The Deacon's Bench
I overheard someone mentioning this on the elevator this afternoon. It happened a couple weeks ago, but I think it’s noteworthy for a lot of reasons.
In what Jamie Dance, Voice of the Faithful chairwoman, called a “historic occasion,” Bishop Frank Caggiano met with the organization for what he said was the beginning of a conversation.
Several people noted the group was started to seek reform within the Catholic Church and to support those sexually assaulted by priests, but Caggiano was not asked to formally address the topic nor did he volunteer an opinion during the nearly two-hour meeting.
The question-and-answer session, punctuated by many moments of humor provided by the Brooklyn, N.Y., transplant, was held Thursday night on Pope Francis’ first anniversary as leader of the church.
And like the pope, Caggiano has already proven to be very different from his predecessor.
While then-Bishop William E. Lori refused to let Voice of the Faithful meet in churches in the diocese and did not respond to its requests for a meeting, Caggiano’s meeting with the group comes just halfway into his first year as leader of the Diocese of Bridgeport.
At the meeting, the bishop embraced the group, calling it part of his family.
“We’re family, and that’s how I understand our gathering,” he said. “We are truly sisters and brothers. That does not mean at times we won’t have our disagreements. Of course we will.”
Searching the paper, I also found this item about the bishop, speaking to another gathering earlier in the month:
Bishop Frank Caggiano brought a record crowd to the Ferguson Library on Tuesday for his talk on civility, which touched on the serious topics of truth, love and religion, and included a little humor.
“To have such a large group — I being a Catholic bishop — you know there’s going to be a collection. So get ready,” Caggiano said, while taking the podium.
Audience members packed into the third-floor auditorium to hear Caggiano, who became the fifth bishop of the Diocese of Bridgeport in September. His speech, “To Speak the Truth in Love: The Challenge of Religious Discourse in a Pluralistic Society,” is part of an ongoing series on Civility in America at the downtown facility.
The bishop was introduced by Joseph Pisani, who said he “belongs to Connecticut now” and that he was struck by Caggiano’s enthusiasm and depth of knowledge. Pisani is former editor of The Advocate and currently an associate at The Dilenschneider Group, which organizes the series, along with Sacred Heart University and Purdue Pharma, in conjunction with Hearst Connecticut Media and the library.
Caggiano said his goal is not to bring answers, but to bring questions and provoke dialogue about religion or any form of life. He also wanted to talk about discourse between churches and within the Catholic Church itself.
“To have real theological dialogue, there is much work to be done,” he added.
Caggiano called the lack of religious discourse “deeply troubling,” but said it wasn’t always that way. At some point, public sentiment began to shift into what he referred to as “benign neglect.”…
Read it all. This man is the real deal.
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In