The Southwest

Newspaper of the Diocese of Dodge City Vol. XLV, No. 19 Sunday, Jan. 30, 2011 Register

“...He has done a masterful job of providing nourishment of the mind, spirit and soul ....” -- Tom Giessel

A Commemorative Issue Honoring Most Rev. Ronald M. Gilmore Upon his Retirement as of Dodge City Page 2 January 30, 2011 Most Rev. Ronald M. Gilmore The Southwest Kansas Register

Bishop Ronald M. Gilmore enjoyed a personal visit with Pope John Paul II while in Rome with other area for their Ad Limina visit in November, 2004. The bishops of Iowa, , Kansas and told the pontiff, “We assure you, Holy Father, of our respect, loyalty, obedience and love and that of our priest and deacons, of our religious men and women, and of all the faithful people of our dioceses. We beg your apostolic blessing for ourselves and especially for all our people. It is our privilege to serve them as bishops in union with our supreme pontiff, with you, our beloved pope. With your ongoing prayers and support we can continue our ministries without fear and with much hope for the future.” Beatification announcement confirms long-held sentiment

By Carol Zimmermann lowed the announcement,” he said in a Jan. 14 church hierarchy have dramatically affected par- Catholic News Service statement. ishes, dioceses and the faithful in the pews.” ASHINGTON (CNS) -- The news of Pope The priest, national director for World Youth Because of the pope’s extensive travels in the WJohn Paul II’s upcoming beatification was Day 2002 in Toronto, said the date for the beatifi- United States, he said, “there are literally millions welcomed by many as a confirmation of something cation, May 1, is also no coincidence. Not only is of people who were touched by his charisma and they already felt from the moment the shouts of it Divine Mercy Sunday, but it is also the feast of holiness.” The pope visited the United States seven “Santo subito!” (“Sainthood now!”) reverber- St. Joseph the Worker, known as “May Day” on times and in each visit urged Catholics to use their ated through St. Peter’s Square at the pontiff’s secular calendars. freedom responsibly and to preserve the sacredness funeral. “Communists and socialists around the world and value of human life. Many in the crowd were young people who had a commemorate May Day with marches, speeches Tony Melendez, the armless guitarist whose special affinity to Pope John Paul, whose pontificate and festivals,” he said, adding that it was fitting embrace by Pope John Paul electrified an audience started and ended with a special greeting to young that “the man who was a unique instrument and during the pope’s 1987 visit to Los Angeles, said people. During his installation ceremony in 1978, messenger in bringing down the Iron Curtain and he had always considered his encounters with the the newly named pope told youths: “You are the the deadly reign of communism and godlessness pontiff “like I got to meet a living saint.” (Me- future of the world, you are the hope of the church, will be declared blessed” that day. lendez performed at the Cathedral of Our Lady of you are my hope.” Father Rosica said the announcement is “the Guadalupe in Dodge City last year.) And his last words, reportedly delivered hours formal confirmation of what many of us always Melendez, in a phone interview with CNS while before his death, were also to youths, in response to knew as we experienced the Holy Father in action en route to his Missouri home, said he was able the thousands of young people praying and singing throughout his pontificate” particularly among to see Pope John Paul six more times, including a in St. Peter’s Square. youths, noting that one of the pope’s gifts to the private audience at the Vatican about a year and a “I sought you and now you have come to me. ... church was his establishment of World Youth half after the 1987 U.S. pastoral visit. I thank you,” said the pontiff, who died April 2, Day. “He remembered me,” Melendez remarked. “And 2005 at age 84. Tim Massie, the chief public affairs officer and he said, ‘Oh! My friend from Los Angeles!” without Basilian Father Thomas Rosica, founder and adjunct professor of communication and religious me saying anything. He hugged my head after I CEO of Canada’s Salt and Light Television, said studies at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., was (finished) playing a song. ... To me, he was a it was no coincidence that he heard the news of the called the news of Pope John Paul II’s upcom- wonderful man who did great things.” pontiff’s beatification while attending a meeting in ing beatification a “morale boost,” especially for Told of the May 1 beatification date, Melendez Spain for the upcoming World Youth Day. Catholics in the United States “where sex abuse said, “If I can be there, I want to go. I’ll make some “A thunderous, sustained, standing ovation fol- scandals, financial crises and disagreements with time to go. He was a living saint, in my heart.” The Southwest Kansas Register Most Rev. Ronald M. Gilmore January 30, 2011 Page 3 ‘...I was sent to belong to you’ ‘Listen to Him’

ome have expressed surprise at my choosing I have now been here for nearly 13 years, after Most Rev. Ronald M. Gilmore Sto retire in Dodge City, I am told. That is not all. And that makes all the difference. I have come surprising in itself, I guess. to love this land, its empty spaces, its overpower- ing sky, even its unending wild wind. I have come I am from southeast Kansas, after all, just as far to love the people of this land, resilient, resource- as you can get from southwest Kansas. It was the ful, always ready to re-invent themselves. In so place that gave me life, and family, and language, many fundamental ways, you and the land have and small-town upbringing, and early formation. made me as well. I told you in July 1998 that the In so many fundamental ways, it made me. I can Lord somehow wanted us, from that day forward, never thank God enough for those Pittsburg years. to work out our salvation together.

