by John Sorce
john.sorce@theleaven.org
LEAWOOD — On May 27, Archbishop Shawn McKnight was installed as the head of the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas at Church of the Nativity here.
But it was not a foregone conclusion that things would go as smoothly as they did. In the weeks leading up to the big day, archdiocesan and parish staff were hard at work to make sure they had thought of everything.
The committee planning the event, the “Episcopal Transition Team,” drew from chancery staff and elsewhere. Each member was in charge of one or more specific aspects of the event, while also being responsible for keeping the rest of the committee in the loop.
Committee members included: Lisa McKelvey, director of stewardship and development; Stacy Hettinger and Amy Huerter, the executive assistant and administrative assistant to Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann, respectively; Marissa Easter, archdiocesan director of communications; Father Anthony Saiki, rector of the Cathedral of St. Peter in Kansas City, Kansas, and emcee; Father Mike Hawken, pastor of Church of the Nativity; archdiocesan liturgist Michael Podrebarac; chancellor and team lead Father John Riley, and CFO Carla Mills.
Only Mills was unable to make the May 13 walk-through at Nativity with The Leaven in attendance.
The planning process started over a year ago, when Archbishop Naumann turned 75. But while the team had been meeting for months, their plans had to be tentative, since whoever was named to the position was going to impact the process as well.
Trying to formulate a game plan that could be tweaked as necessary was one of the biggest challenges.
“The tricky part was trying to plan enough so we would be prepared but also be able to make whatever changes our new archbishop would want,” said Easter, who was responsible for coordinating all communications and public relations/media activities.
Another challenge was that it coincided with the announcement of a new pope. But McKelvey, who oversaw fundraising and served as point person the day of, constantly remembered God’s promise to help through it all.
“For me, it really goes back to God’s not going to give us more than we can handle,” McKelvey said. “With a new archbishop and a new pope, there were a lot of moving parts. But timing-wise, this could have also been on the last week of school. Fortunately, it was after school ended. So, there are things that worked out for us.”
Archbishop McKnight is only the 12th bishop and fifth archbishop in the history of the archdiocese. And when Archbishop Naumann came, he did so as a coadjutor archbishop for a year before transitioning in. So, the last complete installation was for Archbishop James Patrick Keleher in 1993.
Everybody was learning on the fly.
“We do this so rarely, so I think the lack of precedence in the immediate history of the archdiocese was the biggest challenge,” said Father Saiki, who was responsible for planning, coordinating and organizing the liturgy.
One of the first things that Father Saiki did was look into other dioceses that had recently undergone a transition. The team gathered ideas from what those installations were like, then tailored them to what would work here in the archdiocese.
“When we got the news of the new archbishop, one of the first things I did was research what other dioceses have done,” he said. “That includes watching videos of other installation Masses, looking at their programs and the liturgy books themselves. We were also visiting with the staff and transition team, and with Archbishop McKnight. It was a lot of research and conversation, and then just trying to make it our own.”
Hettinger, who served as a liaison between the archbishops through the transition, said the team leaned on feedback and advice from people in other dioceses who offered their prayers and support.
“We have leaned on other dioceses to help us understand,” Hettinger said. “I received a lot of emails from dioceses that also recently went through this, and they were praying for us. I think that support from all the dioceses who understand the magnitude of what happens when this takes place was really cool and helpful.”
Well-defined roles and excellent organization were also critical to the process.
“We established specific roles for everybody from the beginning and Stacy [Hettinger] is an organization master, so she created a document where every step was outlined,” Easter said. “So, when we started our meetings, everybody knew what their parts were and were able to provide updates.
“Between people taking full responsibility and accountability for their role and having clear communication, we were able to move quickly, and everyone did a good job of figuring things out.”
As for settling on a location, Nativity was selected due to its seating capacity. Father Hawken said Nativity was aware they were going to host but couldn’t get the ball rolling until the announcement came and they were given an official date.
Archbishop McKnight did a walk-through of the church the morning of the April 8 announcement; the Nativity staff found out only a few days prior that they would be hosting.
Father Hawken said that his parish’s biggest challenge was having to pivot from the priesthood ordination on May 24 — which they were also hosting — to the installation three days later. But he had high praise for the staff who made it all happen.
“Our staff rises to the occasion whenever Nativity is asked to do something,” he said. “We have good people who are always ready to put their best forward when it comes to hosting something for the diocese, and they take a lot of pride in doing it well.
“My hats off to the staff here at Nativity and parishioners who volunteered to help, as well as the chancery folks who were part of this planning committee and gave up their [Memorial Day] holiday for this to happen.”
Hettinger was impressed with the collaboration of so many parts of the archdiocese to come together for one common goal.
“I’m inspired by how our different offices came forward and offered support,” Hettinger said. “Really, all our offices had to play some role in welcoming our new archbishop. There’s been a lot of collaboration between each office and coming together for one goal like this is something we don’t get the opportunity to do very often.”
When it came down to what a successful installation would look like, many noted the welcoming environment for Archbishop McKnight and his family, as well as representation from across the archdiocese.
“I don’t like measuring success with a liturgy,” McKelvey said. “But I do think just the fact that we were able to welcome so many representatives from parishes around the archdiocese and really have a snippet of the archdiocese in one room was beautiful.”
“We wanted people to leave and say that the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas has a group of the nicest, most welcoming people who thought about ways to provide them with a good experience,” Hettinger added.
In the end, everyone felt fortunate to be able to play a part in such a historic event.
“This is a big deal for us,” Father Saiki said. “This is monumental and doesn’t happen very often. I feel honored and privileged to be a part of it.”
“It goes back to hospitality,” added McKelvey. “It was great to welcome [the new] archbishop’s friends and family and priests and bishops from around the country. But, also, just welcoming all our parishioners from around the archdiocese to be a part of the day was an awesome experience.”
