Anne Constable
The New Mexican
SANTA FE, N.M — The Most Rev. John C. Wester was installed Thursday afternoon as 12th archbishop of Santa Fe before two cardinals, the apostolic nuncio, more than 30 bishops, two abbots, dozens of priests and deacons, other faith leaders and some lucky members of the public who showed up early to get the remaining seats in the sparkling Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi.
“We’re gushing,” said the Rev. Vincent Chavez of the St. Therese Shrine in Albuquerque, adding that he had been praying that the new archbishop would have the “loving and pastoral heart of Francis.”
Wester is “a great blessing to the Hispanic people,” Chavez said. “Pope Francis has given us a rock star.”
That was the feeling of the more than 1,000 people who attended the installation Mass, which lasted more than two hours and included the passing of the crozier, the symbol of the archbishop’s office, from Michael J. Sheehan, the outgoing archbishop of Santa Fe, to Wester. The staff once belonged to the first archbishop, Jean Baptiste Lamy.
Two hours before the installation, clergy began arriving and taking their turns putting on their albs and stoles. They mingled on the south side of the cathedral, waiting to line up for the procession.
A number of priests from Salt Lake City attended.
“I’m so sad for us, but so happy for him," said Jorge Rodan Sanchez, the last ordained by Wester as bishop of Salt Lake City. "He’s a very good bishop, really kind. If you talk with him, you feel his spirituality.
“Everywhere you see him, he’s involved in the community,” Sanchez said.
Eleazar Silva Galvan, another Salt Lake City priest, said Wester “is very capable of including all, embracing all, even those who appear way, way different.”
The priests in Salt Lake City, they said, have presented Wester with the three nails that will eventually be used by him to attach to his vestments the pallium, an ecclesiastical garment of lambs wool that he will receive from Pope Francis in Rome as a symbol of his jurisdiction and of the sheep the shepherd carries.
Nearby, Royanne and Larry Schissel were putting on the capes of members of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem. Hers was black and she was also wearing a mantilla.
Royanne Schissel said the new archbishop was also a member of the order, which supports schools and hospitals in the Holy Land.
Larry Schissel, in a black cape and beret, said he thought “Wester is very fortunate to inherit this archdiocese.”
Brother Charles Scheiner of the Good Shepherd Center, a homeless shelter in Albuquerque, said he was “excited and hopeful” about the appointment.
“We’re going through change, and change is good," Scheiner said. "We’re into a spiritual rush.”
One who was particularly excited to be part of the installation was Gary Vigil, a young seminarian from Rio Rancho who turns 21 in July.
"He’s only our 12th archbishop,” Vigil said. “The changing of the guard happens so rarely. It’s such an ancient archdiocese. This is incredible.”
An evangelistic group called the Neocatechumenal Way Community entertained those waiting to get into the cathedral with songs and dancing. And around the corner, a diocesan group called Pilgrimage for Vocations, which was making a 100-mile walk from Estancia to the Santuario of Chimayó, sang hymns.
By 1:50 p.m., the cathedral bells began ringing and members of the clergy were lined up two-by-two. Archbishop Sheehan walked up and down the line, shaking hands and hugging some old friends.
The Caballeros de Vargas carried the statue of La Conquistadora, or Our Lady of Peace, from her chapel in the cathedral. She was wearing a new dress made from one of the vestments Wester used at the cathedral in Salt Lake City, where he was bishop for eight years.
Sheehan joined the end of the line with the cardinals, the pope’s representative from Washington, and Wester, wearing the zucchetto (a bishop’s purple skull cap), a white mitre of top of it and a chasuble, or vestment, decorated in gold embroidery.
At the entrance, members of the Knights of Columbus stood guard as the procession continued into the cathedral.
The first order of business was the reading of the apostolic mandate from Pope Francis by the Most Rev. Maria Carlo Viganò, the apostolic nuncio to the U.S., and Wester’s declaration that he is willing to serve the people of the diocese. A deacon then held up the scroll to be inspected by the consultors and clergy of the archdiocese.
During his homily, Wester read both in English and Spanish, and quoted St. Augustine: “Behold what you are; become what you receive.” He also repeated a quote from poet T.S. Eliot he used in his last Mass at the cathedral in Salt Lake City: “We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.”
Wester revealed that he loves gelato, especially when in Rome, and said he was “eager to listen and learn” from the people of Santa Fe. Sometimes he might lead from the front, sometimes the back, he said, “but always my place is squarely in the midst.”
But his Swedish father, Wester said, might have thought: “How did that square head ever make it to Santa Fe?”
Wester said he would be dedicated to the premise that “Jesus Christ is in everybody and is everywhere.” That includes a young Honduran fleeing violence at home. “We are called to let him know we care,” Wester said.
It also includes those with drug and alcohol addictions, people affected by bigotry and loneliness. The church, he emphasized, must also provide a safe environment for youth and vulnerable adults.
“We’re all called to be a merciful church,” Wester said.
The Mass ended with a hymn by members of the Northern New Mexico brotherhood, Los Hermanos Penitentes, which Wester noted had kept the church alive during periods when there were an insufficient number of priests, and a performance by eagle dancers from Laguna Pueblo.
Leaving the cathedral, a smiling Wester was met by applause, flashing cameras and at least one high-five.
Email: aconstable@sfnewmexican.com