By Tricia Hempel

ARCHDIOCESE - The appointment of Coadjutor Archbishop Dennis M. Schnurr to Cincinnati is Pope Benedict XVI's way of "expressing the love of the Lord for this portion of His people," Cincinnati Archbishop Daniel E. Pilarczyk told the faithful gathered at the Cathedral of St. Peter in Chains Dec. 7 for a Mass of Welcome.

More than 170 priests, 11 bishops and archbishops and a capacity crowd of laity filled the church to welcome the new coadjutor archbishop, who was appointed to the job on Oct. 17.

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Archbishop Schnurr greeted those gathered outside the cathedral as he departed the Dec. 7 Mass.

In his homily, Archbishop Pilarczyk noted that the day's readings shared a theme: an admonition that people "pay attention."

"We all need to hear this message from time to time simply because it's so easy not to pay attention to the Lord Jesus," he said."We live in a world that is really good at keeping us distracted. And yet it's essential to pay attention to the Lord, because, if we don't, our lives can gradually lose their meaning and we can find ourselves running in a rat race that has no purpose and no goal.

"Today the church gives us a particular reason for paying attention - you probably wondered if I was ever going to get around to that," Archbishop Pilarczyk said to laughter from the congregation. "We are here to welcome a coadjutor archbishop to this local church of Cincinnati. Our Holy Father has assigned Archbishop Schnurr to provide a time of help in the ministry of the church in our archdiocese and then, at the proper time, to take over its leadership."

"The event that we celebrate this aftenoon is more than an administrative act. It is an act of attentiveness on the part of the Lord, an act of love for us from the Lord Jesus. And the attentiveness of the Lord calls for our attention in return. That's why we are here to celebrate memory of the Lord in the Eucharist this afternoon."

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The two archbishops concelebrating Mass together.

As part of the ceremony, Archbishop Schnurr was embraced by Archbishop Pilarczyk, by Father Binzer, by Father Michael Pucke, who represented the Presbyteral Council, and by Gregory Feldkamp, representing the Archdocesan Pastoral Council.

"This all started about two months ago," Archbishop Schnurr said to a ripple of laughter. "I got a call from the nuncio, who informed me that the pope had named me coadjutor archbishop of Cincinnati. I was stunned, silent. After moment the nuncio said, 'Excellency, is everything alright?'

"I said, 'Excellency, those are big shoes to fill.'

"He said, 'Yes, and we will pray for you.'"

His first week in Cincinnati, Archbishop Schnurr said, had been "wonderful - the welcome exceptional."

At the presbyteral council meeting he attended earlier in the week, he said he'd been struck by "the seriousness with which the priests assist the archbishop," as well as their spirit of fraternity. In his first week he also met with the deans and the finance council.

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Archbishop Schnurr's mother, Eleanor, 88, stood to applause from the congregation.

"If you want to know a mother's reaction when a son is named an archbishop, here it is," Archbishop Schnurr said. "I called her Oct. 17 and said, 'Mom, I'm calling from Cincinnati.'

"'Okay,' she said.

"Mom, I've been named the Archbishop of Cincinnati."

" 'Oh, heck.'

"She thought it would destroy our Thanksgving plans!" he chuckled.

The archbishop is one of six children - with three sisters and two brothers: Delores Schultes and her husband, Marvin, of Hastings, Neb.; Carolyn Arens and her husband, Larry, of Remsen, Iowa; Irene Foreman of Alton, Iowa; Richad Schnurr and his wife, Judy, of Hospers, Iowa; Michael Schnurr of Alton, Iowa; and he has many nieces, nephews, grandnieces and grandnephews.

Archbishop Schnurr thanked the bishops present and the priests, noting that he looked "forward to our collaboraton under the leadership of Archbishop Pilarczyk." He called permanent deacons "an invaluable resource" to priests and bishops, and told the religious leaders of other denominations who were present that "Archbishop Pilarczyk has already told me of your cordial relationships."

To the clergy and seminarians from the Diocese of Duluth who were present, he said, "What a joy and blessing to me you were. Please assure the diocese of my continued thoughts and prayers."

And "to all the people of the great Archdiocese of Cincinnati, I look forward to being in your midst."

