Saint John Neumann - Bishop Of Philadelphia
There were great pressures put on John Neumann bishop of Philadelphia
. The Cathedral had been begun in 1846 by his predecessor, but it had a long way to go. Bishop Neumann could not see the Diocese getting deeper and deeper in debt to complete it when there were so many other projects he felt were more needed, in particular schools for immigrant children, of which most everybody in Philadelphia fit into that category. So the Cathedral had to wait until money became available through donations earmarked for that purpose.
He had made a commitment to build the Catholic School system in his diocese. It had been atrocious all over the New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Maryland area where he had ministered since 1836. He felt the Lord had given him the gift of his position as Bishop to right this wrong. Under his leadership, he developed the Catholic School system quickly in his diocese. In less than three years, he took an enrollment of about 500 students and multiplied it to 9000, a miraculous feat.
Bishop Neumann was responsible for the building and recruiting of seventy three new churches and chapels, and the recruitment of fifty new priests, and the pastoral care of one hundred and fifty two. His happiest moments came on trips to the forests and mountains, the great valleys and lakes, the factory towns. He felt more at home among the simple folk than the refined gentry of Philadelphia. On these tours, he made himself available to all. His people spoke many languages; he spoke their tongues and communicated with them. He said Mass for them, preached, attended classes of children, and all around pastured his flock.
He wrote the first Catechism for his diocese. It went through thirty eight editions and was the major catechism in many parts of the United States for decades. He also compiled a more mature Catechism for adults. He also wrote one of America's first Bible Histories.
He had a great devotion and deep love for Our Lord Jesus in the Eucharist. He established the first diocesan program of Forty Hours devotion. This was highlighted by special prayers and processions. It became extremely popular all over the United States for the better part of the Nineteenth and into the Twentieth century.
He had a great desire for closeness to the people. From the day of his ordination as Bishop, he felt the need to make his diocese smaller. There was just too much territory to cover. He had spent sixteen years trying to cover as much area as possible, in order to just touch some of those who needed his pasturing. Now he had a much larger area, eastern Pennsylvania, probably from Harrisburg to the eastern border, the entire state of Delaware and the southern part of New Jersey. At the time it constituted approximately 35,000 square miles. It was an impossible situation.
He lobbied for dividing the diocese into at least two dioceses. In 1855, he suggested that a poorer section of eastern Pennsylvania, namely Pottsville, be made into a diocese and that he be bishop of that diocese. Now this is after three years of having been bishop of Philadelphia. He did not feel comfortable with society people, of which his diocese was full. He believed he was doing a disservice to the people of the diocese because he did not think he was communicating comfortably with them. Remember, his English was not great. He had not had to use it to a great extent in his days as a priest. Mostly, he spoke German. Now he had to get up on the pulpit and give homilies in English to the cream of Philadelphia society. Little did he know how much these dear people embraced him and loved him.
Bishop Neumann felt a great weight was taken off his shoulders when he was given a coadjutor, Bishop James Wood in 1858. While John Neumann had never put the diocese in financial distress, he was run ragged with the constant, never-ending problem of finances. Bishop Wood felt more at ease with administrative situations. In addition, he carried himself very well, and was immediately accepted by the people of Philadelphia. A problem was that he misunderstood the role he was given. We know of a coadjutor as one who takes over the diocese after a period of time. That was not the case with Bishop Neumann. He had wanted a smaller diocese, but he never planned to give up his episcopal appointment.
But this gave him time to do all the work he wanted to do with the people of his diocese. He ran himself ragged, and most likely caused his premature death purely by the amount of work he did. He covered his entire diocese about every two years. The most populated areas he would get to once a year, and then the smaller hamlets once every two years. In addition to all this, there was canonical work he was responsible for overseeing, such as examining the register of baptisms, confirmations, marriages and deaths. While he was not a financial wizard, he was responsible for checking out the financial records, the physical condition of the churches and the cemeteries. And as long as he was visiting a given parish, well, why not do the confirmations as well? Bishop John Neumann was on the road from six to ten weeks at a time.
by: Bob and Penny Lord
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