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IN THE CHURCH
April 10, 2018 | The Valley Catholic
Pope Appoints New Auxiliary Bishop
for Archdiocese of San Francisco
WASHINGTON (CNS) – Pope Fran-
cis has appointed Dominican Father
Robert F. Christian as an Auxiliary
Bishop for the Archdiocese of San
Francisco.
Bishop-designate Christian, 69, is
a native of San Francisco. He entered
the Dominicans at St. Albert Priory in
Oakland, California, in 1970 and made
his solemn profession as a Dominican
in 1974. He was ordained a priest in
Oakland June 4, 1976.
The appointment was announced
was announced in Washington March
28 by Archbishop Christophe Pierre,
apostolic nuncio to the United States.
Since 2015, he has been master of
students for the Dominican’s Western
province. Earlier he was a college
teacher, a professor and vice dean at
the Pontifical University of St. Thomas
Aquinas, also known as the Ange-
licum, and a lecturer at the Graduate
Theological Union in Berkeley, Cali-
fornia.
San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore
J. Cordileone welcomed the new auxil-
iary bishop to his hometown, saying in
a statement released by the archdiocese
that the two had met while studying
in Rome in the 1970s. “We are now
all blessed that Bishop-elect Christian
joins us to serve our priests, religious,
deacons and all the people of the arch-
diocese,” he said.
Bishop-designate Christian said
he was pleased to be returning home
to minister among the people of San
Francisco including many relatives
and friends.
“I know I can count on the prayers
of many people, and I am eager to serve
the people of the city and archdiocese
that I call home,” he said in a statement.
His episcopal ordi nat ion was
planned for early summer at St. Mary’s
Cathedral in San Francisco.
After ordination, Bishop-designate
Christian started his teaching career at
Dominican College in San Rafael, Cali-
fornia. He later joined parish ministry
at Blessed Sacrament Church in Seattle
and was director of the Newman Cen-
ter at the University of Washington.
Bishop-designate Christian re-
turned to teaching in 1985 as profes-
sor sacraments and ecclesiology at the
Angelicum in Rome. For two years be-
ginning in 1997, he served as “socius,”
similar to chief of staff, and vicar of the
Dominicans’ Western province while
lecturing in theology at the Graduate
Theological Union. From 1999 to 2014,
he was vice dean and professor at the
Angelicum.
Other appointments include peri-
tus, or expert, at the 1990 Synod of
Bishops on priestly formation, prior of
the 75-member resident community
of friars at the Angelicum, member of
the Anglican-Roman Catholic Interna-
tional Commission and since 2013 as a
consultor to the Pontifical Council for
Promoting Christian Unity.
He received master of divinity
degree from the Dominican School of
Philosophy and Theology in Oakland
in 1977. Four years later, he earned a
licentiate of sacred theology from the
Angelicum followed by a doctorate in
sacred theology from the same institu-
tion in 1984.
Leave Mass With a Greater Desire
to Give Christian Witness, Pope Says
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – The final
words at Mass – “Go in peace” – are
an invitation to Christians to proclaim
God’s blessings through their lives, not
an opportunity to go outside and speak
ill of others, Pope Francis said.
Through the Eucharist, Jesus “enters
in our hearts and in our flesh so that we
may express in our lives the sacrament
we received in faith,” the pope said dur-
ing his weekly general audience in Saint
Peter’s Square April 4.
“But if we leave the church gossiping,
saying, ‘Look at this one, look at that one,’
with a loose tongue, the Mass has not
entered into my heart. Why? Because I
am not able to live the Christian witness,”
he said. “Every time I leave Mass, I must
leave better than when I entered, with
more life, with greater strength, with a
greater desire to give Christian witness.”
An estimated 20,000 pilgrims gath-
ered in Saint Peter’s Square dressed in
bright ponchos and holding umbrellas
to shield themselves from the cold rain.
After circling the square in his
popemobile, the pope made his way to
the stage, which was still adorned with
flowers from the Easter celebrations.
Flowers, the pope said, are a sym-
bol of the joy and happiness of Jesus’
resurrection when “our justification
blossomed, the holiness of the church
blossomed.”
In his main talk, the pope focused
on the closing rites of Mass, finishing a
series of audience talks on the liturgy.
As the Mass ends, he said, “the com-
mitment of Christian witness” begins
at home, at work and any time a Chris-
tian interacts with others; the idea is to
“become Eucharistic men and women.”