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5th anniversary in Richmond
Bishop’s vision: to teach, govern and sanctify

By Steve Neill
Of The Catholic Virginian

As he reflects on his five years in the Diocese of Richmond, Bishop Francis X. DiLorenzo says he feels very blessed. He likes it here.

“I love living here in Richmond,” he told The Catholic Virginian May 10. “People are great.

“The Church is alive and well here and there’s a lot of energy. As I say to people, I’m a lucky guy.”

Bishop DiLorenzo said that he had never been to Richmond before he arrived by plane on March 31, 2004 at Richmond International Airport. He had arrived with Cardinal William Keeler of Baltimore early the morning that the announcement of his appointment as 12th Bishop of Richmond was to be made at a press conference.

The only other time he had been in Virginia was for a brief visit to Arlington National Cemetery.

A week earlier he had received a phone call about coming to Richmond from Archbishop Gabriel Montalvo, the Apostolic Nuncio to the United States.

“He said ‘The Holy Father has appointed you as Bishop of Richmond,’” Bishop DiLorenzo remembers the Nuncio telling him. He then asked “Do you accept?”

“I accepted on the spot,” the Bishop said.

Before coming to Richmond on March 31, Bishop DiLorenzo says Cardinal Keeler gave him a copy of the diocese’s “We’ve Come This Far by Faith” document in which people of the diocese had been asked what they value about their parish and their experience as Catholics.

“I took the existing plan as it was given to me by Cardinal Keeler,” Bishop DiLorenzo said. “I reviewed it and was really impressed with the work that went into it.”

As Bishop of Richmond, Bishop DiLorenzo is clear about his vision.

“My role is to teach, to govern and to sanctify,” he said.

To this end he seeks to inspire Catholic Christians to “do God’s loving will.”

“The ultimate benchmark is doing right or wrong in this world,” he added.

Immediately after his installation May 24, 2004 at the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart, Bishop DiLorenzo began listening to lay leaders and clergy at various parishes to get a handle on what people felt they wanted to help them in their faith journey.

“The parish visitation program has surfaced definite priorities and concerns of the people in the pews,” he said.

According to his visits, he finds that 70 percent of the parishes he has visited rank youth formation and youth ministry as a significant goal for the parishes.

“The role of parents and the Church is to share with young people the vision of a truly worthwhile life,” he said. “The tensions and stress of teenage years is why we need the ministry.”

As he said early on after he came to Richmond, Bishop DiLorenzo is committed to the vision of marriage being between a man and a woman. He has sought to strengthen marriage formation guidelines for couples and appointed Jim and Sandy Dyk to head the diocese’s marriage formation program along with clergy and lay colleagues.

Bishop DiLorenzo has sought to strengthen Catholic schools and make them more affordable for all families who wish to send their children to them.

Asked how Catholic schools differ from good public schools, he replied faith was the major component.

“In a public school, arts and sciences are viewed with what they claim to be a prism of neutrality,” he said.

“In a Catholic school we view the arts and sciences through a prism of faith.”

In the five years he has governed in Richmond, Bishop DiLorenzo feels much progress has been made.

“God has been good to us in giving us a number of local vocations to the priesthood and very generous international priests who help us out,” he said.

The Bishop’s establishment of new diocesan offices, he says, were a response to what people said they wanted in “We’ve Come This Far by Faith.”

“We systematically followed through with that vision,” he said.

Bishop DiLorenzo will continue to work for “the full dignity and respect for every man, woman and child,” a work he described as ongoing.

“It’s a task that is never ending,” he said. “Just when you think you’ve finished, it starts all over again.”

read a chronology of the bishop’s first five years »

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