Bishop-designate Etienne discusses his episcopal motto, changes in ministry

Then-Father Paul Etienne, vice rector of Bishop Simon Bruté College Seminary in Indianapolis, gives a presentation on the virtue of charity to a group of high school campers during Bishop Bruté Days, a vocations camp sponsored by the seminary held at the Future Farmers of America Center in Johnson County on June 12, 2008. (File photo by Sean Gallagher)

By Sean Gallagher

At his Oct. 19 press conference in Cheyenne, Wyo., Bishop-designate Paul D. Etienne connected the ministry in the archdiocese that he is leaving to the new ministry in Wyoming that he will be taking up.

He also spoke about his episcopal motto.

“As [he asked] the rich young man in last Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus has once again asked me to leave all behind, and follow him,” Bishop-designate Etienne said. “So, from the gently, rolling hills of southern Indiana, he has called me to this beautiful, rugged mountain region of Wyoming.

“From the many farm fields of home, he has called me to the ranching region of the Great Plains. It is to this beautiful part of God’s Kingdom the Lord now calls me to be a fisher of men, women and children.

“… The psalmist says, ‘Teach me your ways, Oh Lord.’ In the words of the psalmist, I now ask the same of you, my beloved people of Cheyenne. Teach me your ways: the ways of your local customs, your love of the outdoors, the ways of ranching, your ways of praising and serving Christ.

“At the same time, I humbly ask that you grant me the privilege of leading you into the ways of peace, for the dawn from on high, Jesus Christ, is breaking upon us anew this day. Let us walk always in his light that he may teach us the way and the truth that leads to life eternal.

“As one sent by Christ to preach the Good News, I have chosen for my episcopal motto the words of St. Paul to the Ephesians (Eph 4:15), ‘Veritas in Caritate,’ ‘Truth in Love.’

“As Church, we believe Christ is the ultimate expression of truth as well as the ultimate expression and experience of love. As one sent by Christ, I ask for his blessing as we, the Church of Cheyenne, begin this next chapter of faith together. When Christ sent his first disciples, he told them to take nothing with them for the journey. This was because he was to be their sole possession. May we rely only and always upon Christ.”

(For more about the Diocese of Cheyenne, log on to www.dioceseofcheyenne.org.) †