Retirement: Humility, Gratitude and a Bucket List ItemRead Time 10 min

It has been more than six months since I relinquished my governance of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. Indeed, it has been a privilege to serve as archbishop for 15 years. Now whenever I travel in the 10 counties of the archdiocese, one question is always asked: Archbishop, are you enjoying your retirement? As a priest there is always a Mass to be offered, an anniversary to bless, a wedding to perform, a Baptism to confer or a funeral to celebrate. It is always about faith, as we proclaim that faith throughout our lives confident that God is with us in every step of our journey. My motto is “Life is Christ.” This is taken from St. Paul’s letter to the Philippians 1:21. The journey started at Baptism and has continued throughout my life. All the promises made by Jesus in the Sacred Scriptures has been fulfilled in different ways in my life. All of us are called to be his servants and to serve him with the life entrusted to us. Now in my later years when I contemplate the meaning of my death, I hear the words of Sacred Scripture: “What eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and what has not entered the human heart, what God has prepared for those who love him.”

On May 31, the archdiocese was kind to celebrate my anniversaries — 50 years as a priest, 25 years as a bishop and 15 years as an archbishop. The celebration began with Mass. What better way to celebrate the anniversary than with your family and friends at Mass — with Christ whose sacrificial love brought us together and whose food sustains us in our journey. I realized a remarkable aspect. I think there will be very few times, if ever, in my lifetime that I will look out to a congregation of 600 people and know personally each and every one. I’ve always approached the Church as family, and it fulfills another promise to those who follow the Lord. Remember, Peter said to the Lord (Mark 10:28-30): “We have given everything and followed you. Jesus said, ‘Amen I say to you, there is no one who has given up house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands for my sake and for the sake of the gospel who will not receive a hundred times more now in this present age: houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and eternal life in the age to come.’” I looked at those who were gathered in the Cathedral and in my heart the memories of those whom I was privileged to serve as the family God had given to me. The love of God was present and his blessings evident.

I have often been asked whether I have a bucket list. A bucket list is things you want to do or places to go before you die. I really don’t have a bucket list. But my sister Penny always wanted to go to Alaska — that was on her bucket list — so I decided to help her fulfill that wish and accompanied her along with Fr. Jim Lobacz and my cousin, Linda Kasprzyk, on a journey to our 49th state. My father was in the U.S. Marines during World War II and was stationed for a time in Alaska on the Aleutian Islands. He told us of the natural beauty of Alaska, but really there are no words that could have captured the scenic presentation of Mother Nature’s child. This was God’s creation on full display. We all know that nature can be devastating — we have seen this in the recent flooding in Texas — but nature is God’s creation. And in Alaska, the mountains, the glaciers and wildlife presented themselves with every movement.

We were on a cruise line. It was literally a floating city. Thousands of people sharing the experience and they were from all over the world. It was as if God had invited the nations of the globe to view his creation and it did not disappoint.

One day, we went whale watching, in Juneau. You watched for a spout of water to emerge from the ocean and, within a few minutes, a huge whale’s body then emerged with its tail coming out of the sea. What was remarkable was, when a whale waterspout was spotted, there was a solemn silence experienced only in a church from the spectators waiting for this creature to emerge. Upon the whale emerging, one felt a reverence, blessed to experience a view of God’s creature.

Another day, we took a trolley to the mountaintop on Icy Strait Point. The views were spectacular. A short trip through the forest exposed us to the vegetation, a variety of trees and the lakes. Later from the ship, we saw the glaciers. They were majestic and the ice formed a colorful blue hue. Pictures could never do it justice.

There are two special virtues that marked my journey, and I believe opened my retired life to humility and gratitude. I was humbled to be a part of this beautiful creation of God, to have been given family and friends to share the journey and to Jesus whose love continues to be an example of how we should live our lives.

The patron of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee is St. John the Evangelist. Toward the end of his life, he was invited to preach to a Christian community. Just imagine, this is one of the original Apostles, the beloved of Jesus himself who was to address them. They waited with bated breath. What would he say? What would he share with them? As the time came for him to speak the old man simply looked at them and said, “Love one another,” “Love one another,” “Love one another.”

Now as a retired successor of the Apostles, I know what’s on my bucket list. Humbled to have been called by the Church to the positions of priest, bishop and archbishop and thankful for the many experiences of God’s love in the family and friends that he generously gave me, now like St. John the Apostle, I desire to live my remaining days following the command of Jesus to “LOVE ONE ANOTHER.”