New bishop welcomed in Caribou Malone carries consecrated oil to County Catholics for Holy Week

CARIBOU – In his first visit north, Maine’s new Catholic bishop brought consecrated oil to his Aroostook County flock this week, and some of his parishioners offered him encouragement in return.

Bishop Richard Malone, 58, installed last week as the 11th bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland, was greeted Wednesday night by more than 500 people at Holy Rosary Catholic Church.

Malone, a native of Massachusetts, made his first trip to Aroostook County to distribute to area priests the consecrated oil, or chrism, they will use for baptisms and confirmations and to anoint the sick during the liturgical year that began on Palm Sunday.

The oil was consecrated by the bishop at a Mass on Tuesday in the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Portland.

Like his predecessors, Malone brought the oil to northern Maine so priests would not have to make the more than 600-mile round trip to southern Maine during Holy Week.

“These vessels of oil date back to the people of Israel,” Malone said in his homily Wednesday. “It is an instrument of God’s saving grace for every parish in our diocese. Fundamentally, it is about the meaning of our being church together.”

During a news conference Wednesday afternoon, Malone said he has much to learn about the diocese and Maine. He said:

. The Mass should continue to be celebrated in French as long as people have a need to worship in their native language and “priests are equipped to do that.”

. Because of Maine’s geography, he most likely will ask the Vatican to appoint an auxiliary bishop, who serves as a kind of associate executive, but not in his first year on the job.

. He will continue to invite those who have been sexually abused by priests to meet with him and that he will make pastoral outreach to survivors a priority.

. He supports the laity becoming more involved in the life of the church and is “a great believer in the permanent diaconate” which ordains men, including those who are married, to perform many of the duties traditionally done by priests.

Twelve priests who serve 18 churches in Aroostook County renewed their vows this week.

When Malone said he supported the 96 percent of priests in the country “who are faithfully and lovingly committed to their mission,” worshippers stood and applauded.

A national study released earlier this year estimated that credible accusations of sexual abuse of minors had been lodged against 4 percent of Catholic priests in the United States.

At a reception in the church basement after the Mass, people surrounded Malone to welcome him in French and English. He hugged and blessed children, joked with teenagers and listened to concerns of parishioners – some of whom are from parishes where priests were removed abruptly two years ago over accusations of sexual abuse.

“He seems pretty down-to-earth,” said Dan Morneault, 15, of Caribou, who attends Sacred Heart Catholic Church in North Caribou. “He doesn’t try to blow you away with all his knowledge. He says things so you can understand them.”

Morneault’s fellow parishioner Brandon Arey, 15, of Caribou said that while media still seem focused on the abuse scandal, he and his friends want the new bishop to focus on the church’s future.

Adults at the event agreed with the teenagers.

“I’m most concerned about the young people,” said Mary Godfrey of Limestone, who attends St. Louis Catholic Church. “They don’t seem to be there [in church]. They’re there if you give them something they want, especially the music they like. That really entices them. Given a chance, they’d be there. They are the future.”

Luc Roy, 21, of Grand Isle and a worshipper at St. Gerard Catholic Church, and Steve Babin, 27, of Fort Kent and a member of St. Louis Catholic Church, are discerning their own futures in the church. The two friends recently attended a discernment retreat sponsored by the diocese for men considering the priesthood.

“We made a covenant with the bishop,” Roy said. “We’re going to pray for him and he is going to pray for us and our vocations – whatever that may mean.”

More priests is one thing all agreed the diocese needs. The diocese has been working for years on a plan to restructure parishes to deal with the shortage of priests and populations shifts in the state, according to Malone.

The bishop said in Caribou that he would be reviewing the plan and meeting with Catholics around the state during his first year on the job in preparation for its implementation.

“I received a welcome here like I have never received anywhere else,” Malone said after the reception. “People told me I would get a warm welcome in the North. I have received it and great blessing too.”

Malone will conduct services this weekend at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Portland.

Next month, he will preside at the confirmations of hundreds of children in parishes throughout the state.

He also is planning to attend this summer’s celebration of the founding 400 years ago of St. Croix Island near Calais.