Bishop William K. Weigand will celebrate the silver anniversary of his episcopal ordination during a special Mass on Monday, Nov. 21 at 11 a.m. in the newly-restored Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament in downtown Sacramento.

At his residence Nov. 10, the bishop sat down for an interview to talk about his 25 years of ministry as a bishop in the Diocese of Salt Lake City and the Diocese of Sacramento.

You have been a bishop for 25 years now. Why do you think you were chosen for such an important ministry?

I was probably the right person at the right place at the right time. I was back (to Idaho) less than three years from Latin America when the neighboring Diocese of Salt Lake City became vacant. Archbishop (Jean) Jadot was the apostolic delegate and his concerns were especially pastoral in bishops he appointed.

The Diocese of Salt Lake City needed a boost in three ways. First, to develop seriously a ministry in Spanish for Hispanics. I was just back from Colombia and I knew Spanish well. I had been quite successful as pastor of the large parish in Cali, and I had reason to know that information about that had been relayed to the United States.

Also, there was the need for more vocations in Salt Lake City and the bishop had to have an interest in aggressive action for vocation recruitment. And I had a very close association with the major seminary in Cali.

The third area was that the diocese needed a good financial structure put in place. I don’t know why they would have thought of me for that, but I was a good organizer in my priestly work and I financed a large operation at the parish in Cali.

What were the major transitions from being a pastor to being a bishop?

Probably the most noticeable for me was the fact that I didn’t have a parish community anymore, not only to minister to but to be ministered to — the support, the relationships. All of sudden it was an isolated situation and it was a terrible shock. To this day, I mourn the passing of what I recall as the joyous and satisfying years as a parish priest.

The difference is not that I’m isolated from people over these 25 years, but it’s much more difficult to develop relationships with people. Everyone’s in a sense a bit suspicious of an authority figure — they have their guard up and they categorize you in certain ways.

I’m basically a shy person, an introvert. I’d been very active and aggressive as a priest, but it was not in the limelight and whenever possible I would almost purposely hide behind the others. And here all of a sudden you can’t hide. It was stressful and I didn’t like it. Coupled with that was the suspicion or reverence or being put in a special category by people — I didn’t like it then and frankly I don’t like it now.

As a bishop everything has become very complex…It’s hard to give the leadership without thinking what else is there, what’s behind the scenes, what else should I consider. I’ve gotten used to all this. I’ve also had to learn how to stand back and let others do things.

Has your spirituality changed since you became a bishop?

The most obvious and persistent aspect of my spirituality as a result of being a bishop has been the spirituality of the cross. The liver disease through the years — frankly, the ambiguity of it and not knowing what was going to happen — that was a suffering that was part of my spirituality. Many other things I get frustrated about because I can’t do things as directly as I once could. For me, at least, being a hands-on, get-things-done personality, that is a suffering that I’ve had to incorporate as part of the daily offering to the Lord. I put all my frustrations before the Lord at Mass, as well as all the unexpected things and problems that come along.

I see myself as very up front. I come from Big Sky Country originally, not from California. Everything is so different here — so complex and so politicized at times…I don’t even like politics and I don’t even see myself as political at all. I find it repugnant in a sense, and yet that’s the expectation here. I say what I mean; I don’t have a hidden agenda. Sometimes that shocks people. This sort of thing has been part of the suffering for me — things misunderstood and assumed about me.

Do you plan in some time for personal and communal prayer among your duties?

Absolutely — I plan time for prayer. Through the years as the duties grow, I pray more rather than less, and that is typical of anybody’s spiritual journey. As problems and responsibilities get heavier, you go to prayer more.

But also in both dioceses, I have had a great gift. I pray a lot on the move. I can be very contemplative in my car, driving from Sacramento to Tule Lake. I’ve got some classical music that I play, but often it’s just the beauty of nature.

I do like the mountains. I love the streams and the lakes and nature. I was raised that way. I like to fish and I like to camp. I like to take a vacation on a lake or on the coast. There’s something prayerful about this.

What aspects of your ministry as a bishop have given you the greatest joy?

A constant marvel for me and grace is that I have been in a position in Salt Lake City and Sacramento to see — parish by parish — the presence and power of God in ordinary people and I have to say, just their basic goodness. We are so blessed with such good people. Not everybody goes to church and not everybody is going to be canonized a saint, but I get to see the faith at work in people at moments when most other people don’t get to see it. Parish priests do see it at times of marriage, funerals, in confession and in tragedies in families and how they pull together and cope. But a bishop sees it in different ways, in a comprehensive way…You see how much people are involved and how much time and commitment they put in and how they love the Lord and the church.

You have made regular weekend pastoral visits to parishes in the diocese a priority of your ministry? Why?

I find so much joy in these visits. I also find it absolutely essential for other practical reasons which turn out to be very pastoral. It has to do with the appointment of priests. If I don’t know all the parishes — and one from the other — and their needs, then I can’t make a good decision about new pastors or where collaboration can take place.

Sometimes I’m convinced that the vocation shortage is permitted by God precisely because otherwise we wouldn’t make the changes that we ought to make anyway. After Vatican II, doctrinally we were called on to develop lay ministry and shared responsibility with laity. That started to happen on some levels, but it needs to happen a lot more than it is happening currently.

