catholic Messenger.
Bishop Walsh participated in the Vatican’s weeklong formation program for new bishops, affectionately known as “Baby Bishops School,” Sept. 15-21, six days before his ordination and installation as 10th Bishop of the Diocese of Davenport. He had just been to Rome six weeks earlier for a vacation planned long before Pope Francis chose him to lead the Davenport Diocese.
Two groups of new bishops participated in the formation program, 140 as part of the Dicastery of Bishops and about 125 as part of the Dicastery of Evangelization. The second group of new bishops are from Africa and mission territories, Bishop Walsh said. The two groups met separately but came together for joint conferences on two days.
“What was really terrific overall was to see the diversity in the Church and just based on geography the different pastoral challenges that the Church faces in all parts of the world. I mean we have our challenges in the United States. One bishop in Africa shared that in his diocese terrorism is a big issue … he loses 1,000 people a month from acts of terrorism. People are killed just by violence and terrorism.”
Then Bishop-elect Dennis Walsh attends a session at the Vatican to learn more about the duties of a bishop during a formation program last month.
A matter of perspective
Bishop Walsh met bishops from Syria, Ukraine and other war-torn areas. “I had lunch one day with the Archbishop of Tehran of the Chaldeans. I didn’t even know there was a Chaldean Archdiocese in Tehran.” Over lunch, Archbishop Imad Khoshaba Gargees asked Bishop Walsh about his diocese, which he described as “a small diocese in the Midwest in the United States.” The archbishop “laughed at me … in his diocese he has a total of 1,500 Catholics and four priests.”
“It’s all a matter of perspective,” Bishop Walsh said. “You see the Church in all these parts of the world where the Church is present and ministering faithfully and in very trying and difficult situations. It is very edifying to see the commitment of all these people. They really risk their lives for the service of the Gospel.”
Each day, the bishops listened to speakers give talks in Italian, Portuguese or Spanish, translated simultaneously, and then had discussions afterwards. The first talk focused on Pope Francis’ theological vision, with its foundation in his 2013 apostolic exhortation, “Evangelii Gaudium” (“On Proclamation of the Gospel in Today’s World”). As Pope Francis articulates, “Our whole way of looking at the world and the whole manner in which we pass the faith on to the next generation has shifted and changed. We have to be able to find new ways to proclaim the Gospel in this new epoch because the old ways may not work anymore,” Bishop Walsh said.
Synthesizing the talk on synodality, Bishop Walsh said, “All of us are in this together and we need to be talking to each other. We can learn from each other… Our pastors and lay people need to be in conversation together about how we address the changes in the world and how we work together and labor together in the proclamation of the Gospel.” While he has not been a part of the Davenport Diocese’s synodal process, Bishop Walsh knows that several major themes emerged from that process, aimed at directing ministries into the future.
The topic of integral human development addressed the pastoral challenges of handling divisions and conflicts due to ethnic or political issues and the pathways toward reconciliation and peace, he said. Another topic focused on the use of the Roman Liturgy prior to the 1970 reform and Pope Francis’ concerns about it. Other topics covered the governance of lay associations, family life and youth ministry, and the role of the bishop in protecting youths.
The digital age and AI
A Franciscan speaker impressed Bishop Walsh with insights about how much the digital age and AI (artificial intelligence) “is changing our whole way of thinking.” The speaker cautioned that “nothing is free and that you yourself are the product.” The speaker referred to a “digital tattoo” whereby people leave a digital presence “that will follow you for the rest of your life.”
“So much of that is contrary to what we believe in terms of redemption,” Bishop Walsh said. “In the digital age, if you make a mistake it will stay with you forever.” AI also is changing the way “we ask questions … it’s changing the syntax.”
Meeting the pope
Each day’s agenda included celebration of the Mass and Morning and Evening Prayer. The new bishops had their audience with Pope Francis in the Apostolic Palace two days before the formation program concluded. The pope, who was late because of earlier papal audiences, arrived through a side door. Bishop Walsh described the gathering as informal and the bishops had the opportunity to ask questions for about 90 minutes. Msgr. Christopher Washington, an American who serves in the Vatican’s diplomatic corps, translated the questions and answers into English.
Because the pope was behind schedule, the bishops had less one-on-one-time with the Holy Father. “We went up and shook hands and I just said (in Spanish), ‘Holy Father, I am not a bishop yet. I will be ordained next Friday and I ask for your prayers.’ He just smiled,” Bishop Walsh said.
One small complaint: fish and vegetables were the main staples during formation week, two of Bishop Walsh’s least favorite food groups. However, on the eve of the feast day of St. Matthew, the bishops dined on filet. “I was in heaven,” Bishop Walsh laughed.
