ChicagoTrib: Bishop Donald Hying downplays his holy stature: 'I'm a nobody, really'

The Most Rev. Donald Hying stood for more than an hour to greet parishioners waiting in line to shake his hand, kiss his ring or bend his ear.

Each believer wanted their coveted time with Hying, who marks his two-month anniversary this week as the new leader of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Gary.

"Oh Bishop, I loved your homily," one older woman told Hying last Sunday at Queen of All Saints Catholic Church in Michigan City. "Your true essence really came through."

I've been trying to better understand Hying's essence since I first spoke with him on the phone in December, after I learned he would replace Bishop Dale Melczek. Our phone conversation transcended typical newspaper interviews, just as Hying seems to transcends typical Catholic clergy. He has a specialness to him. This must be why he was chosen by Pope Francis to be only the fourth Bishop in nearly 60 years at the Gary Diocese.

"If the Holy Father is asking me to do this, there is nothing to think about," Hying said.
continue at Chicago Tribune

No comments: