Toronto, Canada, Jan 17, 2010 / 00:32 am
Archbishop Thomas Collins of the Toronto Archdiocese ordained two new auxiliary bishops this past week, and at one of the ordinations he spoke on the importance of humility for prelates, saying that a bishop “always needs to recognize his own frailties.”
“The authority of the bishop does not come from within, from any personal competence,” said the prelate. “It comes from the Lord who sends him, and so each of us bishops must live daily in a spirit of humble repentance, asking the Lord to forgive our sins and to help us deal with our human inadequacies.”
Archbishop Collins ordained the 53-year-old Bishop Bill McGratten on Jan. 12, in the Archdiocese of Toronto's St. Peter's Cathedral Basilica with over 1,000 people in attendance. The prelate included the themes of humble repentance and episcopal holiness in his homily.
“If a bishop is to represent faithfully the one who sends him, and from whom he derives his identity, his life must be marked by episcopal holiness: he must personally know the Lord whom he represents,” the archbishop said Tuesday. “His real fruitful authority is not canonical, but derives from the degree to which the people whom he serves acknowledge that in fact their bishop loves Jesus and loves them.”