The fact that we have been facing a shortage of priests and vocations have been fewer forced us and helped us to use personnel better. And those weekend pastoral visits give me a sense of how, of the other ways it could be done and probably should be done.

You have faced some tough situations and controversies as bishop — the sex abuse scandal, issues related to Catholic politicians and church teaching, among other examples. What has been your approach to dealing with these?

I have never had any tendency — this is a blessing, I suppose — to postpone dealing with something. I’ve got a theory — it probably comes from my family — that if you tackle things when they first come to light, it’s far easier than if you let it fester and go too long.

The difficult problems affect me, but they don’t demoralize, scare or intimidate me in the sense that I run for cover and don’t react. I do what I have to do. And I rely on what the church teaches. When something comes up, I want to know the whole history and the background about it. The people who work for me know that they had better get out the files, because I will be asking questions.

One of your main roles is upholding and teaching the morals and values of the church. How do you see your role in a culture that is often hostile to Catholic beliefs and values?

This role really doesn’t bother me at all. Of course the culture is hostile, but it always has been. First of all, you do what’s right. People in and out of my office — whether they are canonists or theologians or lawyers — they’ve heard me say time and time again, ‘What’s the right thing to do for everyone involved? ‘And how’s the best way to do that?’

In terms of the teachings and morals of the church, I couldn’t care less whether they are out of step with the culture. That’s never bothered me. We teach what the church teaches whether people listen or not — in season and out of season. We can’t do anything other than that.

What has not been helpful for me is that I am not a good communicator. It’s partly because I’m not the politician some people think I am, but I’m not and don’t want to be. I have no interest in it…I’m not the born teacher and communicator that can break it down and make it reader friendly in a sense for a hostile society. I don’t know how to do that.

Do you think the church will recover its public image in light of the clergy sex abuse scandal?

Yes, I think so. Long term, I’m not worried. The whole thing has been humbling, but it’s probably been good for us spiritually. It’s a call to reflection and holiness. Jesus was very clear in the Gospels about when you get bad publicity, it forces all of us, especially bishops and pastors, to realize that we’re not on a pedestal, we’re not gods. We’ve all been knocked off that pedestal, but that’s not bad. In some ways we deserved it. That part doesn’t bother me.

What bothers me is that it was this issue. I just found it so hard personally. It was so outrageous, scandalous, unbelievable and unthinkable. I understand human nature so that part didn’t shock me. I just found it so publicly embarrassing to have to even talk about it. But leaders probably need this now and then and it’s healthy. I think we will come out all right. We will be humbler and we will be better prepared for the future with all our policies to protect children.

Have you recovered from your liver transplant surgery? How has it affected your ministry?

I’m back to a full schedule. But there are some changes and differences. I have been trying to do more work at home. I feel I’m more human away from the office, more normal and balanced.

In June I got a little dog, Rubio, and I take breaks with her out in my garden at home. Even when I am at the office, I take breaks and walk the (St. Joseph) cemetery.

I was just at the doctor two weeks ago for the first time in two-and-a-half months. They said I was fine and to come back in March. They monitor my blood monthly to measure the liver function and they are still adjusting my medicine. The doctors say the recovery has been textbook-like and nothing really has gone wrong. I’m not back to full strength and energy. I am still physically rebuilding. But it is getting close. I’m a lot stronger than I was a month ago.

From a psychological standpoint — basically looking death in the eye and readying myself to go to God and then surviving — that’s had some interesting impacts. The Lord had every chance to let me go to my reward, but it clearly wasn’t time. Even in the discernment process about surgery I would ask everyone — bishop friends, my spiritual director, staff members — ‘Why do this and put somebody else at risk also?’ I thought somebody would say it’s not necessary, but that wasn’t the case.

I came close to checking out and kind of almost without thinking about it, my priorities have clarified. And my life is simpler. And I think my prayer life is better.

Do you read all your mail? Do you respond to every letter?

Yes, for the most part. If a parishioner writes with a concern and needs an answer — absolutely. Father Blaise Berg, my personal secretary, looks through things for me and maybe already drafts a rough response. Or for different reasons, I may purposely ask someone else on my staff to answer if they have a particular expertise or someone is asking a particular theological question. I have some people who write me often and I do try to follow up most of the time because if you don’t it is hurtful. Everything gets answered as much as possible. It’s what people expect.

What do you see as your main priorities for the next few years?

My main priority is to implement the pastoral initiatives of the synod. That’s the people’s agenda. Collaborative ministry is very important, but that is so new to many people and parishes. Some parishes like it and some don’t. Collaboration makes such good sense and yet many people, priests among them, lapse into a kind of parochialism.

Pastoral planning is related to collaboration, but also goes beyond it. There are demographic changes and growth issues in our diocese, plus areas where we have to consolidate. This will be an ongoing challenge. And it is important for whoever is bishop here down the line. We have to, as much as possible, prepare for the future. There will also be the challenge of staying on top of the need for new parishes and new buildings and the processes involved with that.

Another priority is catechetical renewal in parishes. We’ve really just started on that and the synod calls for it at all levels — from children to young adults to adults. It will get done, but I’d say we’ll be grappling with this for a good 10 years.

Do you see yourself staying in Sacramento until you retire?

Absolutely — for all kinds of reasons, including age and my health. It makes no sense that I would be moved anywhere else. I look forward to spending the rest of my years here.

Copyright © 2005 Diocese of Sacramento - All Rights Reserved