Diocese gets new leader

Like Gregory, new leader was born in Chicago

BY PATRICK J. POWERS Belleville News Democrat

(see also: Diocese of Belleville)

BELLEVILLE — Former St. Louis Auxiliary Bishop Edward K. Braxton, currently serving as bishop of Lake Charles, La., will be the eighth leader of the Belleville Diocese; the Vatican announced Tuesday.

„Now I am called to embrace the local church of Belleville,“ Braxton said. „I have no doubt that the face and heart of Christ will be revealed to me in new and different ways as I pray and work and serve with the dedicated priests, deacons, religious and Christian faithful of this diocese“.

BRAXTON, 60, has yet to set a date for his installation as Belleville’s next bishop, but said he expects it to be in early June. Braxton will replace Bishop Wilton Gregory, who was in-stalled Jan. 17 as the sixth arch-bishop of Atlanta.

„He comes to this appointment with an impressive heritage of scholarship, pastoral experience and zeal for the gospel of Jesus Christ,“ Gregory said. „May Bishop Braxton find all the graces he needs to fulfill his new assignment with success, personal satisfaction and great peace of heart.“

Braxton, like Gregory, was born in Chicago and attended St. Mary of the Lake Seminary in Mundelein. Gregory was two years behind Braxton at the school and was a server for Braxton’s first Mass in 1970 at Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago.

Braxton and Gregory are among only-14 black bishops out of the 418 active and retired bishops in the United States.

During a news conference Tuesday, Braxton stressed his need to learn more about the specifics needs of the Belleville Diocese and reiterated his commitment to the youth of the Catholic Church. Braxton annually visited every classroom of Lake Charles‘ eight Catholic elementary schools.

Braxton also expressed his de-sire to reach out to members of other Christian, Jewish and Islamic communities in the area. Ecumenical and interfaith collaboration always have been a hall-mark of Braxton’s ministry, he said.

Braxton spent the rest of Tuesday lunching with priests and meeting with other diocesan officials.

The relatively short period between Gregory’s departure and Braxton’s appointment came as a surprise to some – but a pleas-ant one to those who knew of him before Monday.
„We’re pleased to have him,“ said Robert Gilligan, executive di-rector of the Catholic Conference of Illinois. „He’ll be an excellent fit.“

Said Monsignor James Margason, vicar general for the Belleville Diocese: „Bishop Braxton brings a wealth of experience to his new role as shepherd of the church of Southern Illinois both from the field of academia as well as pastoral experience as the bishop of Lake Charles, Louisiana.“

Bishop George Lucas of the Springfield Diocese that includes Madison County offered Braxton his best wishes. „I will pray for him, as well as for the priests and people of the diocese, as they be-gin together their new chapter of life in the Lord.“ he said.

As a young priest Braxton at-tended the Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium from 1973 to 1974, taught at Harvard University Divinity School from 1976 to 1977 and became chancellor for theological affairs for the Cleve-land Diocese in 1978.

Cleveland’s Bishop James Hickey, later a cardinal, brought Braxton with him when he was
appointed to Washington, D.C., in 1980. In 1983, Braxton became the scholar in residence at the Pontifical North American College in Rome, and in 1986 he worked as a theological consult-ant for a New York publisher.

Pope John Paul appointed Braxton as auxiliary bishop of St. Louis on March 28, 1995, and bishop of Lake Charles, La., on Dec. 12, 2000. The Lake Charles Diocese includes about 72,000 Catholics in 42 parishes. Lake Charles is about 31/2 hours west of New Orleans.
The Belleville Diocese has

about 104,000 Catholics and covers St. Clair, Clinton and Monroe counties and the southernmost part of Illinois.

„I, like many others, thought that considering his education and experience he might leave us one day,“ said the Rev. Aubrey Guilbeau, vicar general for the Lake Charles Diocese. „I am a little disappointed at his departure because of the exceptional leadership he is giving our diocese.“

Gregory was installed in January as the archbishop of Atlanta after leading the Belleville diocese and its 124 parishes for nearly 11 years. He also served as president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops for three years during the height of the clergy molestation crisis.

