Archbishop-designate Weisenburger leads solemn vespers on eve of installation as Detroit prepares to welcome new shepherd
DETROIT — On the eve of his installation Mass as the sixth archbishop of Detroit, Archbishop-designate Edward J. Weisenburger led solemn vespers with approximately 400 people at Sacred Heart Major Seminary.
Wearing deep purple vestments and a gold miter, Archbishop-designate Weisenburger processed into the seminary’s chapel March 17 alongside Archbishop-emeritus Allen H. Vigneron and several other bishops, with members of his family, local dignitaries and clergy and faithful of the Church of Detroit in attendance. Cardinal Christophe Pierre, the apostolic nuncio to the United States, was also present for the prayer service.
Watch Archbishop Weisenburger's installation Mass live at 2 p.m. Tuesday, March 18, on the Archdiocese of Detroit's website and Facebook page.
The pre-installation vespers — the Church’s formal evening prayer — is a longstanding tradition before the installation of a new bishop.
Archbishop-designate Weisenburger will be formally installed during a 2 p.m. Mass on Tuesday, March 18, at the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Detroit. Hundreds of clergy, faithful and well-wishers are expected to attend. The Mass, which is limited to reserved seating, will be livestreamed on the Archdiocese of Detroit's website and Facebook page.
Although Archbishop-designate Weisenburger led the service, Archbishop Vigneron preached the evening’s homily, welcoming Archbishop-designate Weisenburger to Detroit on behalf of the local Church.
“As one of the last acts that I have as principal pastor of this local Church, I want to say again to you, Archbishop Weisenburger, how welcome you are to be part of our archdiocese,” Archbishop Vigneron said. “And I know I speak the truth to pledge, on behalf of all of us, a communion that’s both filial and fraternal.”
Addressing Archbishop-designate Weisenburger’s family members, Archbishop Vigneron expressed his gratitude “that you’re here for this happy occasion.”
“I’m grateful for the part that you have played in the path that has led the archbishop here to be part of this local Church,” he said, “the path from Oklahoma through Salina (Kansas) and Tucson.”
Archbishop Vigneron commented on how appropriate it is that Archbishop-designate Weisenburger’s welcome in the Archdiocese of Detroit come in the form of evening prayer, which he said is “not just a convenient observance,” but is “most apt for an evening before a bishop’s installation.”
“It has a kind of natural relationship to what we’re about,” Archbishop Vigneron said. “Vespers is the Church gathered together to recap the day, with all of its graces, some very obvious, some not so obvious. It’s a way for the Church at the end of the day to give God praise and thanks, which is part of our very identity.”
“Tonight, our thanksgiving takes on this particular character, a character given to it by what we’re about, a character of giving God praise and thanks for the ministry in our midst of Archbishop Weisenburger,” he said.
The solemn vespers, which included the chanting of prayers, readings from Scripture, and the response of the faithful in attendance, is a perfect way to welcome a new bishop, Archbishop Vigneron said, because it brings with it a “particular grace” that glorifies the Lord.
Archbishop Vigneron reflected upon the reading from the Gospel of John, in which a group of gentiles sought out the apostle Philip, asking him, “Sir, we would like to see Jesus,” as a parallel to what the Church of the Archdiocese of Detroit is asking of its new archbishop.
“As I see it, Philip is a type, a figure, a prototype for what happens when a man performs the essential role of an apostle,” Archbishop Vigneron said. “The very heart of being an apostle is to be a bridge between those who hunger for the kingdom and the Savior who inaugurates it.
“Tonight, we give God thanks because we are receiving as our shepherd the successor of Philip and the other apostles,” Archbishop Vigneron continued. “We are receiving a man to whom we can present our request to see Jesus.”
Archbishop-designate Weisenburger is coming to Detroit as an “apostolic man” sent to address the hunger of the people to see and receive Jesus, he added.
This hunger, he said, “is a hunger for salvation from sin and its fruit, and from death. It’s a hunger for justice and peace in a world where all is made right and the lowly are lifted up. It’s a hunger to be rescued from the kingdom of Satan. It’s a hunger for achieving the destiny for which we are created.”
