Bishop Andrew Cozzens, center, gathers with his family for a photo in the Cathedral of St. Paul after his ordination Mass Dec. 9, 2013. The others are, from left, Sergei Thomas (foster brother), Jack (father), Judy (mother) and Helen Healy (sister). Dave Hrbacek / The Catholic Spirit
Judy Cozzens, mother of Bishop Andrew Cozzens, said she feels mixed emotions about her son’s move from the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis to become Bishop of Crookston. “He’s going to be living four and a-half hours away from us, but I’m very thrilled that he’s going to a rural diocese because he will love it,” she said. She grew up on a farm in Montana, and the bishop spent many summers on a relative’s farm there during childhood.
“He loves rural America,” Cozzens said. “And he loves farm life, so that’ll be a big plus for him going into this community.” She said her son loves the outdoors and meeting people, “so he’ll get to know them all.”
Bishop Cozzens won’t be as close for family dinners, but Cozzens said with a laugh that the family can enjoy him at the table virtually through Facetime or other means. She and her husband, Jack, are parishioners of St. Anne in Medina.
The bishop’s faith and life of prayer have been a great blessing to her family, Cozzens said. “And he will bring a gift of great faith and prayer with him.”
Cozzens said her son is compassionate and a good listener. “He’ll want to hear what they want to share with him,” she said, and will be very good for any need for healing in a parish or diocese. He will share from the heart with them, she said, and will also be joyous. “He’s a man of great joy in faith, and he has a belief that even through hard times, good things can come.”
Cozzens said her son loves his people, and will love and support them, work with them to help grow in prayer and love of Jesus Christ. One thing he learned as a priest, she said, when he worked with the Institute for Priestly Formation in Omaha, Nebraska, is that “he couldn’t do it by himself.” “He always wanted to be a good priest, but he learned that you have to have Jesus Christ and Mary with you where you go,” Cozzens said.
“So, I think he brings the gift of knowing that the Lord is walking with him,” she said. “He’s not doing anything alone, and the Lord will provide for him. He’ll come to them as their new bishop, knowing the Lord will walk with you.”
Bishop Cozzens’ sister, Helen Healy, also a member of St. Anne, said she is sad her brother’s appointment as bishop of the Diocese of Crookston means he will move from the archdiocese. But it is a blessing that God will use him in another place, she said.
“We get together quite often,” she said, noting her brother has been a regular visitor to the Long Lake home she shares with her husband and family. The couple has seven children, ages 14 to 28. One son is married with two children.
“It’s been such a blessing to have him as an incredible influence on our family. In fact, our oldest daughter (AnnMarie), just joined the Handmaids (of the Heart of Jesus),” an order her uncle helped start.
“He always represented such a great, joyful, holy vocation,” Healy said. “And I think that they could all see the depth of his joy for his love for Christ and also his witness to living that way — living a radical love for Jesus.”
The Healy family hopes to help Bishop Cozzens move into his new residence, and they will be in Crookston for his installation, Healy said. The morning of the announcement, she had already thought about the distance — a nearly five-hour drive, but heard of a 30-minute flight.
Healy sees Bishop Cozzens having no problem fitting into his new Northwoods of Minnesota residence. He camps and loves being outdoors, including her family’s “time with him in the Boundary Waters.”
Healy said her family is grateful to Archbishop Bernard Hebda who has been “such a great, wonderful influence on him.”
“And they’ve been such good friends,” she said. “It’s been a very nice working relationship as well as friendship.
Bishop Cozzens’ foster brother, Sergei Thomas, 57, a lawyer in Denver, said Bishop Cozzens can relate to everyone, reaching out to them in love and kindness no matter what. “He displays his faith and commitment to the principles that guide him,” he said. “He’s the kind of person you really want to have in the community.”
Watching Bishop Cozzens follow his heart into his vocation has been moving — just watching him find where his heart was regarding commitment to his faith — and that journey inspires respect and admiration, Thomas said.
Asked what qualities Bishop Cozzens will bring to the diocese of Crookston, Thomas said he is personable, principled and caring. “When you have that kind of person in a leadership role, it enhances everyone around them and develops the kind of connection with the people that really look up to him, work with him, basically develop any kind of association with him because he’s very trustworthy.”
Thomas said Bishop Cozzens is devoted to the things that have brought him to this point in his faith. “So, I think that, from anyone’s standpoint, he’s a wonderful person for this appointment.”
Friends and co-workers in ministry also noted Bishop Cozzens’ faith and ability to relate to people. Gordy DeMarais, founder of St. Paul’s Outreach in St. Paul, said it is a “tremendous” appointment for the Church. Bishop Cozzens is chairman of SPO’s board, but it is sad to think he will not be as direct a part of the archdiocese and ministries he has served so well, DeMarais said.
DeMarais recalled Bishop Cozzens’ leadership, faith and relational skills the year he served as a missionary with SPO, before he entered the seminary. He had an ability to talk with other young men and encourage them to return to their faith or to deepen it, DeMarais said.
He has gifts and a disposition that uniquely qualify him “to be the servant shepherd that our Church needs at this point,” DeMarais said.
Mother Mary Clare Roufs, head of the Handmaids of the Heart of Jesus in the Diocese of New Ulm, said Bishop Cozzens has been a wonderful spiritual father to her order and its sisters. He assists with spiritual formation and direction.
“He shares himself with us,” she said. “Things that make him happy and sad, drawing us into the faith.”
In Crookston, Bishop Cozzens will not be as close to New Ulm, but he at least thus far has remained in Minnesota, Mother Mary Clare said. Does she think he will return to see the sisters?
“He better,” she said, laughing, and adding that she trusts he will. “He’s not just a friend of convenience. He is a deep, spiritual friend,” she said.
The Catholic Spirit’s Joe Ruff contributed to this report
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