Jahresprogramm 2004

Gregory wechselt als Erzbischof nach Atlanta

Paderborn (st). Nun wird vermutlich nichts mehr aus einem Besuch in Paderborn: Wilton D. Gregory, seit 1994 erster Schwarzer auf dem Bischofsstuhl der Diözese Belleville (USA), verlässt die Paderborner Partnerstadt. Er rückt in der kirchlichen Hierarchie eine Stufe höher: Der Papst hat den 57-Jährigen zum neuen Erzbischof von Atlanta im Bundesstaat Georgia ernannt.

Die Diözese Belleville im südlichen Illinois zählt 104.000 Katholiken, Atlanta, wo die Amtseinführung am 17. Januar erfolgt, 367.000. Über die Nachfolge in Belleville hat Rom noch nicht entschieden.

Paderborns früherer, 2002 verstorbener Erzbischof Kardinal Johannes Joachim Degenhardt hatte Gregory schon vor Jahren offiziell zu einem Besuch des Liborifestes nach Paderborn eingeladen. Doch der Terminkalender Gregorys hatte dafür nie Zeit gelassen. Insbesondere in den letzten Jahren nicht. Als Vorsitzender der US-amerikanischen Bischofskonferenz von 2001 bis November 2004 ? erster Afro-Amerikaner auch in dieser Funktion ? war er in den gesamten USA und darüber hinaus ein gefragter Kirchenmann. Und um seine Aufgabe nicht zu beneiden: In seine Amtszeit fiel die Aufdeckung einer Vielzahl von Fällen von Kindesmissbrauch durch katholische Priester in den USA. Die eher schleppende Art Weise, in der manche Ortsbischöfe die Aufklärung dieser Fälle zunächst voran trieben, forderten Gregorys besonderes Einsatz als Chef der Bischofskonferenz. Mehrmals war er auch auf deutschen Fernsehschirmen zu sehen, wenn er zur Berichterstattung und Beratung beim Papst in Rom vorsprach.
War er gerade in Belleville anwesend, wenn Besuch aus der deutschen Partnerstadt dort weilte, war es für Gregory keine Frage, die Gäste persönlich zu begrüßen, so auch im Sommer 2002 Bürgermeister Heinz Paus.

Zurück von der Ernennung zum Erzbischof von Atlanta zelebrierte Gregory am dritten Advent einen Gottesdienst in Belleville. Er werde die Menschen dort sehr vermissen, sagte er mit Tränen in den Augen.

Der 1973 zum Priester geweihte Gregory hat unter anderem im Priesterseminar von Mundelein in der Nähe Chicagos studiert und später dem Lehrkörper dieser kirchlichen Hochschule angehört. Der Ort Mundelein ist nach dem früheren Chicagoer Erzbischof Georg William Mundelein (1872 -1939) benannt ? Nachfahre des aus Altenbüren bei Brilon stammenden Amerikaauswanderers Franz Theodor Mündelein.

aus: Neue Westfälische, 14. Dezember 2004

President’s Message

As this year slowly comes to an end, all I can say is, what an accomplishment for our organization. It has been a very busy year, at times even a little stressful.

This year we were able to host two small delegations from our Sister City Paderborn, once during the „Art on the Square event, and then shortly afterwards a small group accompanied by Dr. Otmar Allendorf, the Secretary, and Bernd Broer, the President of Paderborn SC. While they were here, we held our annual „Springdance“. Then in August, 14 young students, along with 2 chaperones returned safely from a three week stay in Paderborn.

Our Oktoberfest this year was a great success, of course thanks to the weather and definitely our good food.

If you were unable to attend our annual ‚Taste of Germany“ dinner, you just don’t know what you missed. Food and entertainment was great, and I am looking forward seeing all of you next year at the event.

