The Diocese of Fresno welcomed Bishop Joseph V. Brennan as its sixth bishop at an Installation Mass celebrated at St. Anthony of Padua Church May 2.
The 65-year-old Van Nuys native formally succeeded retiring Bishop Armando X. Ochoa as the Catholic Bishop of Fresno, assuming the leadership of a diocese vastly different from Los Angeles, where Brennan has was born, raised, and spent nearly four decades as a priest.
From 2015 until now, he has served as auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles in the San Fernando Pastoral Region.
Present at the Mass were hundreds of Catholic faithful from around the diocese, local faith leaders, friends and family of Bishop Brennan, Los Angeles Archbishop Jose H. Gomez, Apostolic Nuncio to the U.S. Archbishop Christophe Pierre, and several other Catholic bishops from California. More than a hundred priests from the Diocese of Fresno and Archdiocese of Los Angeles concelebrated the Mass.
Full story at Angelus News.
May God Bless Bishop Brennan and guide him as he takes on the leadership of the diocese.
I think the Last Supper sculpture in the top pic with the celebrant’s chair superimposed over and obscuring Christ is a bit much. Some artist thought he was being clever and symbolic, but it’s rather odd and inappropriate. I get the intent: to show that the priest is in persona Christi. But this artsy attempt to represent that fails, in my opinion. What you have in essence is that Christ is obscured by the chair. Terrible symbolism. Would have been better to have the sculpture elevated above the chair and show Christ unobscured, if they wanted to have the sculpture in that location. But even that would be a questionable placement.
I think maybe that is reading too much into it—I think they just put the Bishop’s chair there, temporarily, for the installation Mass….and that typically there is nothing in front of the Last Supper depiction.
Might be worth a visit to find out. I tend to agree with Mike’s interpretation.
Mike,
Step 1: The name of the church doesn’t include “Cathedral.” I wonder if that is the cathedral?
Step 2: Google – catholic cathedral Fresno Ca. Oops, Cathedral is St. Johns
Step 3: Must have used this church for the installation. Cathedra is not permanent.
Step 4: No need for comment
Step 5: Let’s pray for the Bishop.
if it’s not a cathedral, why is the cathedra there? Cathedral/cathedra? get it? The cathedra isn’t moveable. Some liturgist really screwed up. But Fresno is the boonies, so don’t expect much sophistication there.
Anonymous,
FYI, St. Anthony of Padua parish is not the Cathedral of the Diocese of Fresno.
Bishop’s chairs used to be (celebrant’s too for that matter) on the side of the sanctuary, leaving the altar and tabernacle unobstructed from the people. Many cathedrals now have the bishops chair in the center of the sanctuary where the tabernacle once was….it’s getting cliche even to point out this obvious fact, but perhaps a gesture of humility would go along way in terms of moving those chairs off to the side again….
Blessings to Bishop Brennan on assuming this duty. I still wonder why the Vatican nominates Bishops within ten years of mandatory retirement. Also perhaps someone from another part of the country?
I believe the local Bishop can move the ‘cathedra’ to any Church in the Diocese. What’s wrong with Fresno?