Bishop-elect Thom Hennen and Bishop Dennis Walsh talk outside Sacred Heart Cathedral in Davenport before the Mass of Bishop Walsh’s ordination and installation last year.
By Barb Arland-Fye
The Catholic Messenger
Bishop Dennis Walsh was traveling back to Davenport from Ohio when he received an unexpected call from Cardinal Christophe Pierre, the apostolic nuncio to the United States. A year earlier, the cardinal had called him with the stunning news of his appointment as Bishop of the Diocese of Davenport. This time, the call was about the bishop’s vicar general, Father Thom Hennen, whom Pope Leo XIV was appointing as Bishop of the Diocese of Baker, Oregon.
Bishop Walsh was surprised by the call, he said during the latest Catholic Messenger Conversations podcast, but “Bishop-elect Hennen is just a fine priest and just a great example of priesthood and so I wasn’t surprised really that he was named bishop.”
However, Bishop Walsh said he told Cardinal Pierre that it would be a big loss for the Davenport Diocese. “Father Hennen plays a pretty important role as the vicar general for the diocese and that’s a big position in the diocese.” The cardinal concurred but responded, “I know, I know, but you know how it works,” Bishop Walsh recalled of their conversation.
He pulled over to the side of the road to give Bishop-elect Hennen’s cell phone number to Cardinal Pierre, who called the unsuspecting priest minutes later. “Father Hennen’s first call was to me, and that’s pretty customary,” Bishop Walsh said. “I think Father Hennen was pretty shocked … the surprise was evident in his voice.” The bishop-elect “is only 47 years old (he will be the youngest to lead a diocese on Sept. 29). So that’s a long time to be a bishop.”
Bishop Walsh, recalling his own shock at his appointment, said he told Bishop-elect Hennen, “I’ll be in Davenport shortly. How about we meet tonight?” They did. “I just gave him the opportunity to share with somebody.”
The Vatican requires the appointment to remain secret until the official announcement; the only people the bishop-elect may contact are his current bishop and the bishop whom he will succeed. “It’s a call that changes one’s life. What makes it even more difficult is that you can’t talk to anybody (else) about it. … I never saw myself as a potential bishop candidate at all. I was involved in a lot of administrative committees, but I was never involved with diocesan governance in my home diocese (Toledo, Ohio).”
Whom can you talk to?
His first call, to Bishop Daniel Thomas of Toledo, was comical. “He hung up on me!” Unbeknownst to Bishop Walsh, his bishop was not in a private place where he could talk. “I called him again and it just went right to voicemail. I was sitting on the information unable to talk to anybody.”
However, they finally connected that night. “Bishop Thomas was extraordinary, offering me the emotional support, the prayerful support as well. He called me several times during those two or three weeks before (the announcement) became public.”
Archbishop Thomas Zinkula, now the archbishop of the Dubuque Archdiocese, the previous Bishop of the Davenport Diocese, also called in support. “I remember receiving a text message from Archbishop Zinkula that said, ‘how are you doing with this little thing,’ which I found pretty humorous.”
Bishop Walsh would have appreciated a “how-to-guide” of next steps, such as, “You have to write a letter to the Holy Father officially accepting the appointment…. So I made sure Father Hennen knew to write his letter to the Holy Father accepting the assignment.”
The bishop discovered that the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) published a booklet for bishop-elects. “It’s a great resource.” He gave Bishop-elect Hennen his copy. Focusing on what comes next is challenging because “you’re still doing all of the work that your current position involves while also preparing to become a bishop,” Bishop Walsh said.
Bishop Dennis Walsh sings with Father Thom Hennen in this file photo at Sacred Heart Cathedral in Davenport.
Looking ahead
His best advice for Bishop-elect Hennen, who also serves as pastor of Sacred Heart Cathedral in Davenport: “Give yourself time because it feels like you’re running from one assignment to another and you just never stop running. So, to be able to take time away and to be able to have a break and a closure to one place.”
Bishop-elects are required to take a retreat before their installation and Bishop Walsh said his was very helpful. Bishop Thomas had recommended reading while on retreat, St. John Paul II’s reflection on his appointment as Auxiliary Bishop of Krakow.
Bishop Walsh believes that the gifts Bishop-elect Hennen brings to the episcopacy are his “great people skills and the ability to interact with people and to reach people. I think he’s pretty balanced theologically and just has exercised great prudence and leadership abilities.”
Among the greatest challenges that Bishop Walsh has experienced in his transition — which is applicable to Bishop-elect Hennen — “was coming to a place where I knew no one. Coming to a diocese where you’re not familiar with the traditions, the stories of the diocese, the history of the diocese, the people of the diocese, and especially the priests.”
Bishop Walsh’s challenge now is choosing a new vicar general, which entails identifying priests “who also have the qualities to perhaps be bishop.” The vicar general stands in for the bishop when he is not available and “has all the administrative authority that a bishop has … so you look for the same qualities, and not everybody has those qualities.”
He also needs to fill the position of pastor for Sacred Heart Cathedral, the diocese’s mother church. The challenge is that filling one position involves two or three transfers. “So there’s a lot of conversations that need to be had.”
Bishop Walsh has also experienced much joy in his time of transition as bishop, something that Bishop-elect Hennen can anticipate as well. “The joys have been just getting out into the parishes, meeting people. I’ve enjoyed the installation of new pastors. I’ve enjoyed the confirmations. I enjoy the hospitality that I’ve received in all the places of the diocese that I have visited.”
