Ad Multos Annos: Bishop Peter Rosazza

I'm grateful to Paul, Between the 'Burgh and City, for calling attention to the retirement of Peter Rosazza, Auxiliary Bishop in the Archdiocese of Hartford. As Paul notes, Peter was a "Jadot Bishop," a bishop selected when Archbishop Jean Jadot of Belgium was Pope Paul VI's representative to the United States.

I came to know Bishop Rosazza when he would occasionally stay at my rectory when visiting family in the area at Thanksgiving time. I was also pleased to host his baptizing his niece at a Sunday Mass in my parish church.

From my perspective as a pastor, Peter is just the kind of bishop the Church needs today: a gentle man, a faithful priest, a lover of the Church and a selfless servant of her people. He would have made a fine Ordinary.

After studying theology in Paris he was ordained there in 1961. As a member of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Bishop Rosazza was a member of the Subcommittee on the Church in Latin America. He also served as a member of the writing committee for the U.S. bishops’ landmark pastoral Economic Justice for All and the drafting committee for the bishops’ Pastoral Plan for Hispanic Ministry.

Peter certainly deserves his rest but I suspect he'll continue to be very active. It won't surprise me if the Hispanic community in Hartford which he served so faithfully will continue to benefit from his ministry.

I pray that our two new auxiliary bishops in Boston, Bishop-elect Peter Uglietto and Bishop-elect Arthur Kennedy will minister with the dedication and devotion of their now-retired brother bishop in Hartford.

Ad multos annos, Peter!

Images: Archdiocese of Hartford


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