“A brother helped is like a strong city,” said Father Jeff Huard, senior spiritual director at The St. Paul Seminary in St. Paul, quoting Proverbs to describe a need across the nation for bishops to lead in community building, especially for the priests of their dioceses, to keep them healthy and holy. Bishop Andrew Cozzens is one of the finest in this regard in the country, as is Archbishop Bernard Hebda, Father Huard said.

As he begins his ministry as the eighth bishop of the Diocese of Crookston, Bishop Cozzens will bring experience to bear that includes having helped shape the Companions of Christ, a fraternity of diocesan priests and seminarians that came together in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis in October 1992. The group gives expression and opportunity for priests and seminarians to live in brotherhood as they do their work, Father Huard said.

With Bishop Cozzens’ support and assistance from its earliest years, 30 priests in the archdiocese are members and two more are in formation. In addition, five seminarian candidates are in formation, four seminarians are “pre-candidates” and three have expressed interest. There are eight households of Companions in the archdiocese, with two to five members in each household. The Companions also has grown to include fraternal communities in the Archdiocese of Denver and Diocese of Joliet, Illinois.

“He had a major role in constructing our formation process,” Father Huard said, “to help young men understand what we are doing and then discern and embrace it.” The bishop’s doctoral work focused on fraternity and formation in the evangelical counsels (poverty, chastity, obedience), he said, “so that’s had a very high impact on our life together.”

It makes “human sense” to be together as companions because it’s not good to be alone, Father Huard said. “But the primary, theological reason is you’re together for love, the love of Christ and your people. And this enhances love and holiness of life.”

Bishop Cozzens’ “whole lane” is his intellectual work, Father Huard said, “so he has very strong fraternity with other theologians.” That’s why the bishop has such a strong impact nationally, he said. “He’s also a very courageous moral leader, and that will bring a lot of healing to Crookston.”

As a young bishop, Bishop Cozzens has been quickly and clearly recognized for his evangelical passion and drive, Father Huard said, “and part of that is always fraternity.” When the bishops gather as a group, Bishop Cozzens is one who is “a clear mover in this direction,” he said. “Bishop Cozzens has always been on the front line of that work.”

Diocesan priests find Bishop Cozzens approachable and deeply authentic, Father Huard said, and he had a strong impact as a teacher and formator at the seminary, and in his time in 2018-2019 as interim rector. “But we always have Bishop (Cozzens) back to start out our year because he’s so nicely focused, moving the men into holiness of life, fraternity together.”

Bishop Cozzens also has been a major witness in youth and young adult ministry, and “a number of young men have come to us from NET Ministries and St. Paul’s Outreach,” Father Huard said of Twin Cities-based groups that Bishop Cozzens has been involved with and supported as they serve high school and college students with retreats and campus ministries.

On Oct. 11, 2013, the day then-Father Cozzens was appointed an auxiliary bishop of St. Paul and Minneapolis, he spoke with The Catholic Spirit on a variety of topics, including his involvement with the Companions of Christ. In that interview, Bishop Cozzens said it was his privilege that, as a priest, he was always able to live in community with other priests. Even after being ordained a bishop, he continued to live with others, including at St. Lawrence and Catholic Newman Center at the University of Minnesota, at the former St. Michael rectory on St. Paul’s West Side, and at The St. Paul Seminary.

Bishop Cozzens said he was committed to supporting priests, and that the Companions of Christ is one way to do that. “I just think it’s very important that priests find the support they need,” he said.