I spent most of my priesthood in the city of And so it has come to pass. And so, as far as I Wichita, after all. The people I knew longest are can see, will it continue. This is my place now, there. The events that mattered most took place because it is your place, and because I was sent there. The memories that remain dearest are there. to belong to you. I can never thank God enough In so many fundamental ways, it made me, too. I for these Dodge City years. And they are not yet told the priests when I left that I never wanted to ended. And other surprises are yet to come. be anything other than a priest of Wichita. I can never thank God enough for those Wichita years. + Most Rev. Ronald M. Gilmore Bishop Emeritus of Dodge City

Bishop reflects on 13 years of ministry in southwest Kansas The staff of the Southwest Kan- me most as I begin these retire- ‘What I want to do is to get up sas Register asked Bishop Gilmore ment years. a series of questions as he begins a SKR: What is the area you on 3 February, don my miner’s cap, new phase of his priestly life after would want to pursue? serving as Bishop of Dodge City Bishop Emeritus Gilmore: I and go to work.’ -- Bishop Emeritus Ronald M. Gilmore for 13 years. His responses follow: just described it, in a general way. What I want to do about it in par- Southwest Kansas Register: ticular is best expressed by an im- Why did you choose to retire now? age from my boyhood. Southeast ishop Emeritus Ronald Kansas was a coal-mining region M. Gilmore: It is not very around the turn of the 20th cen- Bmysterious, really. I have tury, and as I was growing up in said I was worn down by 30 years the 1950s the mines began to play of diocesan administration, and out. I presumed the coal was all that was part of it. I have said gone, naturally. But I later came that I had done all I knew how to to find out that was not true. The do, and the Diocese would benefit rich seams of coal are still there, from fresh energy, and that was but high in sulfur content, they are part of it. What I did not say on now too expensive to tap. the day of the announcement was Something similar is true of our that I have felt called for some spiritual tradition. Our enthusiasm time to go in another direction, for it waned in the past generation, and that was the real balance-tip- and even to the point of disappear- ping thing. ance in some places. But those SKR: What is at the top of your seams of meaning, scriptural, and list of things to do? theological, and moral, and spiri- Bishop Emeritus Gilmore: tual, those seams are still there for That other direction is not alto- the working. What I want to do is gether clear to me just now. I sup- to get up on 3 February, don my pose the other way for the Magi miner’s cap, and go to work. was not altogether clear either. I’ll do so because I have found They knew they had to follow it. I meaning in those hidden places all know what they felt. these years of my priesthood. I I told someone the other day know, from my experience as pas- that I want to prepare for Finals. tor, as teacher, and as bishop, that That is to say, I want to get at what others have found meaning there is really essential in our Faith, to as well. And they did not even revisit that. I want to sink into our mind a little coal dust on my nose. Catholic Spiritual Tradition, its SKR: What will be your role as ascetical side and its mystical side. Bishop Emeritus? My exposure to it as a student, and Bishop Emeritus Gilmore: then as a priest, and as a bishop, When I came to Dodge in 1998, it was hit and miss, at best. I want was hard to find the new rhythm to to explore it more systematically my new work. It took an uncom- now, to sit at the feet of those sis- monly long time to settle into that. ters and brothers who gave it to us So my first task now will be to find David Myers/SKR Photo over these 2,000 years, to live in it the new rhythm that will prevail in Bishop Ronald M. Gilmore celebrates Mass at the historic Santa Fe train depot in so that it might finally rub off on Emeritus-Land. Dodge City during a Called & Gifted workshop. me. That is the thing that attracts (Continued on Page 8) Page 4 January 30, 2011 Most Rev. Ronald M. Gilmore The Southwest Kansas Register Bishop Gilmore sought to make ‘God cities’ ishop Emeritus Ronald M. Gilmore was be true with the many, many Hispanic women Bborn in Pittsburg, Kansas on April 23, and men who are now coming into our two 1942, to Leo and Maxine McColm Gilmore. dioceses. They remind us that our faith is a This was the height of World War II, when coat of many colors, of many cultures, of many people still gathered around their radio to habits; they remind us of what a rich and varie- listen to the news and to radio shows such as gated family we are.” “The Shadow.” He grew up with the Saturday Bishop Emeritus Gilmore was ordained to matinees, drawing inspiration for his six-shoot- the priesthood on June 7, 1969 by Bishop er pose at left. David M. Maloney at the Cathedral of the Im- But for the boy who would be bishop, life maculate Conception in Wichita. wasn’t just Saturday matinees. When asked how he knew he wanted to be He found himself peering into photographs a priest, the bishop responded with his typical depicting the horrors of the war, “refugees, dry humor, “They made me do it.” the long straggling lines in China, or Asia, or “They,” he said, “were the Sisters of St. Europe, or North Africa.” Joseph of Wichita who taught me during my It would be those photos that would help to primary and secondary schooling in Pittsburg instill in him a desire to help his fellow human …. ‘They’ were the priests of St. Mary beings, and to eventually serve with Catholic in Pittsburg. … They so impressed me, I so ad- Social Service in Wichita, where he worked mired them that I found myself wanting to be with the Cuban Refugee Program. like them. Knowing led to loving, and loving “Ours has been such a bloody time, and led to imitating, imitating the seriousness with those are the sad lines of our century,” he said which they took God and the things of God.” in a July 19, 1998 interview with the SKR. “I In March 1998, Father Gilmore learned he had special sensitivity, therefore, to the young would be elevated to the rank of . Cuban refugees who came to the diocese in the A few weeks later, he would receive another early 1960s, the first permitted out of Castro’s surprise, one that would see him uprooting Cuba. It has been fascinating to watch them and moving out west to the once Queen of the grow and develop over the last 30 years, to see Cowtowns. them filling so many responsible positions in On July 16, 1998, barely two months after A very young Ronald Gilmore draws his six-shooter. The boy our communities. former Dodge City bishop Eugene J. Gerber eventually became bishop in a town once home to historic char- “… And I have no doubt the same thing will ordained John B. Brungardt to the priesthood, acters such as Wyatt Earp and Bat Masterson.