Peoria Bishop in a Wild West Shootout!

Peoria Bishop in a Wild West Shootout! November 9, 2013

Continuing on the theme of “Church leaders are regular people, too”….

I love Bishop Daniel Jenky.  As bishop of Peoria since 2002, he’s been a wise, good-natured leader and an excellent homilist.  He also serves as a Fellow and Trustee of the University of  Notre Dame.

Bishop Jenky just posted this amusing picture on Twitter.  “Just 4 fun,” he tweets, “here is a picture of me in a shoot out as I was asked to bless the set for the Wyatt Earp movie.”

Bishop Jenky (left) in a “shoot out” on the set for the Wyatt Earp movie

I assume he’s referring to the 1994 movie starring Kevin Costner in the title role.  The film features an all-star cast including Dennis Quaid (as Doc Holliday) and Gene Hackman (as Nicholas Earp).

Wyatt Berry Stapp Earp was an iconic figure in the history of the American West, who has been memorialized in TV and movies.  He was a gambler, Pima County Deputy Sheriff, and Deputy Town Marshal in Tombstone, Arizona.  He is perhaps best known for his role in the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, during which lawmen killed three outlaw cowboys.

Earp was actually born in Monmouth, about 70 miles west of Peoria.  His travels took him from Wichita and Dodge City, Kansas to Tombstone, Arizona and on to Idaho and California.  He seems to have caused considerable problems for the residents of Peoria, being arrested in the Peoria area three times during the winter of 1871-72.  Earp’s published address in Peoria at that time was at a known brothel; according to Wikipedia, he may have been a pimp, an enforcer, or a bouncer for the brothel.

As for Bishop Jenky:  His Excellency is actually quite an expert in social media.  In addition to maintaining a presence on Facebook and Twitter, he publishes his own blog.

Over on the blog, I found him pictured with his two Chihuahua puppies, Monsignor and Vicar.

 


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