Retiring Bishop Reflects on Church's Growth, Scandal, NBC 17, June 8, 2006

Retiring Bishop Reflects on Church's Growth, Scandal

NBC 17
June 8, 2006

http://www.nbc17.com/news/9343272/detail.html

RALEIGH, N.C. -- As he introduced his successor Thursday, Bishop Joseph Gossman reflected on the highs and lows of his 31-year tenure leading the Catholic Church in eastern North Carolina.

Gossman, 76, is a year past retirement age for bishops, and Pope Benedict XVI accepted his resignation on Thursday. Bishop Michael Burbridge, an auxiliary bishop in Philadelphia, was chosen as the new head of the Catholic Diocese of Raleigh.

"One of my illusions was that, as you get older, things get easier. That is not the case, especially when the place where you are when you're in ministry is growing feverishly," Gossman said.

Bishop Joseph Gossman, left, and Michael Burbridge

When he took charge of the diocese in 1975, there were only 38,000 Catholics in the 54 counties it covers. Today, the diocese serves an estimated 500,000 people, and an influx of Hispanics and northern transplants continues to push that number higher.

Gossman, who will continue to run the diocese until August, said the hardest time for him came in dealing with the sexual abuse scandal involving that has rocked the Catholic Church nationwide in recent years.

"The low point for me, I guess without any doubt, has been this terrible mess of sexual abuse of children. I don't ever understand how that could ever happen, but it did," he said.

He tried to retire two years ago, but a shortage of priests in the church and the death of Pope John Paul II complicated those plans.

Burbridge said the shortage of priests would continue to be a challenge for the church.

"One of my priorities is promoting vocations to the priesthood," he said.

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