Archbishop Hebda reflects on six years of ministry with Bishop Cozzens

Archbishop Bernard Hebda has naturally worked closely with Bishop Andrew Cozzens since the archbishop first arrived in the Archdiocese of St. Paul of Minneapolis in 2015. The Catholic Spirit asked him about his unique vantage of Bishop Cozzens’ leadership and personal qualities that he will bring to the Diocese of Crookston. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Q) How did you first meet Bishop Cozzens? Did you know him before Pope Francis assigned you to be the archdiocese’s administrator in 2015?

A) I did. I didn’t know him well, though. I knew him when he was Father Cozzens and was doing his doctoral work in Rome. I was doing some spiritual direction at the North American College, and a number of the students there were involved in the apostolate at the University of St. Thomas’ Rome campus, the Bernardi Campus. I would hear our seminarians talk about this Father Cozzens all the time, and we would periodically run into each other.

At one point, he was part of an optional retreat that was being offered at the North American College for seminarians. It was called Fanning the Flame Retreat, and it was sponsored by St. Paul’s Outreach. I think it was the first time that the North American College had had a retreat from a group that was primarily laypeople. It was a number of leaders here from St. Paul and Bishop Cozzens. He was a really important part of that retreat. I got to listen to him speak and got to watch him at work and realized already at that point that he was an exceptional young priest. And then I had a chance to meet him after he was made an auxiliary bishop here, while I was the bishop of Gaylord (Michigan).

Q) How did you find out about Bishop Cozzens appointment? You must have expected that this could come at some point.

A) I expected it because he has all of the qualities to be a great diocesan bishop. I’ve just always been thinking that someday I’d get that call from the nuncio. In fact, I got it on the same day as Bishop Cozzens — Oct. 4 — and I had spoken with Bishop Cozzens and he didn’t tell me a darn thing! Soon after, I heard from the nuncio, and he shared with me the news, and told me I was able to speak with Bishop Cozzens about it.

Q) What was that first conversation like?

A) I was really happy for Crookston and for Bishop Cozzens. But for us, Bishop Cozzens has been such an important part of our archdiocese. It’s going to be a challenge for us to not have him here. He’s been a wonderful leader. How do we manage to cover the great work that Bishop Cozzens has been doing, and to make sure that the work of the Church doesn’t get bogged down?

Q) When you first arrived as our apostolic administrator and began working closely with Bishop Cozzens in 2015, it was in the midst of a crisis situation — right after Archbishop John Nienstedt and Bishop Lee Piche’s resignations, with the archdiocese in bankruptcy, and having just had civil and criminal charges filed against it. How did you see him as a leader during that time?

A) A couple things really impressed me, but first of all, his great faith. It would have been easy for someone to get discouraged in those circumstances, especially with two of his colleagues resigning, because he had obviously worked closely with Bishop Piche and Archbishop Nienstedt. Bishop Cozzens, as a man of deep prayer, was confident that the Lord was at work. Even in those difficult times, he never appeared to be discouraged, always was confident that the Lord would help us through, and would always emphasize how important it is that we would do what’s right. That would be our North Star, that we would have compassion for those who have been hurt and we would strive to be transparent. As he was making decisions or recommendations to me, I always appreciated his prayerful discernment.

Q) How do you see his leadership qualities, as well as his personal and spiritual qualities, serving him as bishop of Crookston?

A) That first day I was here (in June 2015), the priests had gathered in Rochester for our Presbyterial Assembly when that (the bishops’ resignations) was all announced. So, it was a great shock to the priests. When I got there, it was the day after this had all transpired. I heard from so many of the priests about what a great job Bishop Cozzens had done in sharing the news with them, but also his sense for how the Lord might be asking the archdiocese to respond. They spoke about how he was incredibly fraternal with them — I can’t tell you how many of them mentioned that he offered his cell phone to call — but also paternal. I think that the priests in Crookston will be particularly well served by Bishop Cozzens’ ability to really live out those fraternal relationships, and he’ll be a great support to the priests. It’s obviously a much smaller presbyterate than what we have here. I think that gives him some opportunities to go even deeper in the relationship between bishop and priests. I know that they’ll find in him a welcoming ear — he listens so well. He has a compassionate, fraternal heart.

Q) Because you oversaw the “Vos Estis Lux Mundi” investigation into Bishop Michael Hoeppner, you have unique insight into the challenges that await Bishop Cozzens as far as healing that diocese. What can you say to those challenges, and how Bishop Cozzens might be able to address them, especially having gone through what he has here?

A) I don’t really know the Diocese of Crookston all that well; I know one little piece of it. But I do know that the priests are looking forward to having a leader who’s going to be able to work with them in bringing healing into the diocese. I’m always impressed with the strength of small dioceses, in the way in which they’re able to really do incredible things. Bishop Cozzens will be just the right leader for that, with his deep grounding in prayer. That will be very comforting to the priests. But he’s also going to be magnificent with the laypeople. He has an easy relationship with his own family, with his siblings and his nieces and nephews that make him so much fun to be around. He relates well to people. He had very powerful experiences early on, even before he was a priest, with NET Ministries and St. Paul’s Outreach. He has that ability to connect with people quickly. He had great experience in parishes at the Cathedral and then in Faribault. They’re just getting a really tremendous pastor, which is particularly important in a small diocese, where people expect to relate to him as a pastor, which is beautiful.

Q) Crookston is still within the metropolitan area of the archdiocese, and you’re the metropolitan archbishop. What does that mean? I think some people have the idea you’re the boss of the other bishops in the area.

A) So Bishop Cozzens’ boss will be the pope, just as it’s the pope who’s my boss. The metropolitan in the province can be a convener, so I’ll bring together people for our province, which includes not only the dioceses of Minnesota, but also South Dakota and North Dakota. There are times we’re looking for some joint pastoral work or outreach where it’s enriched by being able to do things in common rather than individually. But it’s very few responsibilities that the metropolitan archbishop has, and it’s certainly not to intervene in the matters of the local Church.

You mentioned my involvement in the “Vos Estis” investigation, and that’s only because it was the pope, through the Congregation for Bishops, that charged me with that. So, I didn’t have any natural right to do that. I was doing that on behalf of the Holy Father. Each bishop relates directly to him.

Q) It struck me that Bishop Cozzens’ first message to the priests of Crookston, at vespers the evening of the announcement, was one of humility and a promise to pray. How has he inspired you as a man of faith in your time working together?

A) He’s a man of conviction who knows that the Lord has a plan for him and his life, and that absolutely gives him his foundation and keeps him balanced. In the very early days I was here, things were rather hairy. The fact that Bishop Cozzens was so constant and steady and knowing that was rooted in his prayer certainly had a great impact on me. No matter how many directions we were being pulled in, we always have to make sure we’re grounded in our own relationship to the Lord in prayer.

Q) What else have you learned from him in your six years of ministering together?

A) He has an amazing ability to listen and an amazing ability to process and help summarize what’s been a course of the discussion. I really appreciate his deep sense of the Church as a theologian. He brings different gifts to episcopal ministry than I do as a canonist. For the two of us to be able to draw from two different disciplines in that way has always been helpful for me. How he’s enriched my insights by his own theological insight has been a great gift for me. I know (Catholics in the Diocese of Crookston) are blessed beyond their wildest imaginings and getting somebody who’s such a great leader and whose talents are already recognized across the country.