Installed as bishop of Crookston, Bishop Cozzens pledges to be a man of prayer

Acknowledging challenges faced in the Diocese of Crookston and the healing power of reconciliation and hope in Christ, Bishop Andrew Cozzens said at his installation Mass Dec. 6 that his first goal is to be a man of prayer, spending time each day before the Eucharist praying for the people of the diocese and seeking to serve them.

“Jesus Christ is alive. He lives in us. He lives in Crookston. No matter what difficulties we experience, he wants us to be his witness,” Bishop Cozzens said in his homily at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Crookston, celebrated as well by Archbishop Christophe Pierre, the U.S. apostolic nuncio, and bishops in the region including Archbishop Bernard Hebda of St. Paul and Minneapolis, where Bishop Cozzens served as auxiliary bishop for six years, Bishop Richard Pates, apostolic administrator of Crookston since the resignation of Bishop Michael Hoeppner in April, and Bishop Victor Balke, who served the diocese for 31 years before his retirement in 2007.

Bishop Hoeppner’s resignation came at the request of Pope Francis after a Vatican investigation into allegations that the bishop mishandled allegations of clergy sexual abuse.

The key to healing, Bishop Cozzens said, is a personal relationship with Jesus in the Church. Each person has that need individually and it can be met through baptism, reception of the Eucharist, confirmation and the sacrament of reconciliation, he said.

Those same ingredients are the key to evangelization, or sharing the love and hope of Christ, he said.

“We have hope because Christ hopes to save us,” Bishop Cozzens said. Hope is not Pollyannaish or a matter of positive thinking, he said.

“Hope is not rooted in a vague optimism that things will work out.” Hope lies in the paschal mystery, the resurrection of Jesus, who knows the presence of evil, even in the Church, he said. “All of us are weak,” he said. “That’s why we go to confession.”

“We have hope so as not to be afraid to face evil, not be afraid to admit our weakness and sins. God has given us reason to hope.” The diocese has been through difficult times and “it’s not helpful to pretend they didn’t happen,” he said. But people can work through that together, he said.

“Are we prepared to welcome the spirit of Christ, our mission in the Church?” Bishop Cozzens asked. “As a people, are you ready to listen to the presence of the Holy Spirit in your life?”

Whatever state in life, consecrated religious, married, it doesn’t matter, Bishop Cozzens said. All are called to “proclaim the God of salvation in the Spirit, a building up of the Church.” Everyone is called to be a missionary, he said.

“Today is a beautiful day, but it’s really not about me,” he said. “It’s about the Church of Crookston. Somebody’s got to be bishop, and that’s me,” Bishop Cozzens said with humor. “But this is for us. It’s the work only we can do in northwest Minnesota.”

Bishop Cozzens noted that the sugar beet harvest was the largest this fall in the region’s history. “Why? Because of the drought,” he said. Sugar beets had to grow deeper and longer; they were stretched to reach any available water underground. And when rain finally did fall, they grew much larger than normal, he said.

“Rain down your grace upon the Diocese of Crookston,” Bishop Cozzens said in a prayer to close his homily. “Let us grow deep roots in you, so we may bear an abundant harvest for (our) salvation.”