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Bishop F. Joseph Gossman on the Acceptance by the Holy Father of his Retirement
It is with great joy and profound gratitude to God and the Holy Father that I announce to you today the appointment of the Most Reverend Michael F. Burbidge, Auxiliary Bishop of Philadelphia, who will be installed on Friday, August 4, 2006, as the fifth Bishop of the Diocese of Raleigh.
Serving as Bishop of the Diocese of Raleigh has been a wonderful, challenging, exhausting, humbling, sometimes painful but always gratifying experience, and I have come to love the office. Being bishop has given me an opportunity to serve the priests, religious, and people of the diocese and in serving them, to experience God's saving grace, mercy, and presence in my life.
I have been very happy as the bishop of Raleigh, but the time has come when the Church in the diocese will be better served by someone who has a younger body, a quicker mind, a fresher vision and more energy for the tasks at hand than I have after 31 years of Episcopal administration. Bishop Burbidge is just such a person.
Bishop Burbidge comes to us with advanced degrees in theology and education and with experience as a Parochial Vicar in a parish, as a faculty member in a high school, as Rector of a seminary, as administrative assistant to a Cardinal Archbishop, as Regional Bishop with administrative duties in the diocesan Office for Clergy and the Office for Communications with responsibilities for the diocesan newspaper and with service as a member and chair of both diocesan and the Bishops' Conference committees.
But of greater import is that, in the brief conversations I have had with him, I have found our new shepherd to be a man of prayer and faith. His motto, "Walk humbly with God" gives evidence of the central place of God in his life.
From the bottom of my heart I want to thank each and everyone who has so generously and graciously expressed support, affection and appreciation to me over the years and most recently in anticipation of my retirement and the celebration of the 50th anniversary of my ordination to the priesthood. I am especially grateful for my brother priests, upon whom I have so confidently and frequently rested the weight of my responsibilities for the witness of their common purpose and mission and their priestly solidarity in good times and bad.
I know our new bishop will be warmly welcomed and that he will receive the same patient understanding, generous support and gracious acceptance and forgiveness that have been given to me for so many years. God continues to bestow abundant blessings on our diocese and has sent us, in Bishop Burbidge "a shepherd after His own heart," to lead and guide us.