New bishop assesses his first year

One of Bishop Joseph Estabrook's first jobs as an auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of Military Services was to divide up the world.

Bishop Estabrook and two of his peers, Bishops Richard Higgins and John Kaising, serve U.S. armed forces all over the globe. Before beginning their duties, the trio had to decide which parts of the world each would cover.

"This past year, I took all the [U.S. military] bases from west of the Mississippi to California," reported Bishop Estabrook, a native of the Albany Diocese who was ordained a bishop a year ago.

In three months of continuous traveling, he managed to visit 49 bases -- boosting his knowledge of the Air Force in the process, since most of the installations were for that branch of the service.

'Same Joe'

When he was interviewed by The Evangelist in July 2004, just after learning of his new appointment, Bishop Estabrook worried about being adequate for the task.

A year later, he said that "you have an idea of bishops and where they stand in life -- and you don't think of yourself in that role. Now that I've been a bishop for a while, I realize I'm not that different from them."

Besides, he added, "you honestly don't have time to think about it. You're doing the same things you've always done, but God gives you a different platform to talk about it. It's the same Joe that's doing this."

New role

In the past year, he has settled into his new role as a bishop, his official title being "vicar for evangelization and vocations."

To that end, he works on promoting vocations, evangelizing the "unchurched" and doing marriage preparation for couples. He also cares for the spiritual needs of Navy chaplains.

Bishop Kaising serves Air Force chaplains and is responsible for the overarching needs of all military chaplains; Bishop Higgins handles Army chaplains and retired veterans.

Military families

Much of Bishop Estabrook's time is spent working with young people -- often, the children of military families. In fact, he just got back from World Youth Day in Cologne, Germany, where he escorted 450 young Catholics (see separate story).

"Our responsibilities are pretty broad," he said of his work. "My initial energy has been directed toward how we can reach out and evangelize young adults."

He called his charges "conflicted," wanting a spiritual dimension in their lives, but often drawn to more worldly things.

Evangelization

In collaboration with Paulist Media, Bishop Estabrook is developing a peer ministry for young adults and training "peer leaders" to facilitate discussions on such topics as "How Catholics read the Bible," "Why go to church?" and "Who is Mary?"

At 61, Bishop Estabrook joked that he sits in on planning sessions for the discussions but doesn't lead them: "I let the younger people handle that."

Bishop Estabrook, who recently joined the U.S. bishops' Committee on Evangelization, believes that aspect of Church life is "really important. There are so many unchurched people searching for God."

Quoting Pope Benedict XVI, he said that the way to approach people who don't practice their faith shouldn't be "to impose our beliefs on anyone, [but] simply to propose. Jesus never saddled people with things."

Off to Europe

Next year, Bishop Estabrook's territory shifts to Europe. To prepare, he's studying Spanish and brushing up on the Italian he learned as a military chaplain in Sicily in the 1980s.

He remarked that the trick in most countries is to find someone who speaks the language and stick with them.

German, however, is one language "that's going to have to wait a while" to be learned, he said. "I just came back from Germany, and that's a really complicated language!"

'Tornado' time

Overall, he most enjoys the diversity of his ministry -- particularly the opportunities to travel and to work with young people.

"It's been exciting. I'm telling people I'm 61 this year, and next year I'm going to be 72!" he remarked. "It's going really fast; it feels like stepping into a tornado!"

(Bishop Estabrook was ordained as a priest for the Albany Diocese in 1969 and became a Navy chaplain in 1977. His last assignment before becoming a bishop was command chaplain at the Marine Corps base in Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii. His other assignments have included executive assistant to the Navy chief of chaplains, ethics consultant to the Navy Surgeon General, fleet chaplain for the U.S. Pacific fleet and senior chaplain of the U.S. Pacific Unified Command. To accomplish his goals, he said, "You have to keep prayer in your life. Clarity comes with prayer. The more you pray, the clearer your goals become.")

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