CHICAGO (AP) – The process of installing a bishop as the new spiritual leader of more than 2 million Catholics will begin with a knock on a door.
Blase Cupich will arrive Monday night at the Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago for the Rite of Reception. After he knocks on the cathedral door, he will be welcomed inside and presented with the garment called the archdiocesan stole. Then he’ll greet civic and ecumenical leaders representing various religions, with Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel expected to attend.
The process sets into motion a transfer of power in which Cupich succeeds the retiring Cardinal Francis George the next day as the archbishop of one of the largest archdioceses in the United States. It will be the first time in the history of the archdiocese that a new archbishop has assumed leadership while his predecessor is still alive.
But it is a process steeped in tradition and symbolism, with the door, for example, symbolic of Jesus, said Michael Murphy, the director of Catholic Studies at Loyola University in Chicago. “Jesus is always the door we walk through.”
Once inside, he will be given a crucifix and holy water “with which to bless himself and the crucifix,” according to the archdiocese’s newspaper, Catholic New World. He also will, according to the archdiocese, be given a garment called the archdiocesan stole.
“It is given to him by his (Chicago area) brother priests and when they give it to him it is an invitation for him to be the pastor,” Murphy said.
Cupich, 65, will deliver a homily during a prayer service, according to the archdiocese’s website.
During Tuesday’s installation Mass, Cupich will be seated in the cathedra – the archbishop’s chair – and George will present to him the crozier, or staff, that signifies the leader of the archdiocese.
George, who has cancer, is retiring after leading the archdiocese since he succeeded the late Cardinal Joseph Bernardin in 1997. Cupich has held a number of positions in the church. He comes to Chicago from the state of Washington, where he was the bishop of the Diocese of Spokane.
Cupich is being watched closely to see how he deals with a host of issues, including poverty, gun violence and a shortage of priests. He has said he will continue to speak out on a need for immigration changes and that he favors transparency in dealing with the priests accused of sexual abuse.
When he arrived at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport last week, he said some of the answers to reporters’ questions about how he might work with political and civic leaders to address some of those issues might be found in his comments Monday night.