On Monday, December 16 at the Cathedral of Saint Joseph in Hartford, The Most Reverend Leonard Blair was given the Office of the Fifth Metropolitan Archbishop of Hartford (meaning that by virtue of his office he is “first among equals” or “overseer” of the four diocesan bishops in Connecticut—Hartford, Norwich, Bridgeport, and Stamford—and the bishop of Providence, Rhode Island) by appointment of Pope Francis and was installed by the Papal Nuncio to the United States, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganσ. More than 2000 people packed the Cathedral including hundreds of priests, deacons, religious, bishops, arch-bishops, five cardinals, members of the laity of all ag-es, and dignitaries including Governor Malloy. The procession into the Cathedral must have taken 30 minutes.

Part of the ritual of installation includes the reading of the papal mandate appointing the archbishop as well as his seating on the cathedra (bishop’s chair) which is the symbol of his apostolic authority in the Archdiocese. After the installation, representatives of the archdioceses—priests, religious sisters and brothers, families and others are officially introduced to the new archbishop as a sign of his role as Chief Shepherd and servant. After the Liturgy of the Word, Archbishop Blair offered his homily which focused on three key messages: Memory, Mission, and Ministry. In a nutshell, the archbishop noted that without memory—our genealogy and history—we cannot understand who we are or where we are heading; without mission—a unified charism—we cannot serve the Lord by keeping to His mission in this world of proclaiming the Good News of Salvation to all; and without minis-try—something that each one of us is called to, whether we are priest, religious, deacon or laity—we cannot practically carry out our mission and fulfill who we are: Disciples of Christ, created in the likeness and image of God.

I was impressed with the ceremony but of greater import by the warmth and pastoral feeling that this man inspired. I look forward to working for him during his time as our archbishop. It is also a time of “mixed feelings” as we say “goodbye” to Archbishop Emeritus Henry Mansell, who has served our archdiocese for more than 10 years with such passion and hope, he will be missed. He has led us by doing things with a 150% commitment to the Church and her teachings and to meeting the Church’s obligation to the poor, the lost and for-gotten. He has raised the role of the Church second only to the government in providing social services to the needy, and when it comes to pastoral care; the Church under his leadership has no equal. We wish him well in “retirement” and pray the Lord continue to bless him with health and ministry.