Wineke: New bishop reflects well on pope
Reach Bill Wineke at bwineke@madison.com or at 252-6146. Read Bill Wineke’s Blog at www.madison.com/wsj/blogs.
The mark of any leader, whether he be a president or a pope lies in the people he appoints to carry out his policies.
When it comes to the pope, the people he appoints are diocesan bishops the men (in this case, only men) charged with interpreting and explaining the faith to the ordinary men and women in the pews.
So, the choice of Monsignor Paul Swain of Madison to be the next bishop of the Diocese of Sioux Falls, S.D., says something about the kind of church Pope Benedict XVI hopes to build.
I’ve known Swain for more than 20 years, since he was legal counsel to former Gov. Lee Sherman Dreyfus. I’m not sure the pope did him any favor. Swain had reached one of the higher levels of power in secular government and, when he entered the priesthood, he did so because he felt he could make a bigger contribution as a parish priest.
Unfortunately for him, the church does not have a deep field of competent administrators and Swain was soon pressed back into service making the Diocese of Madison run smoothly. He’s had pastoral assignments but he’s never really been free from the burdens of smoothing bruised egos, laying down the law to recalcitrant priests and finding compromises among people who think they are not only right but who think God agrees with them in their assessment.
But, if the pope did Swain no favor, he did do the people of Sioux Falls a favor. Swain will be a good bishop.
Here’s a strange analogy to explain why that is.
My friend Jim Amundson, the retired Dane County treasurer, and I used to ride motorcycles together. Being new to the sport, I liked to cruise at the very edge of the highway. Amundson told me, “Take up your own lane; otherwise, everyone else on the road will be confused about what you intend to do.”
Swain takes up his own lane. He isn’t inflated with the grandeur of his own position, nor does he project a false humility. He tells you where he stands and he tells you where the church stands but he doesn’t try to convince you that God also stands there.
Many bishops come from pious Catholic homes. Grandparents who took him to a Methodist Sunday School raised Swain. He chose to remain in the Methodist church, a denomination that, like the Catholics, has powerful bishops - but those bishops are elected, not chosen, and are expected to be modest.
He chose to convert to Catholicism as an adult. Some who do that become fanatics. Swain didn’t. But the depth of his faith is pretty obvious, all the more so because he is never defensive about it.
What does this say about the pope? To the extent Swain is typical - and we can’t know that at this point - the appointment suggests the pope wants bishops who teach the faith but who don’t revel in power, who lead exemplary lives but who don’t let their miters go to their heads.
My guess is that, even as bishop, Swain will allow people to call him “Paul,” but people will never really question whether he is, indeed, bishop.
Great coverage from the secular press.From Wisconsin State Journal, Madison WI, 9/1/2006