Incoming Catholic Archbishop Speaks of Inclusion and Healing
By Daniela Altimari
BLOOMFIELD — A decade ago in his first year as bishop of Toledo, Ohio, Leonard P. Blair faced a number of flashpoints: priest sex abuse scandals, parish mergers and closings and the arrest of one of the diocese's priests in the murder of a nun decades earlier. But Blair, appointed Tuesday as the fifth archbishop of Hartford, said the best way for the Catholic Church to heal from the "very sad, tragic things that have happened in recent years" is to be faithful to its mission, stay close to Christ and address people's material and spiritual needs. "I am very struck by Pope Francis' image of the church being a field hospital for the wounded in today's world," Blair said. "There are so many people that are hurting, spiritually as well as materially." The archbishop-designate joined Hartford church officials at a mid-morning press conference at St. Thomas Seminary in Bloomfield, about three hours after the Vatican formally announced his appointment to lead the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Hartford. He was introduced by the man he will succeed, Archbishop Henry J. Mansell, who, at 76, has passed the retirement age for archbishops. When he is officially installed on Dec. 16, Blair, 64, will inherit an archdiocese that is home to about 700,000 Catholics and more than 200 parishes in Hartford, New Haven and Litchfield counties. Like many Catholic dioceses in the Northeast, church leaders in Hartford are encountering challenges of historic dimensions: aging buildings, fewer priests and struggles to connect with congregants on matters such as same-sex marriage and contraception, as well as a network of Catholic schools and hospitals facing their own enormous pressures. "The Archdiocese of Hartford is a big church organization in a part of the country where Catholics have been losing ground for years,'' said Andrew Walsh, associate director of the Leonard Greenberg Center for the Study of Religion in Public Life at Trinity College in Hartford. "The degree to which he's going to have to make some consolidating decisions is pretty large." Blair said he is inspired by Pope Francis' efforts to engage non-Catholics and people who were brought up in the church but have let their faith fall by the wayside. "We speak in terms of a new evangelization," Blair said. "That is, to re-propose the message of the Gospel, [to] live in the community of the church, to people who may have been baptized Catholic who are no longer practicing or people who feel the kind of drift in their lives, spiritually. ... This is very much engaging the mind of the church today." Blair spoke of building bonds with other religious groups and of addressing the needs of the poor. The Hartford Archdiocese is the second-largest provider of social services in Connecticut, after the government. That message resonated with Sister Dolores Lahr. "Archbishop Mansell has a great heart for the poor, and I'm hopeful that Archbishop Blair will build on that. He's got a great foundation." Blair is a native of Detroit who has spent much of his career in the Midwest and at the Vatican. He joked that he may never learn to say "Hartford" with the right New England accent. During the hourlong press conference, the elfin prelate with silvery hair and round, silver-colored glasses projected a slightly mischievous air and displayed frequent flashes of wit. When the bank of microphones set before him began generating feedback, Blair remained unflappable. "Does my first act as archbishop have to be an exorcism of the sound system?" he asked as the audience of about 40 chuckled. The Rev. David Baranowski, pastor of St. James Roman Catholic Church in Rocky Hill and director of the Office of Divine Worship for the archdiocese, said he liked Blair's style. "I think he's a real person,'' said Baranowski, who attended the press conference. "Certainly he will uphold the teachings of the church but probably in a way that's slightly different than what we've seen. If he imitates Pope Francis, with that down-to-earth style, I don't see how the church can't grow." Blair's easygoing persona and message of inclusion coexist with a deep doctrinal conservatism and a fierce adherence to church orthodoxy. "It's too early to tell much of substance, but everyone will agree it's a conservative appointment," Walsh said. However, he added, personal style will play a huge role in how the new archbishop is perceived: "If you're an inclusive and gregarious conservative, you'll get along a lot better than if you're a confrontational, cranky one." Blair is not among the small group of bishops who have denied communion to Catholic political leaders who back abortion rights, Walsh said. But the archbishop-designate has taken a conservative stance on a number of recent church controversies. Blair was among the more than 40 bishops to condemn the University of Notre Dame's 2009 invitation to President Barack Obama to speak at the school's commencement, because of the Democrat's support of legal abortion. In 2011, Blair issued a statement encouraging Catholics not to donate to the Susan G. Komen Foundation, because, he said, the group had contributed to Planned Parenthood and was open to the possibility of embryonic stem cell research. Contact: altimari@courant.com
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