During a decade as pastoral leader of the diocese, Bishop William K. Weigand has shown a passion for reaching out to people, hard work, speaking his mind and a hands-on management style.

From prayer time each morning at his home in Curtis Park, to lengthy days at the Diocesan Pastoral Center, to weekend pastoral visits, to late-night meetings in cities and towns across 20 counties, the bishop regularly puts in six-day weeks, despite a chronic liver disease he’s lived with since 1981.

He looks back on what’s been accomplished with some pride and is optimistic about the future, even as he continues to address the clergy sexual abuse crisis, which has put him under intense public scrutiny the past two years.

What keeps him going day to day, he says, is the call of every bishop in today’s church: To present the Gospel message to meet the needs of the times.

“I look back over the 10 years and see what’s been most important is what’s always most important ó the ordinary life of the church,” said Bishop Weigand during an interview in early January in his office at the Pastoral Center.

“For a bishop that means teaching, sanctifying and shepherding the faithful and providing for their spiritual and pastoral needs. But that constantly has new twists and challenges.”

The 66-year-old bishop plans no special celebration to mark his 10th anniversary on Jan. 27, only a prayer service and reception with diocesan staff prior to that date.

Earlier this month, he told his brothers, as well as clergy and staff of the diocese, that the liver ailment — primary sclerosing cholangitis — he has lived with for 23 years has slowly progressed, prompting his doctors to discuss with him the possibility of a liver transplant in the future.

“From a faith perspective, it’s always seemed to be God’s will that this disease has progressed so slowly with me,” said Bishop Weigand, who was diagnosed with the liver disease in February 1981, less than six months after he was appointed bishop of the Diocese of Salt Lake City.

For the past five-and-a-half years, he has been receiving treatment every six to 10 weeks at UC San Francisco Medical Center for the uncommon progressive disease, in which abnormal formation of fibrous tissue blocks the passages that drain bile in the liver and out of the liver through the bile ducts to the intestine.

He said regular exercise — swimming and biking — helps keep him functioning and in good health.

“I’m functioning fine and haven’t cut back on any activities, but it may be getting closer to the time when a liver transplant is necessary,” he said. “But doctors say it could be advantageous that this be done while I’m in relatively good health. There’s no time frame right now, but as the disease develops more I may need to determine if there are possible donors.”

In a relatively new liver transplant program, a living donor, 55 years or younger, who has the same blood type, donates a portion of his or her liver, the bishop said. Both livers regenerate.

During the interview, the bishop cited some of his efforts over the past decade. Among them: the encouragement of lay ministries; the addition of Auxiliary Bishop Richard J. Garcia in 1998; a heightened public presence on political issues; reorganization of Catholic Charities and social ministry and advocacy; outreach to diverse ethnic communities; increased vocations to the priesthood and the permanent diaconate; special concern for the faith life of families and youth; and initiatives to address women’s issues in the church.

He’s established new parishes in Roseville and Granite Bay, new elementary schools in El Dorado Hills and Elk Grove, and a new high and middle school in Palo Cedro named for Bishop Emeritus Francis A. Quinn. In 2002, he sparked the most successful diocesan capital campaign in the diocese’s history, to benefit many parish and school building projects, provide for priests’ retirement, education and social services, and start the restoration of the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament.

He’s worked behind the scenes to encourage the Legionaries of Christ and Christian Brothers’ religious communities to make plans for Catholic universities in Sacramento and Placer counties.

He’s expanded Catholic media in the diocese. The Catholic Herald has reached its highest circulation of more than 55,000 households, El Heraldo Catolico (Spanish-language monthly) reaches 18,000, “The Bishop’s Hour” radio program in English has 50,000 listeners daily and Catholic radio programming in Spanish is flourishing.

Underlying all these efforts have been two constants in the bishop’s ministry, voiced in his installation homily a decade ago: Affirming and serving every segment of the diocesan church, especially minority and ethnic communities, and helping local Catholics — from traditional to progressive — understand church teaching and get along.

“I’ve always been a centrist,” he said. “My agenda is what the church gives us at any particular time, which responds at all levels to the needs of the people.

“An ongoing role for a bishop is teaching, because every era has its own needs for clarifying and for withstanding the pressures of a culture that doesn’t always understand or agree with our teachings. When the church clarifies certain things, it’s just the way I am — I pass it on to the people.

“I consider myself a hands-on manager, and it’s been one of my sufferings in a sense. This diocese is so large and complex, that I knew early on I simply could not be personally involved at all levels. Ten years later, I’m pretty used to it — I’ve come to terms with the reality.”

His ongoing pastoral visits to each of the 99 parishes and more than 40 missions in the diocese — where he talks to pastors and parish leaders — continue to be an enjoyable part of his ministry and help him be in touch with the diverse needs of pastors and parishioners.

“This gives me the big picture,” he said. “I’ve had a certain stress on the multicultural reality of this diocese and serving all peoples in our parishes. And I have to say I’ve been pretty stubborn about it. I haven’t let go of it from day one.”

