Bishop Elect Alex Sample

I was delighted to read, yesterday, about Pope Benedict’s choice of Fr. Alex Sample to be the next Bishop of Marquette (MI, USA). I have known Bp. Elect Sample for many years since the days when he lived with us at the rectory of St. Agnes Church in St. Paul, Minnesota and attended a philosophy class or two together at the (then) College of St. Thomas. I will refrain from posting photos from those halcyon days and many pleasant evenings when seminarians and priests would invade the rectory and spend hours shooting the breeze and generally letting off steam about the state of things back then.

Bishop Sample will be the youngest bishop, at 45, in the USA. He follows in good steps, since another Michigan bishop, originally from Minnesota (hmm… a connection?) is Bishop Robert Carlson of Saginaw. In his time he was also the youngest bishop in the USA.

In the meantime, I am not sure that the folks in the chancery of the Diocese of Marquette know what has hit them, since at the time of this writing they haven’t yet updated their website.

I wish His Excellency many good years of service, hard though they will be.

He will be ordained a bishop on Wednesday, Jan. 25 at St. Peter Cathedral in Marquette. He will become the diocese’s 12th bishop.

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Fr. Z is the guy who runs this blog. o{]:¬)
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