Yesterday Msgr. Michael Hardiman, the pastor of my parish, St Sebastian’s in Woodside launched his TV career, sitting in with Jim Watkins and Mary Murphy on Channel 11’s coverage of Archbishop Dolan’s installation here in NY.
The good pastor is also a blogger and had this to say after the experience:
One question Jim asked me off air and then on as well was “What do you think the reaction of a man is when he receives that phone call from the Nuncio, a great sense of accomplishment and recognition, the way a man feels when he is elected CEO?” I said, no from having spoken with more than one bishop, the man feels completely humbled. And I’m sure that was true of Archbishop Dolan today as well.
Agreed. Most of the Bishop’s I know say similar things and even the Pope mentioned that “it was obvious that the guillotine was going to fall on me” during the Papal election.
A similar analogy: Most U.S. Senators can easily see themselves being President of the United States. However, most priests have a hard time imagining themselves as a Bishop and many have an even more difficult time thinking about the idea of them ascending to the Papacy. That being said, there are certainly social climbers in the priesthood, to be sure, but many of them and certainly the best of them don’t think they deserve all the accolades that go along with being a Bishop.
Congrats to Msgr. Hardiman on this TV gig and read more of his blog here