During his tenure he’s expanded ministries and lay training programs for Hispanics, who now make up about 40 percent of the diocese’s 510,000 Catholics. He’s also formalized the presence of and services to the Korean, Vietnamese and other many other ethnic communities, as well as the Latin Mass community, Ecclesia Dei.

“Hispanics at all levels are far more recognized and better served today,” the bishop said. “The Mass and sacraments in Spanish go on in far more parishes and settings than they used to, and that leads to meeting all the other needs, including catechesis and youth ministry. Ten years ago, things didn’t move so fast. The Hispanic community is more mainstream, so the expectations have changed dramatically. But we still need to train more leaders.”

Bishop Weigand said he realized soon after he arrived in 1994 that a strong effort to attract priestly vocations was needed, both because of the shortage of priests and the growing Catholic population in many parts of the diocese, particularly Hispanic and Asian Catholics.

Seven men were ordained to the priesthood last year and 36 seminarians are now studying for the priesthood. In the past 10 years, many local seminarians from various ethnic groups have been recruited, as well as through cooperative arrangements with dioceses in Mexico, the Philippines and Colombia.

“We’ve tried to work with bishops in these countries because immigrants are still coming in great numbers to California and we need priests to serve them,” the bishop said. “Our thrust has been on bringing seminarians here for education and training, so that they learn English and the culture here, because they will minister to the entire Catholic community in our diocese.”

While the diocese has had enough priests to cover all of the parishes, in the past few years the bishop has appointed two permanent deacons and two women religious to serve as parish stewards administering parishes in Isleton, Yreka, Dunsmuir and Sacramento.

“This works in some places better than others, but it’s not the ideal situation,” he noted. “You still have to have a priest available in some way for the Eucharist and the other sacraments. I have no problem at all in doing more of this, but in metro areas in most cases this is not adequate.”

As Catholics continue to grow in numbers, permanent deacons and lay ministers will also have a greater role in parish life, the bishop said.

“The church’s call to have lay leaders doesn’t depend on a shortage or priests or deacons. It’s their own right and even in the smallest of parishes lay people are participating and involved in shared ministry and leadership with the pastor.”

He said over the past decade, with the support of the Council of Priests, he has “increased the different levels of shared leadership and participatory processes” in parishes, including functioning pastoral councils (80 percent of parishes now have one), finance councils and other initiatives to involve the laity.

He’s also worked to achieve diversity of gender and ethnicity on diocesan councils, commissions and advisory boards, and in April 2000 established a diocesan commission for women, which holds listening sessions and advises both bishops on women’s issues.

This past August, Bishop Weigand announced a synod for the diocese, the first in nearly 75 years, setting off a 15-month process calling on clergy, laity and religious to participate in planning and steering the vision of the local church for many years to come. About 250 of the 350 delegates to the synod, which will be convened Oct. 11-13, will be from the laity, including one woman and one man from each parish in the diocese.

Convoking the synod, the bishop said, evolved from a three-year process of reflection, prayer, self-study and pastoral planning he initiated in the diocese in 2001, with the intent of setting goals and objectives to guide the diocese through the year 2010.

The first phase of that process was a pastoral survey designed by Georgetown University’s Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA), which received responses from some 65,000 adult Catholics about priority needs in parishes.

During the past year, pastors, parish staff and parishioners completed a second phase, analyzing their parish data and meeting in regional areas to share the results of their studies and pastoral plans, looking for ways in which they could collaborate.

The bishop received more than 900 suggestions for possible topics for the synod from a survey last fall of lay leaders and members of pastoral councils in all parishes, as well as clergy and religious.

He said he’s pleased with the many ideas submitted, and soon will announce the topics for synod discussion. He’s excited about the process leading up to the actual synod session in October.

“I’m not sure we’d be at this point if there hadn’t been all those prior years of working on pastoral councils, the CARA survey and planning,” he noted. “From all these things, it wasn’t too hard for people to see what the opportunities and challenges are ahead.

“The importance at the moment is the process and listening to the people. There’s no question that there’s some risk involved, because people’s expectations will be heightened. The end result may be less than they’ve hoped for and there could be a let down. But I want to assure people this is an ongoing process, and that the dialogue and discussion going on now is healthy.”

Though addressing the scandal of clergy sexual abuse has occupied much of his time the past two years, Bishop Weigand said it’s also been a time of growth and vitality for the diocese and heightened collaboration between priests and parishioners.

“During this scandal I’ve been so absolutely impressed with the faithfulness of our people,” he said. “The public part of dealing with it and the many exaggerations have been horrific. It’s been a terrible cross for everyone to bear. If anything, I’ve done more parish visits during this time, precisely because it was important to affirm the people and the priests.

“Ultimately, my accountability is to God and the 500,000-plus Catholics in the diocese,” he added. “We have to protect children and young people and that’s been my first priority...The best response to any crisis is growth and to go on with new resolve and vitality, and I think we have done so.”

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