Bishop Steven J. Maekawa, O.P., Attends Baby Bishops School

Every September, a course of formation is held in Rome for bishops who were appointed or ordained to the episcopacy in the past year. It is colloquially known as “Baby Bishop School.” This year, one hundred and forty-two new bishops from around the world gathered to attend classes taught by cardinals and archbishops from the Roman Curia on the life and ministry of the Church in the world. 
 
Depending on the language of the presentation, the talks were translated into English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian. The seven-day course began with Mass at 7:00 a.m. and ended with dinner at 8:00 p.m. On the second to last day, the bishops celebrated Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica and had an audience with the Pope. 
 

All the continents of the world were represented. Never before have I seen such an array of people who are so identical in their vocation and different because of their cultures and ministerial circumstances. Only God could create such similarity and diversity. Only God could create such a unity of values, purpose, and identity in the midst of striking differences. 

One evening, I ate dinner with the following bishops: Two auxiliary bishops from Los Angeles; one had responsibility over seventy-two parishes, and the other did confirmations at fifty-four parishes last spring. At one parish alone, he confirmed over two hundred kids. It took him over an hour to anoint all the confirmandi. One bishop was the auxiliary of Istanbul, Turkey; seated next to him was the Bishop of Aleppo, Syria. One was an Iraqi who had just been ordained as the Bishop of Tehran, Iran. He had never been in Iran before becoming the bishop. He has five priests and two parishes. If one is familiar with the tensions in the Middle East, the conflicting political realities seated at the table are astonishing. One bishop’s diocese bordered the Arctic Ocean; of his forty-six churches, only nine are connected to a road system.

Only Jesus could create this gathering of unity and differences. It was a powerful reminder to us that his command to his apostles to “Go and baptize all nations, in the name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit” is being fulfilled.