LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Bishop Blair did well, and was rewarded

11/17/2013

Regarding your editorial about Bishop Leonard Blair and the next bishop of Toledo, I thank you for your attempt to clarify the needs of the diocese (“Toledo’s next bishop,” Nov. 9).

I am very grateful to Bishop Blair for his exemplary leadership of the Catholic Church in northwest Ohio. During his tenure, he has helped us navigate the difficult waters of proclaiming and living the Gospel of Christ in a culture increasingly ignorant of the benefits that revealed religion has to offer our communal and personal lives.

In his gentle yet firm way, Bishop Blair has addressed the most pressing needs of his flock: he has called us to be faithful to the way of Jesus Christ, he has addressed issues of abuse and scandal with mature transparency, he has helped us organize our parishes, schools, and charitable institutions in a way that assures our spiritual and material health well into the future.

But most of all, Bishop Blair has had an eye of concern for the most defenseless among us, especially the unborn and the poor. Evidently these qualities have been noticed not just by the faithful of northwest Ohio. Pope Francis has recognized Bishop Blair’s solid leadership abilities by promoting him to a diocese twice the size of our own, and twice as complex. For that, all of us can be rightly proud.

Regarding our next bishop, where he is from matters little. Where he wants to lead us matters a great deal.

May God, through Pope Francis, give us a shepherd who desires to lead us into all good things.

THE REV. ADAM HERTZFELD

Pastor St. Joan of Arc Church Heatherdowns Boulevard