Farewell to Fall River's Shepherd

Taunton Gazette
August 27, 2014

http://www.tauntongazette.com/article/20140827/OPINION/140826935/1994

Bishop George W. Coleman delivers his homily during his Mass of Thanksgiving on Tuesday. Dave Souza|Herald News

There are not many cities of Fall River’s size that have their own bishop and cathedral. But Fall River is the seat of the Roman Catholic diocese that serves most of southeastern Massachusetts. As such, we have been blessed to have a strong spiritual leader in our community.

For more than a decade, the Diocese of Fall River’s flock has been led by a shepherd who knows this city and region well. Since his appointment by Pope John Paul II in 2003, Bishop George W. Coleman has headed the diocese he previously served as a pastor, educator and vicar general.

Coleman has deep roots in the city and region, having been born in Fall River and raised in Somerset, as well as serving as a pastor in Fall River and on Cape Cod, and leading the Diocesan Department of Education.

Coleman took the reins of the diocese from a Catholic leader of extraordinary stature: Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley, the current archbishop of Boston, who was even rumored to be a front-runner for pope last year. Coleman led the diocese in the wake of the clergy sexual abuse scandal that rocked the Roman Catholic Church and afflicted significant pain to parishioners both in the Diocese of Fall River and worldwide.

Coleman’s low-key pastoral demeanor has served the diocese and our community through some very difficult times of transition, as several churches and schools closed due to declining attendance. Through it all, Coleman’s “steady and gentle hand,” as O’Malley put it, has guided the way, while also serving as a conscience for the community through a time of rapid social change and, some might say, cultural and moral decline.

On Tuesday, at a Mass of Thanksgiving in Coleman’s honor, High Mass pageantry was on full display at St. Mary of the Assumption Cathedral, as the diocese celebrated the retirement of Coleman, 75, from this powerful and difficult position that, as O’Malley said, “can be a very lonely task.”

O’Malley and Archbishop Daniel Cronin were joined in the sanctuary by three other bishops: Donald Pelletier, a retired La Salette bishop; Manuel da Silva Rodrigues Linda, bishop of the Military Ordinariate of Portugal; and Walter James Edyvean, a retired auxiliary bishop of Boston who attended seminary with Coleman and was ordained with him almost 50 years ago in Rome.

Joining the celebration were the hundreds of diocesan priests, religious sisters in full habits, uniformed Catholic school students, a Knights of Columbus honor guard in full regalia and dozens of other visitors, who came to the cathedral to celebrate Coleman’s contributions to the diocese and wish him well in his retirement.

Over the course of Coleman’s 11 years as bishop, the Roman Catholic Church has seen some significant changes in leadership and philosophy, with the death of Pope John Paul II, the election and nearly unprecedented resignation of the conservative Pope Benedict XVI and a rejuvenation and more liberal approach of the church under the strong pastoral leadership of Pope Francis.

For his part here at home, pastoral leadership has been Coleman’s strong suit. “Bishop George epitomizes the deep pastoral sense of the Fall River priest,” O’Malley said Tuesday.

“My heart is filled with gratitude and thanksgiving for God’s goodness to me and to our church of Fall River,” Coleman told those who gathered. We are likewise grateful for Coleman’s pastoral contributions to the Roman Catholic Church, the Fall River Diocese and our community as whole.

We pray that the Diocese of Fall River continues its adaptation to the rapidly changing times under the Rev. Edgar Moreira da Cunha, 60, the first Brazilian-born priest to become a bishop in the United States, who has been tapped by Pope Francis to be installed as Fall River’s new bishop on Sept. 24. May the new bishop breathe renewed energy, pastoral leadership and strong spiritual life into the Fall River Diocese, our city and region.