“I thank you for saying ‘yes’ to giving your life in union with Jesus: for in this is found the pure source of our joy.” - Letter from Cardinal Christophe Pierre, Apostolic Nuncio to the U.S., quoting Pope Francis’ words to priests at the Jubilee of Mercy for Priests on June 3, 2016
GARY – “Thanksgiving is my word today,” said Bishop Robert J. McClory as he celebrated the 25th anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood with fellow bishops, priests and deacons as well as family, friends, Diocese of Gary staffers and parishioners at a Mass of Thanksgiving on May 10 at the Cathedral of the Holy Angels.
“Gratitude is the primary sentiment that I have today,” said the bishop in his homily. “Eucharist means thanksgiving, and I just want to give some thanks. The first thanks, which I’ve already done, is to God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, who loves us so much that he doesn’t abandon us, that he loves us and that he sends us on mission to let others know his love, and not just know it intellectually, but experience it by the love that we share with them.
“I am so grateful that God, in his goodness, planted me in a beautiful, Catholic, loving family,” Bishop McClory continued. “Of course I say the best seminary I ever went to was the seminary in my family, (late parents) Ann and Jim McClory, those who brought up the gifts, my beloved brother Mike, my brother Dan and my sister Therese; not just them, but their spouses, their family members, all that extended love that the Lord has given me, in a natural family, in my loving family, is the reason why I’m here today, because they reflect the love of Christ to me.”
“I’m very happy for my brother, and so proud and grateful that he chose to devote his life to God to help the people of Northwest Indiana and run the Diocese of Gary,” said Michael McClory, a judge in Michigan. “He was installed as bishop at a very challenging time on Feb. 11, 2020, just as COVID-19 was declared a pandemic.
“The best thing about having a bishop as a brother is that he’s able to help a lot of people, but still remain close to his family,” added the oldest McClory sibling. “He is very involved with his nieces and nephews – he officiated at the wedding of my daughter, Emma, to her husband Cameron last year.”
“I’m also so grateful for my spiritual family” added the bishop. “You know the people of God shape us, and so if I’m in any way a reflection of the love God to you, that’s really because your brothers and sisters and all of you have pulled out of me the love that God wants me to share. You’ve let me know, just as the disciples on the road to Emmaus, what your questions are, what your hopes are, what your dreams are, what your disappointments are, and in my own effort to try to respond, in the name of Christ, to those needs, you have made me a far better disciple, a far better priest.
“We are not lone rangers, we need each other, the Lord wants us to be in community … the Lord wants us together as the Body of Christ. And so, my great gratitude for all those communities in which I’ve served over the years, the lifelong friends who I have made through all those places of ministry.
“The Lord has planted me here in this family, the family of the Diocese of Gary,” said the prelate. " I am unimaginably blessed beyond what I could have imagined. And I am so delighted to be able to love and honor you here in the Diocese of Gary. And I don’t do it alone, I do it with so many faithful brothers in the Lord and who are ordained as your priests and work so hard.”
One of the diocesan priests that Bishop McClory serves with closely is Father Chris Stanish, appointed vicar general and moderator of the curia two years ago. “I admire most the emphasis Bishop McClory keeps on Jesus as the center of everything he does,” said Father Stanish, who will mark 10 years as a priest next month. They have been housemates in Crown Point for the past year, which has worked out well, said the younger priest, “since we both start the day with coffee and prayer – usually in that order.
“His attention to detail is impeccable and that has given me a greater appreciation for the interconnectedness of our work. He is thoughtful and reflective,” added Father Stanish.
In addition to leading the applause for diocesan priests, the bishop also acknowledged deacons and religious men and women “who give that expression to the love of Christ in such a unique and distinctive way, a way that is often hidden, but is no less real, and is witness to saying there is a better way to live and we are doing it the best we can.”
Also working closely with the bishop is Deacon Martin Brown. “When Bishop McClory comes to the cathedral to say Mass on regular Sundays, I get to work with him as a parish priest,” said Deacon Brown. “He likes to keep the pace of the Mass moving, and it is fun. He is a big sports fan, he has a good sense of humor and he’s a good listener. We do a lot of funerals, and that can be tough, but when I hit a bad time, he gave me good advice,” added the deacon. “I think he was a good parish priest.”
Father Dominic Bertino, a senior priest who will celebrate his 50-year jubilee in 2025, recalls a Mass and dinner on his 25th anniversary as pastor at St. Bridget in Hobart. “He is very interested in what’s going on in the area and the history of our parishes, and he likes to be with our priests as well as the people,” said the diocesan historian of his fifth bishop, offering as advice: “Every day is a call to live the Gospel.”
“The Lord somehow loved me enough that he called me, over time,” said Bishop McClory, “to say yes to that love, and I’m here, not because I’m anything, but because he’s everything, and so my prayer for you is that that love will be rekindled in your heart, and that perhaps today, for yourself and for someone else, you would open your hearts even more deeply yourself and let others know who might be discouraged, who might be kind of fading away … because they don’t have hope and they just think that this is all we have, that this is not all we have.
“We have the love of Jesus, who is alive in our hearts, and it’s our joy to show people that love by the ministries and the outreach that we are involved in, and to tell them about that love with the words that we share and the way that we accompany them as they come to know Jesus Christ.
“I join the words of St. Paul to the Philippians as I reflect upon the remarkable gift that I’ve been given in this local Church, ‘I give thanks to my God at every remembrance of you, praying always, with joy, in my every prayer for all you.
“We proclaim Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your servants, for Jesus’ sake,” he concluded.
Caption: Bishop Robert J. McClory (center) raises a communion plate as transitional Deacon Zachary Glick raises the chalice during the Eucharistic prayer at Mass in the Cathedral of the Holy Angels where the fifth Bishop of Gary joined invited family and friends and diocesan faithful to mark his 25th anniversary of priestly ordination, on May 10. Growing up in Royal Oak, Mich., Bishop McClory was ordained to the priesthood for the Archdiocese of Detroit in 1999, after seminary studies, which followed his brief career as a lawyer. (Anthony D. Alonzo photo)