By Currents News
“I come as a soldier of the Church determined to join you—dear members of the pilgrim Church in Palm Beach—to walk with you and support you,” said Bishop-elect Manuel de Jesús Rodríguez, ready to serve.
Proudly addressing his new flock in English and Spanish during a press conference on Friday, he remembered the place where he has served for more than a decade when talking about his new role.
“I invite you to cast your gaze on the iconic Brooklyn Bridge. In that same spirit I come with the sincere desire to collaborate with all of you in continuing to build bridges,” he said.
The current Queens pastor will be heading down to Florida to serve the approximately 50 parishes and 260,000 Catholics in the Diocese of Palm Beach. He comes without an agenda, but one of his goals is to keep fighting for the unborn.
“I am on the side of life, I am strong for life—my current parish we have monthly pro-life Masses, and we visit abortion clinics,” Bishop-elect Rodriguez said.
And continue welcoming the stranger.
“That’s our purpose—to promote the respect, the acknowledgement of the dignity of all persons, including of course the migrants,” he said.
Bishop-elect Rodríguez’s current shepherd, Brooklyn Bishop Robert Brennan, believes he’s a great choice.
“Bishop-elect Manuel has many, many gifts and talents, he’s very, intelligent, well spoken, logical but he’s also a man of the church, loves Jesus Christ,” Bishop Brennan said.
The Diocese of Brooklyn priest replaces Bishop Gerald Barbarito, a former Diocese of Brooklyn auxiliary bishop.
“One of the things that really pleases me is when I’m told my Brooklyn accent has only gotten stronger since being here,” said Bishop Barbarito.
Bishop Brennan says it’s part of a long-held history between the two dioceses.
“Bishop Barbarito always called Palm Beach the sixth borough of New York,” said Bishop Brennan. “It is interesting isn’t it that that relationship continues, Palm Beach sent us Bishop Daly, we sent them Bishop Barbarito and now we’ll be sending them Bishop-elect Rodríguez.”
The announcement, which the faithful in Florida already feel is a blessing, also came with a blessing from the new bishop.
“May Almighty God bless you and all the members of this wonderful diocese,” Bishop-elect Rodriguez said.