RVC welcomes new bishop

Relatively few people from the South Shore knew who Bishop John Barres was before he became the fifth bishop of the Rockville Centre Diocese on Dec. 9, but there was still plenty of excitement and optimism from the community about his appointment.

The 56-year-old Barres, who was the bishop of Allentown, Pa., for the last 7½ years, will succeed Bishop William Murphy in leading one of the country’s largest dioceses.

Murphy, 76, stepped down because the Code of Canon Law states that diocesan bishops must submit their resignations to the pope when they reach 75 years of age.

Jean Jones, of Rockville Centre, was pleased that the incoming bishop was not replacing someone who had died, as was the case when Murphy replaced James T. McHugh, who succumbed to cancer in 2000.

“I was a little sad that Bishop Murphy was leaving,” Jones said. “But it’s good that we have a new bishop. To be able to do the transition the way it’s being done, it’s really good.”

Jones said she hopes that Barres will place some of his focus on helping the special-needs community. Her 26-year-old son, Morgan, has Down syndrome and has not returned to the church since a parishioner scolded him when he was 9 years old for singing too loudly during Mass.

Jones didn’t know Barres before last week, but was confident in Pope Francis’s decision.

“I don’t think Pope Francis would assign him here unless he understood what this community really means as a whole,” Jones said. “The diocese itself is changing. There’s more people of color and more different ethic backgrounds, and we have to accept that because, at the end of the day, they all love God.”

Another resident, Mary Tierney, was one of the fortunate few who knew about the appointment before the official announcement was made and met him. She learned the news at 5:30 a.m. that day through a friend’s text.

Tierney was the lone Eucharistic minister at the 7:45 a.m. St. Agnes Mass and spent time with Barres afterward. She described him as a “warm, approachable and loving.”

“He seems wonderful,” she said glowingly.

Fran Bingham was with Tierny and hopes to have the same interactions with Barres in the future.

“The Good Lord is taking good care of us,” Bingham said. “I’m very excited. I’m sure that he’ll have a special spot in his heart when non-Catholics come into the church.”

Children became Barres’s priority during his introductory news conference as he introduced himself to the St. Agnes Cathedral School students in grades six to eight who attended the ceremony. He asked the children their names, shook their hands and inquired about their interests.

Principal Cecilia St. John called Barres “a wonderful man” for focusing his attention on the children while he headed to the lectern, and she said those interactions will have a long-lasting effect on the students.

“They were just so eager to learn about him,” she said. “We read a little bit about him. The fact that he is just so spiritual and so loving to the children has made them so over the moon about him, so we are very anxious to be here with him.”

Sister Mary Alice Aschenbach, the vice president of pastoral care at Mercy Hospital, was also sad to see Murphy leave, but said she looks forward to meeting Barres after hearing positive things about him.

“I’m very excited,” she said. “I’m glad that Bishop Murphy will finally be able to relax, but I’m definitely looking forward to meeting [Barres]. He sounds like a interesting young man.”

St. Agnes Monsignor William Koenig also met Barres on Friday. Koenig was especially impressed with Barres’s eagerness to learn more about the Rockville Centre community and the different aspects of the diocese.

“He’s already hitting the ground to a kind of sense of who we are here,” Koenig said.

Koenig also expressed confidence that Barres will pick up from where Murphy left off with education, Catholic health services and pastoral outreach.

“There’s gratitude to the Holy Father for selecting a new shepherd for our diocese,” Koenig said. “He’s very positive. He met some of the children of the school and showed an interest in them as individuals, and I think his leadership in Allentown also prepares him for the things facing him in our diocese.”