Archbishop Sheehan Reflects on Career

By Regina Ruiz
KOAT
May 17, 2014

http://www.koat.com/news/archbishop-sheehan-reflects-on-career/26020506

[with video]

After almost 20 years the leadership of the New Mexico Catholic Church is about to leave.

Archbishop Michael Sheehan came in at a difficult time and is now at the age where he must retire.

“I am constantly moving from place to place,” said Sheehan.

For more than two decades, Sheehan has been on the move in the Santa Fe Diocese.

“(I’ve had) God’s help and the help of some real good staff people,” he said.

He inherited a diocese rocked with scandal. The former archbishop resigned amidst a sex scandal with several women. There were also a large number of sexual abuse cases involving priests with children.

"I did visit with Pope John Paul several times and I told him the challenges that we faced and we needed more vocations to take the place of those priests that had to be moved,” said Sheehan. "He said, 'Pray, archbishop, you must pray. God will answer your prayers.' He has."

INTERVIEW: Archbishop Sheehan reflects on career

Sheehan was 23 years old and studying in Rome to become a priest when Pope John XXIII was in the Vatican. Pope John Paul the II made him a bishop in Lubbock, Texas.

“I was sent here by a pope that is a saint, and then sent me here to deal with the challenges that we have faced here,” said Sheehan.