Bishop Mulvey discusses the state of the diocese on his ad limina visit

Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, Bishop William M. Mulvey of Corpus Christi, Texas, and Archbishop Gustavo Garcia-Siller of San Antonio pray the Lord's Prayer as U.S. bishops from Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas concelebrate Mass at the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls in Rome. The bishops were making their "ad limina" visits to the Vatican to report on the status of their dioceses to the pope and Vatican officials.

Paul Haring | CNS
 

Bishop Michael Mulvey and Bishop Emeritus Edmond Carmody touched down in Rome on Jan. 18 for the bishops “ad limina” visit, to pray and also to report on the status of the Diocese of Corpus Christi in meetings with other Region X bishops, the pope and Vatican officials. 

The trip to Rome also serves as a pilgrimage to “the threshold of the apostles,” giving the bishops, who are the successors of the apostles, the opportunity to pray at the tomb of St. Peter and St. Paul. In the early morning on Jan. 20, all the bishops of Region X concelebrated Mass at the tomb of St. Peter and made a profession of faith singing together with the Nicene Creed in Latin.

Bishop Mulvey invited Bishop Emeritus Edmond Carmody and Seminarian Raymond Pendleton to join him on Jan. 20 for the initial meeting with Pope Francis in his library where he greeted them.

After the warm welcome, Bishop Mulvey then joined other bishops from Region X, which included 26 diocesan bishops from Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas, and they spent 2 ½ hours with Pope Francis talking in English and Spanish. The pope responded in Italian so his aide could translate the responses into English. “I would compare it to sitting with a friend in open conversation,” Bishop Mulvey said of the occasion. “We were told to ask anything, and we did. It was a wonderful moment with the pope.”

The topics were wide-ranging and included the clerical sexual abuse crisis, migration, the challenges of a media-permeated culture and forming Christian consciences, especially in a time of deep political divisions.

Bishop Mulvey’s last ad limina was with Benedict XVI in 2011-2012, about two years after he became bishop of the Diocese of Corpus Christi. Since then much has changed in the American landscape, from the Obergefell U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing gay marriage in 2015 to the heightened tension over immigration debates under President Donald Trump. The Catholic environment in the U.S. has itself undergone a considerable transformation since Pope Francis’ trip to the United States in the fall of 2015.

Ad limina visits typically take place every five years, as the world’s more than 5,300 bishops rotate through Rome. However, some countries have gone 10 years without an ad limina visit, as was the case with Taiwan. During Benedict XVI’s pontificate, bishops from nearly every diocese in the world visited within seven years.

On his visit to the tombs of St. Peter and St. Paul, Bishop Mulvey prayed for all the priests and seminarians of the dioceses, for all consecrated religious, the laity and for his episcopal ministry. 

Bishop said that each of the offices he visited in the dicastery strongly emphasized “communion” in all ways of life as the way of the Church today. “I continue to pray that as a diocese we will become more united as the Body of Christ both to Christ our Head and to one another in the communion, called to in the Holy Spirit. With our pastoral renewal, let’s make it happen,” he said.