the Most Rev. John Balthasar Brungardt, Feb. 2, 2011
Vespers/Evening Prayer
Feb. 1, 2011, Sacred Heart Cathedral, Dodge City
Vespers Reception, Feb. 1, Santa Fe Train Depot;
Luncheon preceding the ordination, Feb. 2, KofC Hall;
Reception following the ordination, Cathedral
Ways to show your support of Bishop-elect Brungardt
Offering of Welcome for Bishop-elect Brungardt
The celebration in which Bishop-elect John is ordained our Bishop and inaugurates his ministry is a way in which we celebrate the life and ministry of the Church of Southwest Kansas.
Our participation by giving money in support of this celebration also is a pledge of support to Bishop John.
Offering for the Poor
In light of Bishop-elect John B. Brungardt’s motto, “Filled with Compassion,” the Diocese of Dodge City is hosting a special collection for the St. Nicholas Fund, which will provide funding for the poor and marginalized. Please give what you can to lend help to those among us who are in need.
Sometimes being a bishop feels like a blessing. Sometimes being a bishop feels like a cursing. For me, being a Bishop has always felt like a burden. It has been the sarcina episcopatus that St. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, frequently felt in his 5th century North Africa. He would rather have studied, but he had to preach and to teach. He would rather have prayed, but he had to sanctify through the sacraments. He would rather have worked with his hands, but he had to work with his people. Sarcina, he called it, a bundle to carry, a burden to bear.
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI has accepted the resignation of Bishop Ronald M. Gilmore of Dodge City, Kan., and named a priest of the Diocese of Wichita, Kan., to succeed him.
Bishop Gilmore, who at 68 is seven years younger than the usual retirement age for bishops, said in a statement that he had always found being a bishop "a burden" and felt that the diocese needed "fresh eyes, fresh hands and a fresh heart."
Succeeding him will be Father John B. Brungardt, 52, chancellor of the Wichita Diocese and pastor of St. Mark Church in St. Mark, Kan. He will be ordained a bishop Feb. 2 at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Dodge City.
A veces ser un obispo se siente como una bendición. A veces ser un obispo se siente como una maldición. Para mí, ser un obispo siempre se ha sentido como una carga. Ha sido la sarcina episcopatus (traducida como carga episcopal) que San Agustín, Obispo de Hipona, frecuentemente sintió en su África del Norte del siglo quinto. Hubiera preferido estudiar, pero tuvo que predicar y enseñar. Hubiera preferido orar, pero tuvo que santificar por medio de los sacramentos. Hubiera preferido trabajar con sus manos, pero tuvo que trabajar con su gente. Sarcina, le llamó él, un bulto que cargar, una carga que soportar.
Pope Benedict XVI announced today the appointment of the Reverend John B. Brungardt of Wichita as the sixth Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Dodge City, KS.
Bishop-elect Brungardt is currently administrator of St. Mark the Evangelist Catholic Church in St. Mark, KS., and Chancellor of the Catholic Diocese of Wichita. He will succeed Bishop Ronald M. Gilmore, who has served the Dodge City diocese since July, 1998. Bishop Gilmore plans to retire.
“I am humbled by Pope Benedict XVI’s appointment of me as the Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Dodge City. With trust in God, I hope to be a good shepherd to the people of southwest Kansas, from Odin to Elkhart, from Tribune to Kiowa,” Bishop-elect Brungardt said this morning in a press conference at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Dodge City. “Building on the foundation of Bishop Gilmore and his predecessors, the priests, religious, and laity, I hope to carry on the mission of spreading the Gospel message of Jesus Christ to the people of the diocese.”
Father John Brungardt was in his car Monday, Nov. 22, when his phone rang with a call bearing a 202 prefix. The caller introduced himself as Archbishop Pietro Sambi.
“I had to pull over to talk to him,” Father Brungardt said. When the papal nuncio to the United States was finished talking, Father Brungardt had become bishop-elect of the Diocese of Dodge City.
“My first thoughts were – I was kind of overwhelmed,” Bishop-elect Brungardt said in an interview last week. “Archbishop Sambi began by speaking about Jesus walking along the shore of Galilee. When he began that way I knew I was in for something! But, I guess, my initial reaction was just of being overwhelmed.”
Officially know as the Congregation for Bishops, this office of the Curia has the heavy responsibility of naming the world’s bishops, the future leaders of the Church. Each year, hundreds of vacancies are effected by death, retirement, illness, or expansion of a diocese, as in the case of a need for auxiliary bishops. The Congregation for Bishops, in conjunction with the papal representative of a country or region, makes inquiry into the suitability of one priest or another and submits to the Holy Father nominees for each post to be filled.
It is not as simple a process as it seems. First of all, the congregation must gather information on the exact needs of the local churches so that any eminent appointment would meet the need of the local church. To do so, the congregation employs priests and religious men and women who gather information from local ordinaries, bishop’s conferences, presbyterates, and laity so that, when a vacancy arises, the congregation will be prepared for an appointment based upon the needs of the church in that locality.
