SAN DIEGO — The following is a farewell letter from Cardinal Robert W. McElroy to the Catholic community in San Diego and the Imperial Valley:
As I leave San Diego to be installed as the new archbishop of Washington, I want to express my enormous gratitude for the grace which the People of God in this Local Church have been for me.
While a bishop is called to lead the Church in his diocese, he is also formed as a bishop by the priests, religious women and men, deacons and lay leaders of that diocese. San Diego is my first assignment as a diocesan bishop, and I have learned innumerable lessons of the heart and soul and spirit during the last decade by witnessing the faith of God active and alive in each of you.
I saw that faith in our priests, who struggled heroically throughout the terrible period of COVID to bring the sacramental and communitarian life of our parishes to their people despite seemingly impossible obstacles. And I see it in the men who have been ordained during these years, each of them giving to God the whole of their lives as they approached me for the laying on of hands. This faith and service, too, shines in the retired priests of our diocese, who continue to work tirelessly to ensure that the Eucharist and the sacraments are readily available through San Diego and Imperial counties.
I have seen the grace of God alive in the great annual liturgical celebrations that illuminate our communal life of faith and our cultural diversity: the Pentecost Mass for All Peoples; the Procession and Eucharist for Our Lady of Guadalupe; the festivals for San Lorenzo Ruiz, Our Lady of Peñafrancia and Simbang Gabi; the Mass of the Vietnamese Martyrs and the celebration of the Mass on the birthday of Martin Luther King. And of course, the annual celebration of the Rite of Election, the ordination of permanent deacons for service to the Church, and our Annual Mass for Consecrated Women have been for me great sources of spiritual depth and gratitude.
When I came to San Diego, I was immensely impressed by the high level of lay leadership formation that had taken place over the previous 30 years. This is the call that the Synod meeting in Rome last year made to the Global Church: to make clear that the mission of the Church requires dedicated men and women of faith who make great sacrifices in order to preach the Gospel, catechize the young and the old, reach out to the poor and the marginalized, and advocate for the immigrant and the unborn. All of these realities were present in our diocese when I arrived in San Diego, and they have been amplified in the following years precisely because so many people of deep faith do see themselves as missionary disciples who are called to undertake the vast array of ministries and apostolates that are the treasures of our Local Church.
I remember the participation of thousands of men, women and young adults in the synodal processes that we have had over the past 10 years: the synod on marriage and families, which struggled with how to bring the Church’s teaching on marriage to a world which has increasingly lost sight of its importance. The synod on youth and young adults that focused on new pathways to arrest the drift of our young people from the life of the Church; and the synodal processes in 2023 and 2024 that allowed us to share widely and deeply our joys, sorrows and hopes in the Church as a pathway to renewal and reform.
The leadership of the diocese has always been a source of great grace and learning for me. The incredibly competent, dedicated and faith-filled staff of our Pastoral Center who truly are ambassadors for Christ; the Diocesan Pastoral Council, which so creatively helped us to get through COVID and beyond; the Presbyteral Council that has always been a source of immense pastoral wisdom for me; and the Diocesan Finance Council, which has had to undertake greatly expanded work in grappling with our diocesan bankruptcy. All of these men and women in leadership have enriched our Catholic community and led me toward wisdom in action.
Finally, the four auxiliary bishops that I have ordained here in San Diego are exemplary men and each will, in turn, become a splendid bishop of their own Catholic community. I give them special thanks for all of their support and leadership.
And most of all, I give thanks to God for leading me to this wonderful place of faith, vitality, community, sacrifice, compassion and hope. It is enriched by this treasure which I have encountered here for the last 10 years, that I go forth at the call of the Church, to a new flock. But I go, knowing that I will always keep the joy and faith of San Diego deeply in my heart. And know, also, that we will be always joined in our mission of preaching Christ Crucified and Christ Risen to the whole of the world.
