Bishop Edgar DA Cunha Hopes to Bring New Life to Fall River Diocese

By Brian Fraga
Wicked Local Fall River
September 21, 2014

http://fall-river.wickedlocal.com/article/20140921/NEWS/140929433

Russ DeSantis Photography and Video

Like many members of his new flock in southeastern Massachusetts, Bishop Edgar da Cunha immigrated to the United States, knowing very little English.

“It was a huge adjustment,” da Cunha said as he recalled the cold late February day he arrived in Newark, New Jersey, as a 24-year-old seminarian from Brazil.

“It was 95 degrees when I left, and I arrived in the New York airport, and it was 20 degrees. That was the first adjustment,” da Cunha said. “Then the language, the culture, going to seminary, so many adjustments, but thank God, he gave me the gift of being able to adjust.”

Da Cunha, 61, adjusted well enough to be ordained a Catholic priest, and eventually an auxiliary bishop, in the Archdiocese of Newark. On Wednesday, during a 2 p.m. Mass at the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption, da Cunha will be installed as the eighth bishop of the Diocese of Fall River. Cardinal Sean O’Malley, the metropolitan archbishop of Boston, will install da Cunha in the presence of Archbishop Carlo M. Vigano, the pope’s apostolic nuncio to the United States. Da Cunha is replacing Bishop George W. Coleman, who is retiring.

Da Cunha, the first Brazilian-born bishop in the United States, said he is looking forward to getting settled in Fall River, which he had never visited until he was introduced at a July 3 press conference at diocesan headquarters.

“It was a short visit. I got a little bit of the background in speaking to people, getting to learn a little about the history of the diocese, familiarizing myself with it. Hopefully, we will bring some new life and new energy to the diocese,” said da Cunha, who moved into the cathedral rectory on Sept. 16. Between unpacking boxes from his move, da Cunha was also preparing to pick up his three sisters, who were traveling from Brazil, at Logan Airport this past Friday.

“The days will go by very fast until the day of the installation,” da Cunha said.

After being installed as bishop, da Cunha — who speaks Portuguese, Spanish, English and Italian — said he hopes to revitalize parishes and encourage more people to attend Mass. Over the past decade, Mass attendance in the diocese, as well as the entire Northeast, has declined, which has caused bishops to close scores of parishes and Catholic schools.

“Sometimes, you have ethnic parishes where the demographics change and you no longer need to have two churches so close to each other,” da Cunha said. “We have to analyze each situation, each case. Obviously, we want to try to preserve all the churches that we can, but sometimes if the church is not able to survive and doesn’t have enough people to maintain it, then we have to be responsible and take whatever action is needed.”

Da Cunha, who was ordained a priest of the Society of Divine Vocations, a religious order devoted to serving the poor and fostering vocations to the priesthood, said he intends to focus his energies on encouraging more men in the Diocese of Fall River to consider becoming Roman Catholic priests.

“We’re going to have different programs and encourage families to be supportive of their sons to consider vocations to the priesthood. A priest does not have an unhappy life. There are many wonderful things and joyful aspects of a priestly life that are happy and fulfilling. People need to realize that,” said da Cunha, who was criticized by some advocates of clergy sex abuse victims for not being vocal enough about priest-abusers in the Archdiocese of Newark. Da Cunha said those criticisms were unfair because he was not the archbishop in Newark.

“As a bishop now of the diocese, if there is any situation that I need to address, I will address it seriously and responsibly, following the laws and the recommendations of the bishops conference,” da Cunha said. “I have no interest in protecting or defending anyone who may abuse children. That is not my style.”

Da Cunha said he likes the changes the Catholic Church has undergone since the Second Vatican Council in the early 1960s, which include celebrating Mass in vernacular languages rather than Latin.

“I love the new liturgy. That’s my spirituality and one that my personality feels comfortable with,” said da Cunha, who described his leadership style as collaborative.

“I don’t micromanage. I don’t have the style to impose my ideas,” he said. “I listen to people. I value their ideas. I know I have a lot of listening to learn about the diocese. I’m going to listen to the priests, to the people who have the expertise, who know the needs of the diocese.”

If the new bishop has any spare time, soccer players across the Fall River area might find the bearded da Cunha on the pitch, slicing through defenders while wearing a Brazilian Men’s National Team jersey.

“I played soccer all my life. I still play a little bit, not as much, because the body doesn’t respond the same way it did 40 years ago, but I still enjoy playing,” said da Cunha, who with his casual, laid-back demeanor is said by some Catholic news observers to be representative of the “new breed” of bishops favored by Pope Francis, who has said he wants bishops who are pastors to “smell like the sheep.”

“If that is what I am, then I’m happy to be, but nobody told me that was the reason why (the pope) appointed me,” da Cunha said. “We know the way Pope Francis is leading the church, and if I fit into that profile of what he sees as candidates for bishops, then I’m happy to be that, and happy to do the work that the church has asked me to do.”