In Indy, "The Obligation of Love"... and The Obliteration of Fear

In an unscripted preach reflecting the "Gospel simplicity" of the order he led for 12 years as successor of St Alphonsus Liguori, here from Indianapolis, the installation homily given this afternoon by Archbishop Joseph Tobin, CSSR:


For further background on the 60 year-old "Big Red," today's rites and – fittingly for the world capital of racing – the well-oiled ecclesial machine in Central and Southern Indiana, the local Criterion's got the goods in its 56-page welcome edition.

With his return to the States after two decades in Rome, the now-former Secretary of the Vatican's "Congregation for Religious" – the first top Curial official tapped to lead an American archdiocese in nearly two decades – rounds out a crop of four US metropolitans named and installed in 2012: Archbishops William Lori of Baltimore, who took office in May; Samuel Aquila of Denver in July, and Salvatore Cordileone, installed in San Francisco amid high controversy in early October. 

Like the 230,000-member Indy fold, the rest of this year's spots to change hands have historically enjoyed a standing and influence in the life of the wider church significantly greater than their size.

With the latest quartet of top nods, Pope Benedict has now seated 22 of the nation's 33 Latin-church archbishops. 

That said, the largest US diocese to see a shift of leadership in 2012 doesn't see its handover until a week from today (10 December), when Bishop Kevin Vann takes the reins of Southern California's Orange church, whose 1.3 million members rank on a par with the archdioceses of Miami and Philadelphia, and just shy of Detroit and Galveston-Houston. 

None of the others, however, can claim the Crystal.

SVILUPPO: Kudos to our friends at CatholicTV for nabbing the checkered flag – here, fullvideo of yesterday's Mass....


PHOTO: Archdiocese of Indianapolis

-30-