This hunger is satiated in Jesus, who alone is the “sure path to eternal life,” Archbishop Vigneron said.
“It’s under all these hungers that we, the people of God in this local Church, ask Archbishop Weisenburger, ‘Please, show us Jesus,’” he said.
Detroit’s soon-to-be archbishop has responded to this request, both in his “yes” to the Holy Father’s call to come to the Motor City, and also in the way in which he’ll be a shepherd, which is found in his episcopal motto, “Ecce Agnus Dei,” which means, “Behold, the Lamb of God,” Archbishop Vigneron added.
“In selecting this phrase, the archbishop is affirming what he understands to be his best answer to the people’s request when they come to him and ask him to show them Jesus,” Archbishop Vigneron said. “By his answer, embodied by his motto, he gives us not somebody else’s Jesus, not a counterfeit Jesus, but the real Jesus.”
This Jesus is embodied most especially in the holy Eucharist, which the archbishop will offer to the Father and to his flock as a great gift of love, Archbishop Vigneron said.
“That’s what we hunger for,” he concluded. “That’s the good news that every heart longs to hear.”
Archbishop Vigneron thanked Archbishop-designate Weisenburger for his “yes” to this commission, and pledged on behalf of the Archdiocese of Detroit “to do our best with the help of the Holy Spirit not only to embrace Jesus, whom we see at your direction, but also to be your faithful coworkers, inviting others to behold the Lamb of God, to be a Church on fire with this mission, so that everybody sees the face of the risen Christ.”
As he exited the chapel, Archbishop-designate Weisenburger greeted those who came to celebrate his installation.
A light reception followed in the seminary’s parlors, where Archbishop-designate Weisenburger greeted, shook hands and posed for pictures with clergy, faithful and others who came to celebrate his installation.
Fr. Tony Blount, SOLT, associate pastor at Holy Redeemer Parish in Detroit, said he sees in Archbishop-designate Weisenburger “a man who is concerned about God’s people, especially the poor and the needy.”
“That’s a big concern of his,” Fr. Blount told Detroit Catholic. “Even his motto, ‘Ecce Agnus Dei,’ which I just learned tonight, points to several things. The slain lamb points to the Eucharist, and it also points to our Lord’s people who suffer — and those two things are not distinct. They are related to one another directly, because our Lord is present in both.”
Luci Larson traveled all the way from the Diocese of Salina, Kansas, where Archbishop-designate Weisenburger served as bishop from 2012-17, to witness her friend’s installation.
Larson, a travel agent by trade, said Detroit is getting a personable, smart and skilled leader who cares deeply for the people he serves.
“He’s personable, he’s funny, and he’s down to earth, but most of all, he is a shepherd,” said Larson, a member of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish in Salina.
Larson added when her own father passed away, Archbishop-designate Weisenburger asked whether he could celebrate the funeral, even though he didn’t know him.
“That was the biggest honor for me, for him to celebrate my dad,” Larson said. “He didn’t know my dad, but he wanted to do that because of our friendship.”
Larson said she’s spoken with people in the Diocese of Tucson, where Archbishop-designate Weisenburger has served since 2017, who are “heartbroken” to be losing him, but added “our loss is definitely Detroit’s gain.”
“It was destined to be because of what he did in Tucson, somebody was going to notice,” Larson added, “and they were going to grab him, just like a prime sports player. He’s very business oriented and forward-thinking. You are going to love him.”
Deacon Hector Anaya of the National Shrine of the Little Flower Basilica said he likes that Archbishop-designate Weisenburger’s motto “points to Jesus,” adding his bilingual skills and concern for the Hispanic community will be “a comfort” and “encouraging” to many in Metro Detroit.
“I’m from Mexico, and I’m working a lot with the Hispanic community, so I think that’s going to be very, very important for us,” Deacon Anaya said. “I know Archbishop Vigneron has made a lot of effort to reach out to us, and for Archbishop Weisenburger, I think it’s something that is going to come naturally because of the time he’s spent in Tucson.
“I think the archbishop is going to follow in those steps, to reach out to people, because that’s the nature of the Church today,” Deacon Anaya added. “I am looking forward to that.”