Each year we present two awards to someone that has done an outstanding job in helping and supporting our organization. We are proudly announcing that the „Hermann Award“ went to Jay Tebbe from the News Democrat for his support in advertising for our dinner. The Membership Award went to the Ladies of St. Libory. They truly deserve this award for their help, especially for making the delicious potato salad for our Oktoberfest food booth. It is one of our best sellers, maybe we can bribe these ladies to make more next year. This year we have one more recipient, and that is Mayor Mark Kern, who received a Special Award for his support and dedication to the Sister Cities, especially when our German Friends are visiting. CONGRATULATIONS“ to all of you.

When I took over this position last January, I was very eager, but also knew that I still had a lot to learn about running an organization. But thanks to all the Board Members and Past Presidents for their advice and help, I have made it this far. You lose a few nights of sleep worrying if everything has been done right, or what is due next etc. So I have one good advice for our next President, President Elect Norma Bergkoetter, when this happens, get up, even in the middle of the night and write it down!!! You sleep more peaceful afterwards.

Thanks to our budget and fund raising efforts, we were able to give away two scholarships to students from SWIC. Now we have to say: „AUF WIEDERSEHEN!“

Two couples that have been a great asset to our organization have moved out of the area. Our Past President Karl Mandl and his wife Anna has moved to Florida. Their new address is 1605 Hovington Circle, Sun City Center, FL 33573. Karl has done a great job as President and also as a gracious host to both Mayors from Paderborn and Wayne and Marilyn Stumpf, who are moving to South Carolina. They have been with BSC for a long time. Wayne served several years as a Trustee, auditor and as member on the nominating committee, while Marilyn entertained us quite often with her Accordion at different functions. The Stumpf s have also hosted several times, and one particular time they kept an apprentice from a Bank in Paderborn here for three months. Martin worked during that time at West Pointe.

All of you will be missed, but we hope that you will always come back and visit your friends here in Belleville. Since they are moving to Florida and South Carolina, I have only one guess. They picked up Storm and Hurricane chasing as their new hobby.
Well, the holidays are just around the corner. Hope all of you have a joyful Holiday Season and a Happy and prosperous New Year and we extend those wishes to all our friends in Germany.

FROHE WEIHNACHTEN UND VIEL GLUECK IM NEUEN JAHR

Doris Roach President

News from Paderborn

Dear Friends in Belleville and Around:

Dear Friends in Belleville and Around:

Fall has come with all its beautiful colors. We remember the visitors from Belleville who were here during the last months. First of all the Belleville youths with their chaperons Christy Klein and Rose Anne Renneker. Together with their German peers they had a great time. These exchanges play an important role in building understanding and friendship between our countries. Just a few days ago we had three Belleville residents visiting. John Shively who presently has a teaching job near Darmstadt and will return home in December had taken his friends Bob Heckenberger and Robert DeLaria for a tour of their sister city. They were quite impressed with what Robert Voss and Wilhelm Boekamp showed them on their walking tour although it was a rainy day… Rich Berkel who happens to be a classmate of Bob had arranged the meeting.

Former president of BSC Karl Mandl and his wife Anna were received at „Weinkrueger’s“ at the same day in the evening. They were staying with the Froetschel family. The stammtisch round came to welcome the guests who had moved from Belleville to Florida a few weeks ago.

In September the incumbent mayor of Paderborn Heinz Paus was re-elected with more than 60 % of the votes for another period of five years in office. He is really pleased with the congratulations he has got from Belleville.

Congratulations on your Taste of Germany Dinner which again had drawn a big crowd. We envy you the rouladen and the other delicacies… and the entertainment. We hope that the cookbooks we brought during our visit in May were a of some help.
We are looking forward to our Thanksgiving Dinner to which the members of the German-American Friendship Society Paderborn-Belleville will be invited.
Best wishes to all of you for the weeks ahead.

Visit our homepage on which this Newsletter will also be published :
www.dafk-paderborn.de