New archbishop calls for unity during vespers service

by John Sorce
john.sorce@theleaven.org

KANSAS CITY, Kan. — On the eve of his installation as the 12th bishop and fifth archbishop of Kansas City in Kansas, Archbishop Shawn McKnight asked for unity during a solemn vespers service here May 26 at the Cathedral of St. Peter the Apostle.

The prayer service, which was officiated by Cardinal Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States, gathered clergy, religious and laity from across the archdiocese and beyond to welcome Archbishop McKnight to his new role as shepherd of the local church.

Among those in attendance was Cardinal Robert McElroy, the archbishop of Washington, where Archbishop McKnight served in the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops some years back.

There were also fellow Kansas Bishops Carl Kemme of Wichita and Gerard Vincke of Salina.

While the focus is largely on him from the outside, said Archbishop McKnight, he wanted it known that the local church as a whole is what is being celebrated on this occasion.

“What we are celebrating this evening and tomorrow is not an archbishop but the local church, whom this new archbishop has been called to serve,” he said. “Borrowing words from our new Holy Father Pope Leo XIV at his election as the supreme pontiff: This new mission is ‘not based on any personal merit but on God’s call and grace.’”

“I accept this mission,” Archbishop McKnight pledged, “but only with trust in the Lord and his merciful help.”

The church memorializes St. Philip Neri on this day, said the archbishop, a “remarkably ordinary” saint who was an effective pastoral leader for his times, able to “move the rich and poor alike in the city of Rome to a deeper personal conversion into the mystery of Christ” during and after the Council of Trent.

As described by John Rodden in Commonweal magazine, said Archbishop McKnight, “[St. Philip Neri] was extraordinary in his ordinariness. His example inspires and consoles us. He was not a brilliant thinker, not a spellbinding homilist, not a visionary seer, not a missionary bestriding the globe. He was instead something equally if not more valuable: a divinely blessed listener and a pilgrim of eucharistic joy.”

During this time of transition in the church, said the archbishop, both with a new pope and a new archbishop locally, St. Philip shows us one model of what becoming a more synodal church is all about: having the natural instinct and respect for the dignity of each person; to see them as God sees them.

“It will be important for all of us — clergy and laity — to draw from Christ’s examples and humble ourselves to respect our fellow companions on the journey down the path formed for us by Christ’s death and resurrection, and lighted for us by the grace and wisdom of the Holy Spirit,” he said.

Archbishop McKnight then took a moment to reflect on the mission that is ahead of him. While the task at hand can be perceived as daunting, he said, he hopes to serve God — as well as the people in northeast Kansas — well.

“As I reflect on the mission that Pope Francis called me to accept, I tremble before the awesome task that is before me,” he said. “I look forward to meeting new friends and establishing relationships that will not only benefit my personal conversion but also serve to build up the kingdom of God in northeast Kansas.”

Pope Leo XIV took as his motto the saying, “In the one, we are one,” said the archbishop, which means that only in Christ is unity possible, as Christians are of many cultures, languages, generations and social status.

Thus, Archbishop McKnight encouraged all to come to the church as they are. 

“We are only the whole church when we bring who we are, who God created, to be part of the church,” he said. “And when we refuse to bring our unique gifts to the body of Christ, the church is less.”