Archbishop Vigneron says he's 'always been impressed' by Detroit's new auxiliary bishops

DETROIT — On the day before Thanksgiving, Pope Francis has given the Archdiocese of Detroit two very good reasons to be thankful.

Less than a month after the archdiocese found out it would be losing one of its auxiliary bishops, the Vatican announced it would be gaining two more as Pope Francis appointed Detroit priests Fr. Gerard W. Battersby and Fr. Robert J. Fisher to the episcopal ministry.

The Vatican made the announcement Nov. 23, just days after the conclusion of the archdiocese’s Synod 16, which was headed in part by outgoing Archbishop Michael J. Byrnes, who served for five years as a Detroit auxiliary and will transition to the Archdiocese of Agana, Guam, starting this week.

Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron praised the pope’s appointments, saying the bishops-designate are “two well-loved and respected priests” who will “bring a rich set of gifts and talents to the roles they will play in leading our community in our mission to share the good news of Jesus.”

Bishop-designate Battersby, 56, has been vice rector and dean of seminarian formation of Sacred Heart Major Seminary since 2011, serving concurrently as pastor of Detroit’s St. Mary of Redford Parish since October 2015. Bishop-designate Fisher, 57, has served since 2014 as pastor and rector of the National Shrine of the Little Flower Basilica in Royal Oak. (Read their complete biographies here.)

Auxiliary bishops serve alongside an archbishop in the administration and pastoral care of a diocese, assisting him with carrying out a bishop’s threefold ministry of teaching, sanctifying and governing.

The reason the archdiocese received two bishops instead of one, Archbishop Vigneron said, was because of last year’s retirement of Auxiliary Bishop Francis R. Reiss. Bishop Reiss, who reached age 75 — the usual retirement age for bishops — in November 2015, nevertheless continued to assist the archbishop throughout the past year in overseeing the archdiocese’s South Region.

During a news conference to introduce the two new bishops, Archbishop Vigneron said he’s known the two bishops-elect since their days in the seminary, when he was a professor.

“I knew them in their formation, and I’ve always been impressed by them. I will say they didn’t always obey all the rules,” the archbishop quipped, to laughs and smiles from each of the new bishops, “but that’s a sign of creativity and it bodes well for the future.”

“They are wonderful priests, respected by their peers, the priests, the lay ministers with whom they work. Each brings a very rich set of gifts and charism to the work,” Archbishop Vigneron said.

Archbishop Vigneron noted the new bishops each have a heart for priestly formation — Bishop-designate Battersby as vice rector of the seminary and Bishop-elect Fisher as former direct of priestly vocations for the archdiocese — as well as a zeal for Catholic education.

As for something the archdiocese might not know about each of its new bishops, Archbishop Vigneron said Bishop-designate Fisher has a “beautiful voice” and “should do very well when he starts chanting this and that.”

As for Bishop-designate Battersby, Archbishop Vigneron noted the new bishop’s sister-in-law, Ann Thomas, is the producer of the Paul W. Smith morning show on AM-760 WJR, a show on which the archbishop has been a frequent guest.

“Ned (McGrath, archdiocesan communications director,) tells me I will probably never be invited on there again because they have a better direct line to Bishop Battersby,” the archbishop joked.

An ordination Mass for Bishops-designate Battersby and Fisher has been set for Jan. 25, 2017, at the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament.

Bishop-designate Battersby

Bishop-designate Battersby, the youngest of nine children along with his twin brother, Chris, said he was at the seminary and had just come down for morning Mass when his cellphone rang.

He didn’t quite believe it at first.

“At the other end of the line was a voice I didn’t recognize asking for Fr. Battersby. I said I was he, and he went on to tell me (the news),” Bishop-designate Battersby said.

“And I wondered how this crank call had gotten through,” he continued, to a chorus of laughter. “It wasn’t until the archbishop called me shortly thereafter, and I said, ‘Is this real?’ And he said, ‘It’s real.’”

After admitting he was a little frightened at first at the prospect of being a bishop, Bishop-designate Battersby said the jitters subsided when he realized that “it’s not about me.”

“It’s about Jesus,” he said. “It’s about him loving his Church, and calling his Church to a deeper communion. It’s about him calling me to a deeper communion, and I wasn’t nervous anymore. And I knew that he, the Holy One, the Truth, the Life and the Way, calls us to be completely in.”

Bishop-designate Battersby said he thought about the courage it must have taken for Archbishop Byrnes to answer God’s call to a new ministry in Guam, and wanted to offer the same “all in” for Christ.

“So I’m delighted to be here,” he said. “I’m not as nervous as I was. I’m still in shock, and if you’re in shock, don’t feel bad about that, because we have something in common. But I’m grateful to the Holy Father and our Lord for this inestimable gift.”

Bishop-designate Battersby’s background, in fact, is very similar to one of the bishops he’ll be succeeding; besides the fact that both he and Archbishop Byrnes served as vice rector of Sacred Heart Major Seminary before their calling to the episcopate, both men also found their vocations later in life after earning secular degrees in biology.

Since his ordination to the priesthood in 1998 at age 38, Bishop-designate Battersby has served in a number of pastoral roles, including as an associate pastor, pastor and as director of graduate seminarians at Sacred Heart.

