MINNESOTA
Star Tribune
By Editorial Board Star Tribune APRIL 8, 2016
Catholics in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis finally have the intelligent, healing leadership they deserve in newly named Archbishop Bernard Hebda, who, after first serving as interim, has been appointed to the post permanently by Pope Francis.
Hebda’s formal installation mass next month will mark a new chapter in a community that has suffered deeply in recent years, both from the botched handling of numerous cases of priest-involved child sex abuse and from the bitter and costly fight over same-sex marriage launched by the previous archbishop.
Hebda brings skills that have served him well in the nine months since his arrival. At 56, he has a broad, sophisticated worldview shaped by degrees in political science and law from Harvard and Columbia, and by years spent practicing law before he became an ordained priest at age 30. He has served at many levels in the church — as a parish priest, a diocesan leader, an interpreter of canon law at the Vatican and, finally, as a coadjutant archbishop for Newark, N.J., where he had fully expected to return as archbishop. That Francis instead redirected him to St. Paul and Minneapolis speaks to the depth of the crisis in this archdiocese and the urgent need for a new vision.
Those who have worked with him as an interim administrator say Hebda’s interest in people and diverse viewpoints, his humor, and his incisiveness have been warmly welcomed in a church community wearied to exhaustion from the struggles of the last decade. “He is very attentive and approachable, and wants to hear from everyone, not just people with one point of view,” said Paula Ruddy of the Catholic Coalition for Church Reform. “I am very hopeful that he will be able to bring people together and heal the divisions we’ve been experiencing.”
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