The announcement on Jan. 8 by Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, apostolic nuncio to the United States, that the Holy Father has named Bishop Dennis J. Sullivan the eighth Bishop of Camden was received with great joy and curiosity by not just only Catholics in Southern New Jersey but the wider religious community as well. Several of my friends in leadership in the various religious communities called to congratulate the Catholic community and to extend their prayers for Bishop Galante’s health. Of course, they were interested in Bishop Sullivan’s interest and participation in ecumenical and interreligious outreach.
Coming from New York, one of the most diversely concentrated communities on earth, Bishop Sullivan’s 41 years of priestly and episcopal ministry have been influenced by his relationships with the wider religious community, especially during his years in the Lower East Side.
The Lower East Side section that Bishop Sullivan ministered in for many years was once populated by the Jewish community. When he was the pastor of St. Theresa’s Parish, the roof on his church collapsed. He sought help from Marion Laser, the associate director of a Jewish outreach center, and she helped the parish to acquire space for worship at the Maser Theater close by.
She extended her help with a quote from Ruth 1:16, “Your people are my people.”
Bishop Sullivan has been involved in local ministeriums in New York. He has participated in interfaith Thanksgiving dinners and has participated in the local gatherings of priests, ministers and rabbis for dialogue and sharing of events to build up the local community of faith.
Bishop Sullivan played an instrumental part in one of the more important ecumenical gatherings here in the United States in this new millennium. On April 18, 2008, Bishop Sullivan welcomed Pope Benedict XVI at St. Joseph Church on New York’s Upper East Side, along with some 250 Anglican, Protestant and Orthodox leaders, and apprised the Holy Father and guests with a summary of recent ecumenical progress in the United States.
He said, “In 1965, with the conclusion of the Second Vatican Council, the Catholic Bishops of the United States, guided by the Decree on Ecumenism, ‘Unitatis Redintegratio,’ and directives of your predecessors, committed themselves to pursue ever more earnestly that unity for which the Savior prayed on the night before He died. Thus, they entered into dialogues with the Orthodox, the Episcopalians, the Lutherans, the Methodists, the Evangelicals, the Southern Baptists, the Reformed and the Polish National Catholics, among others; and from these dialogues, has come forth an extraordinary number of carefully considered statements to lead us wisely and securely on the path toward unity.”
We are excited that the good work begun here in the Diocese of Camden in the ecumenical and interreligious arena will continue to be supported and expanded by our new chief shepherd Bishop Sullivan. Over the past 20 years we have established deep ties of friendship and outreach with the local Jewish community under the leadership and encouragement of our former Bishop DiMarzio. He signed the historic Formal Agreement with the Jewish community, at once establishing the Catholic Jewish Commission of Southern New Jersey and the Catholic Jewish Institute for Understanding.
Bishop Galante built on this foundation by signing the Formal Agreement with the Muslim community and helping to establish the Catholic Muslim Commission of Southern New Jersey.
As Bishop Sullivan said to the Holy Father, “Much, of course, remains to be done especially in our parishes and congregations, where ecumenical prayer, theological discussions, and the united pursuit of justice, charity, and peace need to be promoted and encouraged across denominational boundaries with unlimited trust in the providence of our Loving God.”
Bishop Sullivan, the wider religious community of Southern New Jersey awaits your leadership and encouragement as we continue to strive together for that “pursuit of justice, charity and peace.” Ad multos annos!
Father Joseph D. Wallace is coordinator, Ecumenical and Inter-religious Affairs, Diocese of Camden.