Bishop Niederauer's leadership recognized

There is a wise, knowledgeable peace that envelopes visitors to the office of Utah's Catholic shepherd. It is not the modest decor but the occupant — Bishop George Niederauer — whose leadership the past decade has earned him the respect and admiration not only of his flock but of Utahns who appreciate the depth of his humanity.

Now Pope Benedict XVI has taken notice, too, designating Bishop Niederauer as the new archbishop of San Francisco last week through a spokesman in Washington, D.C. The announcement came more than a week after the bishop was notified by phone "at 8:50 a.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 6," he recalls. Archbishop Gabriel Montalvo, papal nuncio to the United States, called to tell him of the Holy Father's decision.

"I told him I'll be 70 next year, and he said, 'Well, 70 is not what it used to be.' I thought, but didn't say, 'No, but neither am I.' But when the Holy Father asks, people have asked me, 'Couldn't you have said no?' But if I were to ask a priest to take on an assignment I really needed him to take, I wouldn't welcome a 'no.' "

Though the bishop said he had no idea the appointment was coming, he acknowledges there had been some speculation since the San Francisco post had become vacant when his childhood friend and fellow seminarian — former San Francisco Archbishop William Levada — was called to Rome this past summer as prefect of the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. It is a post formerly held by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger — now known as Pope Benedict XVI.

"I was one of those being rumored for it, but I was only one. There's a mantra about papal appointments: The people who are talking don't know, and those who do aren't talking. There had been speculation once before about another post, but that didn't happen and you just get on with your life. You can't live in 'what ifs.' "

As with other watershed moments in his life, Bishop Niederauer had no trouble remembering the details of the phone call, similar in many ways, he said, to one he received in November 1994, telling him he would be ordained a bishop to serve the Diocese of Salt Lake City.

His decade-plus here began in January 1995 when, dressed in the trappings of bishop, he completed a ceremony long ago established for the men who would shepherd God's sheep, knocking on the door of the Cathedral of the Madeleine to see if the congregation inside would receive him. From his perspective, they — and the wider Utah community — have done so with open arms. The fact that two-thirds of his Utah flock are Latinos provides a depth of experience and insight into the problems many in his new assignment may also face.