Cardinal Rigali ordains two new auxiliary bishops for Philadelphia

Published: 2004-08-06

PHILADELPHIA (CNS) -- With a reminder that "a good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep," Cardinal Justin Rigali of Philadelphia July 28 welcomed Msgr. Joseph R. Cistone and Msgr. Joseph P. McFadden to their episcopal ordination as auxiliaries of the Philadelphia Archdiocese. In a moving ceremony at Philadelphia's Cathedral Basilica of SS. Peter and Paul, Cardinal Rigali recalled the core of the identity of a bishop. He called on Auxiliary Bishops Cistone, 55, and McFadden, 57, to assist him in the governance of the seventh-largest diocese in the country, with nearly 1.5 million Catholics and 275 parishes. "You have been chosen by God to exercise in the church the pastoral role of Jesus Christ the good shepherd," the cardinal said in his homily. "Today the church gives you this power and asks you to exercise it generously, faithfully, joyfully until the end." In the presence of nearly 1,300 family members, colleagues, friends, brother bishops and priests, the two new bishops made their commitment to live out the full responsibilities of the episcopacy in the service of the church. The ceremony included the anointing of the heads of the new bishops by Cardinal Rigali, and the handing on of the Book of the Gospels, the bishop's ring, the miter and the crosier, or pastoral staff. As they assumed their new role as bishops -- which Cardinal Rigali described in his homily as "the priesthood of Jesus Christ exercised at its highest level" -- Bishops Cistone and McFadden let their brother priests know that the day was also theirs. "I have been privileged for the past 23 years to be one of your number, and I can never repay that priestly support and fraternity that you have offered me over the years," Bishop Fadden said. "I want you to know, in the vein of St. Augustine, that for you I have become a bishop, but with you I am and always will be a Philadelphia priest."

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