Bishop-designate Battersby will also become the first Detroit bishop certified through Sacred Heart Major Seminary’s groundbreaking graduate program in the New Evangelization, from which he earned a licentiate degree in 2008.

After participating in the recently completed synod as an expert-adviser, Bishop-designate Battersby said the historic gathering showed that evangelization can only happen when a person allows their life to be totally consumed by Jesus Christ.

“When we allow the Gospel, which has been written with our lives, to be shared with others, then the Holy Spirit can set the whole room ablaze,” Bishop-designate Battersby said.

Awaiting the completion of a terminal degree in spirituality from the University of St. Thomas in Rome, Bishop-designate Battersby said a seminal moment in his ministry came from reading the works of Blessed Columba Marmion.

“It really set me on fire in that an intimate relationship with Christ is God’s plan from the very beginning,” Bishop-designate Battersby said. “I really think that Blessed Columba Marmion had a deep love for the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and he captured it in the theology 'in sinu Patris’ — “in the bosom of the Father” — to be the open side of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. So that’s what really captured my heart.”

Asked to identify a bishop or bishops whom he hopes to emulate, Bishop-designate Battersby said the Archdiocese of Detroit has been “blessed right down the line with exemplary bishops,” but singled out Archbishop Vigneron and the late Cardinal John Dearden as those he's looked up to.

“When I was a little boy, I had the privilege and honor of serving Mass for Cardinal Dearden, and he always was a symbol for me of a dignified bishop, of a bishop that understood the gift his office was,” he said.

Bishop-designate Fisher

Bishop-designate Fisher said he, too, didn’t quite believe it when the call came through from Archbishop Christophe Pierre, the papal nuncio to the United States.

In fact, he didn’t even answer it at first.

“I was in my office at the parish, and my cellphone started ringing. It actually had the day before as well, and a number came up that said it was from Washington, D.C., so I ignored it,” said Bishop-designate Fisher, the oldest of four children.

The Shrine rector figured if it was important enough, someone would leave a message, but they never did.

“So the following morning I was in my office and the same number came up a couple of times. I had been meeting with one of my associates, Fr. Kevin Roelant, and my phone was buzzing like crazy,” he said. “Finally there was a text from both Archbishop Vigneron and Fr. (Stephen) Pullis saying, ‘Will you please call me right away?’ So that’s what I did, and Archbishop Vigneron said, ‘One of my confreres needs to speak with you; will you call this number?’ Well, it was that mystery number from the day before.”

When he finally did speak with Archbishop Pierre, Bishop-designate Fisher’s jaw practically hit the floor.

Since learning he would be called to the fullness of the sacrament of holy orders, Bishop-designate Fisher said he’s thought a lot about the meaning of the very first sacrament he received.

“Once it sinks in and becomes real, you just think about that original ‘yes’ you give to the Lord from the moment you’re baptized going forward,” Bishop-designate Fisher said. “My thought was, ‘OK, Lord, if this is what you want, we’re going to do this with wholehearted joy.’”

If becoming a bishop were to come with any perks, however, Bishop-designate Fisher said his friends and family were quick to bring him back down to earth.

“One of the young priests that’s with me (at Shrine) reminded me just before Mass this morning with a gleam in his eye that today is the feast of Pope St. Clement I, a martyr of the early Church,” Bishop-designate Fisher said, emphasizing the word “martyr” for effect. “At the same time, my sister reminded me that just because I’m a bishop now doesn’t get me out of dishes on Thanksgiving.”

On a serious note, Bishop-designate Fisher said they both reminded him that a bishop is called not to be served, but to serve.

“I think about the many times for all parish priests where, in the course of our ministry, we have the opportunity to do outreach to folks, and sometimes it’s in the midst of a homily that touches a person’s heart, but very often it’s just in the small acts of Gospel charity, Gospel kindness, and being a symbol of the Church for people,” said Bishop-designate Fisher, adding he’s looked to Archbishop Vigneron and Cardinal Adam J. Maida as examples of the “fatherly love” a bishop should exemplify.

The bishop-designate said it’s often the little acts that can cause someone who’s been away from the Church to stop and reconsider a relationship with Christ.

While he attended just a small portion of the synod, Bishop-designate Fisher said after speaking with Shrine parishioners who were there, “seeing in their eyes the fire they came back with and the absolute sense of joy, it’s a great symbol of all the great good that’s going to happen in our archdiocese in the next years.”

A parish priest for the better part of his 24-year ministry, Bishop-designate Fisher has a soft spot for Catholic schools, which he helped oversee at Shrine and in his former posts at St. Lawrence Parish in Utica and St. Angela in Roseville.

“If you were having a difficult day and ever wanted to have your spirits lifted, go over to the school and spend some time with the kids there,” Bishop-designate Fisher said. “Because they have just that sense of joy about them. Every now and then, they’ll have some word or some phrase that just lets you know that all the effort that goes into making the Catholic school happen is really worth it, because the message is getting to them.”

Archbishop Vigneron said while Bishop-designate Fisher will eventually transition out of his role as rector at Shrine, the two have talked about the importance of making sure the needs of the parish and school are met.

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For more stories about the ordination and background of the Archdiocese of Detroit's new auxiliary bishops, Bishop Robert Fisher and Bishop Gerard Battersby, check out The Michigan Catholic's special section.