Archbishop George H. Neiderauer waves to the crowd after his Feb. 15 installation as the eighth archbishop of San Francisco at the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption.
CNS photo by
Greg Tarczynski

SAN FRANCISCO (CNS) — At his Feb. 15 installation Mass as head of the San Francisco Archdiocese, Archbishop George H. Niederauer urged more than 2,500 people who filled the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption to reflect God’s love, serve others and not be afraid to defend church teaching.

He praised the work of his two predecessors, Archbishops John R. Quinn and William J. Levada, saying, “because of their gifts, their zeal and their labors, and now because of their welcome and their encouragement, I dare to hope that, with God’s grace, the task before me can be accomplished.”

Archbishop Quinn, who is now retired, was San Francisco’s archbishop from 1977 to 1995. Archbishop Levada, who now heads the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, led the archdiocese 1995-2005.

Archbishop Niederauer also thanked San Francisco’s two auxiliaries, Bishops Ignatius Wang and John C. Wester, who has been apostolic administrator for six months, “for their welcome, their support and their assistance to me in this time of transition.”

San Francisco’s former archbishops attended the installation Mass along with Los Angeles Cardinal Roger M. Mahony, Philadelphia Cardinal Justin Rigali and nearly 50 bishops, hundreds of priests and deacons, women and men religious, dozens of interfaith, civic, and community leaders, and representatives from parishes and organizations in the archdiocese.

Archbishop Niederauer, a 69-year-old Los Angeles native who had led the Salt Lake City Diocese since 1995, is the eighth archbishop of San Francisco.

He said one of his first priorities will be to get to know the people of the archdiocese, especially in parish settings “where Catholics most vitally live and celebrate their faith.” He also said he plans to continue Archbishop Levada’s “dedication to the healing of the victims of sexual abuse of minors.”

The main focus of the archbishop’s homily was the first encyclical by Pope Benedict XVI, “Deus Caritas Est” (“God Is Love”) and its applications for the archdiocese.

“We can have no better guide than the pope,” he said, in the effort to “understand who we are as the local Catholic Church in San Francisco, and to discern how we are called to live and work together.”

The new archbishop stressed the importance of Catholics sharing their faith with one another and drawing strength from the Eucharist.

“We American Catholics, steeped in individualism from our cradles, need always to be reminded that the most important experiences in life cannot be attained alone, because they are relationships: You can’t have a friendship all by yourself, you can’t get married alone and you can’t be a disciple of Jesus Christ in splendid isolation,” he said. “Pope Benedict reminds us that worship, eucharistic communion, includes the reality of being loved and loving in return.”

He also stressed that Catholics are “not called to factions, or even to congregationalism. We are to be Catholic in every parish, Catholic in every diocese, and Catholic throughout the world.”

He said the “rich and challenging diversity of Catholics in this Archdiocese of San Francisco bears constant witness to his truth,” and added that he observed this diversity just days before his installation at an annual archdiocesan Chinese New Year dinner.

Stating that it “is principally the responsibility of the lay faithful to work directly for a just ordering of society,” Archbishop Niederauer said the church cannot “remain on the sidelines in the fight for justice.”

He noted that “in the many moral dilemmas that face them today, Catholics look to their church, to their faith, to be a compass, not a weathervane. The church must point toward the true north of God’s loving will, and not merely track where the winds, or the polls, are blowing.”

During then-Bishop Niederauer’s tenure in the Salt Lake City Diocese, which covers all of Utah’s nearly 85,000 square miles, the Catholic population more than doubled, from 76,000 to 180,000 in 43 parishes and 19 missions.

His new archdiocese, made up of just three counties, only covers 1,012 square miles but it has a Catholic population of 420,000 in 94 parishes and 10 missions.

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