Ordination of His Excellency William Medley

Deo gratias! His Excellency William Francis Medley has been consecrated and installed as the fourth bishop of the Diocese of Owensboro, Kentucky. I was in attendance at his ordination. First off, I was greatly relived in many ways, because, to be brutally honest, I have been very skeptical about our new bishop and afraid that he would turn out to be just as liberal and spineless as so many of the bishops these days. Allot of the less important facets of the ordination grated on my nerves, specifically the guitars, the female altar servers, that none of the severs used a vimpa, and that the masters of ceremonies concelebrated instead of being in choro. Now that I got those things I don't like out let me say what I did like. I like and respect our new bishop. He is obviously zealous about his new life as our shepherd. I like that he wore an episcopal choir cassock for the mass under his vestments and that as far as I could see he wore all of the appropriate vestments in the proper way. I like his crosier, which is of a simple gold design that looked pretty solid, not one of these cheap wooden screw apart ones. I liked that he comes from a good sized family of five kids and that (as far as I could tell) all of his immediate family are in full communion with the church and that a good portion of his extended family are as well. I liked that the only ones to distribute communion were ordained clerics. I liked that at the reception my bishop wore a very nice (and by my guess roman-made) house cassock. I like that he walks with confidence, has a good hand shake, and a beaming smile. This is a good enough time to mention that I unintentionally met him at the door of the ballroom at the reception hall and he stepped right up to me smiling as big as could be and gave me a big firm handshake. I've been kicking myself for not remembering to bow and kiss his ring, but I did remember to address him as "Your Excellency", so I'm getting at least a little bit better with my hierarchical manners. I liked that he asked a bishop, who I understand to be a very holy man, to ordain him and that the bishops who were there, who I recognized at least, are strong defenders of the faith. I thought it was cool seeing to abbots from nearby abbeys wearing their miters, one of them also wore pectoral cross on a black and gold chord and a black zuchetto. I liked seeing all of the diocesan seminarians. I liked seeing over a dozen permanent deacons and a good handful of transitional deacons. I liked seeing over a hundred priest concelebrate. I liked seeing several of the Fathers of Mercy, including the Superior General concelebrate. I liked hearing the words of Our Holy Father to Bishop Medley proclaimed. I know I already said so but it bears repeating, I like my new bishop. He was so obviously excited that he almost seamed to radiate. I honestly don't think he stopped smiling the whole time. I like that he celebrated the mass reverently, with love. I like how at the end of his comments he said how much he loves us. I pray that he will become one of the next American bishop-saints. God bless Bishop Medley!