His remarks were followed by a standing ovation led by the clergy.

The Choir of St. Peter in Chains Cathedral, under the direction of Anthony DiCello, earned applause for the beauty of its musical selections and performance. In addition to a prelude that included Mozart, Handel, Bach and medieval music, the choir led the congregation in "Lord, Pour Your Spirit," which has been performed for all episcopal ordinations and installations since 1972.

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Archbishop Schnurr enjoys a chat with some of his fellow bishops: from left, Bishop Robert Lynch of St. Petersburg, Fla.; Bishop Anthony Pilla, retired Bishop of Cleveland; Bishop R. Walker Nickless of Sioux City; and Bishop Michael Cote of Norwich, Conn.

Ten-year-old Ashley Becker, a student at St. Gertrude School n Madeira, accompanied her grandparents, Millie and Calvin Tanner, to the event. Ashley stood patiently in the long line to meet the new archbishop, presenting him with a gift card for Gold Star Chili.

"Oh, is this also served over spaghetti?" ArchbishopSchnurr asked her with a smile. He told her that he appreciated the cards that students at St. Gertrude's had made upon the announcement of his new position, and he promised to visit the school soon.

"Gold Star is my favorite, especially with the jalapeno cheese, and I wanted him to try it," she said later of her gift.

Representatives from the Dayton Vietnamese Catholic community, which worships at Sacred Heart Church, presented Archbishop Schnurr with a beautifully wrapped box containing a replica of what they said was a "tricyle," the popular method of cab-like transportation on the streets of Vietnam. "This is to remind you to travel to Dayton to visit us," Huy Dang told him. They also invited him to celebrate the Vietnamese New Year with the community.

The contingent was thrilled when Archbishop Schnurr told them he visited Vietnam about 15 years ago and recalled well the cycled transport; they spoke briefly of his recollections of Vietnam.

Archbishop Dennis Schnurr was born in Sheldon, Iowa, on June 21,1948 and raised in nearby Hospers (current population 668), where his mother still resides. He attended St. Anthony School there and Spalding Catholic High School in Granville, earning a bachelor's degree at Loras College in Dubuque. He studied for the priesthood at North American College and the Gregorian University in Rome, where he earned a master's degree in theology in 1974, the same year he was ordained to the priesthood for the Diocese of Sioux City, Iowa. He was awarded a doctorate in canon law from the Catholic University of America in 1980.

Following ordination to the priesthood he was associate pastor at the Cathedral of the Epiphany and at Blessed Sacrament Church in Sioux City, while also working in the bishop's office as vice chancellor, chancellor, finance officer and judge of the diocesan tribunal.

In 1985 then-Father Schnurr was named to the staff of the Apostolic Nunciature in Washington. The nuncio is the ambassador of the pope to a particular nation and also his representative to the Cathlic hierarchy in that nation.

Just four years later he was named associate general secretary of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, where he supervised public policy departments and was principal staff person for an assessment and overhaul of the conference's budget and staffing procedures.

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Archbishop Schnurr assists Archbishop Pilarczyk with his vestments before the Dec. 7 Mass of Welcome at the Cathedral of St. Peter in Chains.

In 1995 the bishops elected him generalsecretary of their conference. In this position, he oversaw the overall operation of the conference, supervised a staff of approximately 350 people, managed an annual budget of $50 million, arranged for and participated in meetings which brought together the bishops' conferences of the Western Hemisphere, and staffed the semi-annual visits of the NCCB/USCCB president and vice-president with the offices of the Roman Curia.

He was named Bishop of Duluth on Jan. 18, 2001 and ordained April 2. Duluth, which encompasses more than 22,000 square miles and is geographically larger than the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, has a Catholic population of about 72,000 - about one-eighth of Cincinnati's Catholic population. The diocese is in the northeast corner of Minnesota. Archbishop Schnurr has served on numerous committees at the USCCB, including its executive committee. He has chaired the Subcommittee on Youth and Young Adult, Budget and Finances and the Subcommittee on Planning. He was elected treasurer of the USCCB offices in 2005, a post in which he still serves.

He is currently residing at Mount St. Mary's Seminary.