Aug. 6 – Pray for Archbishop-elect Thomas Zinkula

As many of you have already heard, on Wed. July 26 it was announced that Bishop Tom Zinkula, the current bishop of Davenport, Ia., has been named the new Archbishop of Dubuque. He will be formally installed as our new Archbishop on Wednesday, October 18.  More information about him and his full press-conference speech can be found here: dbqarch.org/archbishop-elect-zinkula

Here’s an excerpt from the speech of Archbishop-elect Zinkula:

“I have a copy of the prayer that the Archdiocese has been praying, ‘the prayer as we await a new archbishop.’ When the Apostolic Nuncio called me about a month ago about my new appointment [to become Archbishop of Dubuque], I began to pray that prayer; praying that I will be the kind of bishop that the Archdiocese needs and wants. That I will be ‘a priest of deep and true prayer, a teacher with a loving heart and firm resolve, and a shepherd of joy and peace, who desires above all to do God’s will.’

In regards to that last petition, it just so happens that my episcopal motto is, ‘Thy will be done.’

I’m well aware of my human weaknesses, limitations, and frailties. I request that the priests, deacons, religious and faithful of the Archdiocese continue to pray for me as well as for the Archdiocese and I promise to remember you in prayer as well….

… I am overjoyed to receive the appointment to return to my home diocese to serve as its eleventh bishop.  So, it will be humbling and perhaps a bit interesting to add the role of spiritual father to my relationships with my fellow archdiocesan priests who have been my brothers and friends for so many years…

… I hope that my being a native son and priest of the Archdiocese will make the transition somewhat easier and quicker. I already know the clergy of the Archdiocese … and I obviously know the Archdiocese quite well, having served for twenty-seven years in various assignments as a priest of the Archdiocese. In those roles I have ministered to thousands of the faithful of the Archdiocese, and have celebrated Mass in most of the parishes.

BUT it has been six years since I left, and the Archdiocese hasn’t sat still during that time.  So I will need to get reacquainted with everyone and with what has happened here.  I won’t be coming in with a big agenda or master plan. I have embraced the synodal process initiated by Pope Francis and so in that vein I hope to encounter and get to know as many people of the Archdiocese as possible; to listen deeply and carefully to their thoughts, concerns, and suggestions; To engage in communal discernment with the clergy and the laity in regards to the path on which the Holy Spirit is leading us; and to accompany you all as we journey together on that path.”

Peace,

– Fr. Kevin