What are the most significant ways that New Hampshire has changed over the past 25 years? Although I only moved to New Hampshire in 1998, I have visited New Hampshire since I was a young boy. I had family who had a small cabin in the Monadnock Region and visited them often, as a seminarian we spent summers at Lake Winnipesaukee, and I have been an avid NH skier for many years.
So, in the last 25 years, I have gone from being a tourist to a resident. I think that my experience is not unlike many other NH residents today. What seems to have changed the most is the make up of the people of NH. We are a far more diverse community. Likewise, the population in NH has grown dramatically; both the overall population and the Catholic population. This has affected parish life in the Church greatly. In the last nine years we’ve built 12 new parish churches. As a result of shifts and changes in the demographics of NH and our personnel available to serve people, in the last few years we have had to merge or join together a number of parishes.
All this is to say that New Hampshire is a wonderful place to live and serve in and that our population is growing, changing, and moving around.
What in the Catholic Church has changed the most, especially in New Hampshire, over the last quarter century? For the last nine years, I have been both a resident of NH and the Roman Catholic bishop here. My perspective, then, is as “recent resident,” and a pastor.
In the last 25 years in the Roman Catholic Church, many new opportunities for ministry have opened up to the laity while, at the same time, there are fewer priests and consecrated religious serving in parishes and Catholic schools. Also, in the last 25 years, permanent deacons, who assist priests in parishes, have added a new dimension to the ministry of Roman Catholic clergy in NH.
Today, in addition to the competent laity who carry out the long standing educational, health care and social services of the Church, we have full time pastoral associates assisting the pastors, directors of religious education who have a masters degree in charge of many volunteers teaching the faith to our children, youth ministers, both volunteer and paid, engaging our young men and women in activities and services, and many, many more lay people who assist in the Church’s mission.
The Church in New Hampshire is growing and developing. The work of all Catholics — laity, clergy, and religious--is a critical and essential element to keeping our parishes, Catholic schools and institutions vibrant.
What Granite Stater(s) would you say inspired you? In what way? Although we are blessed with many great individuals, artists, and leaders, especially in our extensive network of non-profit agencies that provide valuable care and service to the people of New Hampshire, I draw most of my inspiration from priests, deacons and laity with whom I collaborate at the diocesan office and on committees and people whom I meet on my visits to parishes, schools, camps and other ministries around the state. Here I am privileged to spend some time with regular people who live their faith every day. Let me give you an example.
I was scheduled to celebrate an outside Mass for a large group of Boy Scouts gathering at Camp Fatima in Gilmanton Iron Works. I was vesting for Mass in the Chapel and a young boy came in, red cheeked, about ten years old, with a big smile on his face and a glint in his eyes. He approached me rather confidently and said, “Hi, Bishop!” I asked if he was there to serve Mass? He said “Nope” looking up at me. I asked if there was something I could do for him? He said, “Would you like to buy a can of candied popcorn?” looking up at me, full of confidence. I said, “How much is a can?” Without missing a beat, he said “ten dollars!” I said, “That’s a lot of money! You’ll be making a big profit”
“No, I won’t,” he said “it’s for an elderly program at a senior housing center.” He told me the name of the town and I said. “That’s not that close to here, did you bicycle over?” He said, “Nope,” looking up at me. I said, “Don’t tell me you walked over” and he said “nope.” I said, “How did you get here?” He said, “My mother drove me.” “Your mother is very thoughtful,” I said, “that is a big sacrifice on her part, she drives you around so that you can sell candied popcorn for a senior citizen center.”
He responded with a smile, “Yep.” I said, “Why would your mother make such a sacrifice like that?” And again, without missing a beat, he said “because she loves me.” I was taken by that, that a young boy ten years old, confident and eager to do good work, knew right away that a person who sacrifices for him loves him. I am sure that’s why he was doing the same for the elderly people. In this short exchange, I saw the love of God reflected in the love of a mother for her son, and in the actions of this boy toward the elderly. Just in case you want to know whether I bought a can or not – I did.
What would you consider your favorite spot in New Hampshire and why? I love the variety of places in New Hampshire, from the seacoast, to the lakes, to the mountains. I have visited all our parishes and so have seen every corner of the state. I enjoy the intimacy of small towns and the excitement of our cities.
I would say I probably love the mountains the most. I have been skiing in New Hampshire for over 40 years and I find our mountains to be not only beautiful, but great symbols of the resilience, strength and durability of the people of our state. I still enjoy skiing, and the view from the top of a ski trail on a clear day in February makes me appreciate the hand of God in the creation of such beauty.
What would you like to see accomplished in New Hampshire over the next 25 years? We are blessed with a strong economy in New Hampshire, but there are still many of our brothers and sisters who go to bed hungry, who sleep in shelters or on the street, who have no job, who can’t afford basic health care, and who may despair that God is with them. We also have Catholic schools that need strong support and need to be accessible to families of all income levels.
I would like to see more support for our many non-profit organizations that provide so much care to the poor and disadvantaged. I would like to see businesses and individuals continue to volunteer in these organizations and, importantly, increase their contributions to assure that they will be there to continue to meet the human needs of so many people. We hear the term “the New Hampshire advantage” and I want to be sure that everyone can feel the advantage.
I also would hope that more of our young people will see New Hampshire as a place where they can create a future for themselves and their families. As a Church we place a great emphasis on reaching out to young men and women to help them continue to grow in their faith so that they will find meaning in their lives and continue to be part of our Church community. I know there are other efforts to make young people aware of all that New Hampshire offers with the goal that they will stay in our communities and make them better places to live and work. I hope that some young high school student listening to NHPR today, will part of the “50 in 50” series in the future.
