A time to listen

Bishop Mark will bring honesty and sincerity to the Diocese of Albany

Bishop Mark O'Connell will bring a synodal-style of leadership to the Diocese of Albany, where he will listen, really listen, to what the faithful have to say. (Dino Petrocelli photo for The Evangelist) (Courtesy photo of dino petrocelli.camera 2 152021005044)

When Bishop Mark O’Connell was named the 11th Bishop of Albany on Oct. 20, I knew I needed to get in touch with the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston to get some photos and background on him. After all, he had been there since 2001, first as a canon lawyer during the abuse crisis, and moving all the way up to auxiliary bishop.

Before I could even send the email, I received one from Greg Tracy, the managing editor of The Pilot, the official news­paper of the Archdiocese of Boston. Greg was great. He sent me tons of photos of Bishop Mark through the years, and being a sports fan, I especially loved the hockey photo that we ran in the Dec. 4 edition of The Evangelist. Through our email correspondence, I asked him, “What is Bishop Mark like?”

He said: “One thing I can tell you is that he is very sincere. You’ll always know where you stand with him.”

Tracy should know. He has been working at the paper for 25 years, a time frame that has basically overlapped with Bishop Mark’s tenure in Boston. When I talked to Tracy again last week, he reiterated that sincerity is “a defining quality of Bishop Mark.”

“There are many people in the church who either are very quick to praise or very quick to say one thing and later on do another thing and Bishop Mark is not that way,” Tracy said. “You know from the get-go what he thinks. He’s always very honest and forthright and you never have to guess what his opinion is on any particular issue. That’s a hallmark, which is always very refreshing because you don’t always get that forthrightness, particularly from people in church leadership.”

Sincerity and honesty are qualities that Bishop Mark will bring to the Diocese of Albany, particularly with the “Remade for Mission” initiative that is underway. 

Another hallmark is listening. And now we are going to use that word that some Catholics hate, some love and some just don’t know what it means: synodality. 

Yeah, it is an old-school word, but in my interview with Bishop Mark, he said it is a way of listening, really listening. Listening without judgment. Listening without forming an opinion while the person is talking. Bishop Emeritus Ed — that feels weird to call him that — calls it “judgementalism:” I know the answer to your problem as soon as you start talking instead of just listening without judging. 

So I know that Bishop Mark will bring sincerity and honesty to any conversation you may have with him and he will listen, really listen.

We just need to do the same.