New West Virginia bishop addresses scandals head-on at installation Mass

Aug 23, 2019 / 15:43 pm

After nearly a year without a bishop, due to the scandal-ridden former Bishop Michael Bransfield, the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston in West Virginia has a new shepherd, who was installed at a Mass yesterday on the feast of the Queenship of Mary.

Hundreds of Catholics, hopeful for a fresh start, came from throughout the diocese to fill the Cathedral of St. Joseph in Wheeling for the 2+ hour Mass and glimpse their new leader, Bishop Mark Brennan. Thousands more tuned in to the event via a Facebook live stream posted by the diocese.

"It's a new beginning. We hope it's a new beginning," Joe Herrick, a Catholic who attended the Mass, told a local Fox News affiliate.

"We're very hopeful for the future. I'm really praying Bishop Brennan will be able to lead us and mend the flock together so we can be one."

Brennan, who gave the homily, did not hesitate to address the tumultuous year that both the diocese and the universal Church have experienced.

"My friends, the 'people walked in darkness' and 'dwelt in the land of gloom'. Those words of Isaiah, referring to enemy armies oppressing the kingdom of Israel, are an apt description for how many Catholics in this country have felt over the past year and how many West Virginia Catholics have felt for even longer," Brennan said on Thursday, Aug. 22 at his installation Mass.

While he did not specifically name Bransfield, Brennan spoke of the diocese's "painful past" and the "crisis" it now faces as a result of the scandals.

"The scandals we have learned about have caused painful disappointment, confusion, anger and distrust of Church leaders," he said.

In September 2018, Pope Francis accepted the resignation of Bishop Michael J. Bransfield from the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston while an investigation was launched regarding allegations of financial and sexual misconduct against him. Archbishop William E. Lori was appointed apostolic administrator of the diocese in the interim.

Bransfield, who had been bishop of the diocese since 2004, reportedly sexually harassed, assaulted and coerced seminarians, priests, and other adults during his time there. He is also reported to have used diocesan funds to make large financial gifts to other bishops and to pay for personal luxuries. According to a report from the Washington Post, concerns about Bransfield's finances were raised as early as 2012 and were evidently ignored for years by some bishops who were the recipients of these gifts.

In July 2019, after assessing the investigation into Bransfield by Lori, the Vatican announced sanctions against Bransfield, including that he is no longer allowed to participate in public Masses or to live within his former diocese. He is also expected to "make personal amends" for his wrongs, Pope Francis said in a communique.

"Behavior has consequences, and there are consequences to bad behavior in the past that will have to be dealt with," Brennan said in his homily. "That is one of my responsibilities and I assure you that I will meet it."

But still, there is hope, the new bishop added. "...Isaiah's message to an oppressed people does not end in the darkness. Hear it again: 'The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; upon those who dwelt in the land of gloom a light has shone,'" he said.

"My friends, it takes no humility on my part to admit that I am not the light," Brennan said, provoking laughter from the congregation. Instead, he said, it is the light of Christ that will lead the diocese out of these "dark times" and into a future of hope.

"The light of Christ beckons us to move now from the painful past toward him, not in denial but in confidence that the Lord will supply us with the wisdom and strength to do things better, to live our faith with greater integrity and to reflect more brightly, as far as our human weakness and limitations will permit, his own enduring light," he said.

Brennan acknowledged numerous groups of people whom he said have already been lights in the darkness, including parents who continue to catechize their children, Catholic school and religious education teachers who do the same, parish priests who faithfully administer the sacraments, as well as diocesan chancery workers and faithful young people.

"Christ's light has been shining in the darkness through all of them and, as St. John says in his Gospel, the darkness has not overcome it. I thank God for these faithful West Virginia Catholics," he said.

The scandals may also have driven some people away from the Church, Brennan said, but he encouraged Catholics in the diocese to look to their roots circa the Civil War - when West Virginia seceded from Virginia in order to remain in the Union - for inspiration to remain united in faith.

"When the dark clouds of secession were rolling over the State of Virginia in the spring of 1861, the people of these western mountains chose to remain in the United States of America. They would not break their unity with Ohio and Pennsylvania, Michigan and Kentucky. They petitioned Congress to admit them as the State of West Virginia, which Congress did in 1863," he said.

"Many of their sons-the ancestors of some here present - fought to maintain the integrity of the Union."

He urged Catholics of today to fight for that same unity in the Church.

"Unity with one another and with God is what the Lord wants for us- and what, in our hearts, we truly desire," he said.

"One man told me not long ago that he stopped going to Mass in his parish because of the recent scandals but then he asked himself: who was he helping by doing that? No one. Who was he hurting? Himself. He has since returned to Mass, still eager to see the Church address its failings and bring about lasting reform but conscious that walking away doesn't help," he added.

"As Simon Peter said to the Lord when some disciples were leaving Jesus because of hard teachings, 'Lord to whom shall we go? You alone have the words of eternal life.'" The Blessed Virgin Mary is another example of someone who said "yes" to the Lord despite difficult circumstances, Brennan said.

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"...like Mary, we can let God fulfill his purpose in us and not let the darkness return to cover the earth. We can right the wrongs of the past and move on to make Christ known, helping our neighbor in need and remaining united in faith and love," he said.

"West Virginia Catholics: cherish your faith and the holy Church that has nurtured it," he added.

"Make Mary's 'yes' to God your own and work with me and your brothers and sisters to let the light of Christ be a light brightly visible in the mountains and valleys, the city streets and country roads of this beautiful part of God's creation: West Virginia."