A time to say thank you to bishops who serve the Church with humility and genuine pastoral care. 

For nearly 40 years, I have had the privilege of working with and for Roman Catholic bishops. I have witnessed first hand both their humanity and their holiness. I know them to be sinners like all of us, but I also know most if not all of them to be good, honest, hard working “every day saints.”

Our bishops are taking a beating these days. Some have sinned grievously. Others have neglected their pastoral duty to protect the innocent and ensure a just punishment for clergy and other Church personnel who have committed serious crimes. And all bishops suffer by association with a hierarchy that is deeply flawed.

I don’t deny any of this. Still my heart goes out to the bishops I have worked with during the past four decades. I don’t believe they deserve to be treated the way some are treating them—especially on social media. Look at any bishop’s social media account (or at the pope’s for that matter) and you’ll find the most vile, vicious, hateful, subhuman comments directed at a fundamentally good man. It’s beyond tragic. It’s the work of the devil who delights in the degradation of priests and bishops.

I’m not defending any of the sins, errors in judgment or mismanagement of bishops I know (or the majority who I don’t know). That is not my responsibility. I will leave judging others—including our bishops—to the God who on the last day will require all of us to render an account. I have my owns sins to account for. That leaves no room for judging others.

But I do have an overwhelming desire to say thank you to these men for the good things I have either witnessed first hand or personally experienced. And I plan to express my profound gratitude here and now.

Here in no particular order are the cardinals, archbishops and bishops that I want to thank—most sincerely from my heart:

Cardinal Francis E. George, OMI (deceased)
Cardinal Joseph Bernadin (deceased)
Archbishop Daniel M. Buechlein, OSB (deceased)
Archbishop Thomas C. Kelly, OP (deceased)
Archbishop Thomas J. Murphy (deceased)
Archbishop Edward T. O’Meara (deceased)
Bishop Charles Maloney (deceased)
Bishop Anthony O’Connell (deceased)
Bishop Frank Shea (deceased)

Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin, C.Ss.R
Cardinal Blasé Cupich
Cardinal Timothy Dolan
Cardinal Raymond L. Burke
Cardinal Justin Rigali
Archbishop Charles C. Thompson
Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz
Archbishop J. Peter Sartain
Archbishop George Lucas
Archbishop Joseph Naumann
Archbishop James. P. Keleher
Archbishop Gregory Aymond
Archbishop Robert Carlson
Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk
Archbishop Dennis Schnurr
Archbishop Thomas Wenski
Archbishop Paul Etienne
Bishop Gerald Gettelfinger
Bishop Sylvester Ryan
Bishop Michael Sheridan
Bishop David Ricken
Bishop William Medley
Bishop William L. Higi
Bishop Paul J. Bradley
Bishop Joseph Binzer
Bishop Christopher Coyne
Bishop Martin D. Holley
Bishop Richard Stika
Bishop J. Mark Spalding
Bishop Edward Kmiec
Bishop Donald Trautman
Bishop Robert Hermann
Bishop Mark Rivotuso
Bishop Robert Morneau
Bishop Donald Hanchon

These are all good men in spite of their faults, weaknesses and sins. They deserve our thanks and they need our prayers.