Deacon dad and his son … the new bishop

AUCKLAND, New Zealand -- In a first for New Zealand, a permanent deacon participated in the episcopal ordination Mass of his son.

More than 3,000 people from throughout New Zealand attended the March 7 ordination Mass of Bishop Michael Gielen, 48, as an auxiliary bishop of Auckland. Deacon Henk Gielen participated in the Mass, which had strong Maori and Pasifika cultural elements. The Vodafone Events Centre was chosen for the event because St. Patrick’s Cathedral was not large enough to accommodate the expected congregation.

Before the Mass, NZ Catholic newspaper asked Deacon Gielen if he could ever have imagined when his son was growing up in the central North Island forestry town of Tokoroa that the pair of them would one day be flanking Auckland Bishop Patrick Dunn, with one as a deacon and the other as a new bishop.

“No father knows what will become of their children,” Deacon Gielen said. “But you love them and give them your best and hope they will flourish.”

Deacon Gielen, from the Papamoa Coast, said he is very proud of his son, the oldest of six children in his family.

He said the news that his son was to be a bishop came as something of a shock, and he is still getting used to the idea. But he thinks God called Bishop Gielen to this ministry because “Michael has a heart for (the) less privileged and a heart of compassion.”

Deacon Gielen thinks there probably are other instances in the Church where a permanent deacon has a son who is a bishop, but this is the first time it has happened in New Zealand.

March 7-8 was a busy weekend for the Gielen family, with 35 relatives traveling to Auckland for the ordination. Family members had various roles at the ordination Mass, including Deacon Gielen proclaiming the Gospel.

In his words of thanksgiving at the end of the Mass, Bishop Gielen thanked his mother and his father, and all his “precious family” for “your unwavering love, your challenges and your encouragement.”

He made mention of the people watching a livestream of the service, including his sister Liz, who was too pregnant to fly, and her husband Andy, as well as a cousin who is a religious sister in England.

When NZ Catholic asked Deacon Gielen what final word of fatherly advice he might have for his son as a new bishop, he said: “Be a man of prayer, be humble, be compassionate and learn from Bishop Pat.”

Bishop Gielen, who has served as director of formation at Holy Cross Seminary in Auckland, spoke in his thanksgiving speech about when he was seven years old, a time when he was battling with asthma and struggling at school.

“A year later, all that changed. We started going back to Mass as a family. It was like rivers, fresh springs of living water, flowing within us, slowly changing us. And as a little boy, I noticed it.”

“I have good news,” Bishop Gielen said in his thanksgiving speech.

“Whether you are seven or 70, Jesus loves you,” the new bishop said. “Jesus will never leave you alone. Jesus has amazing things in life for you, whatever your age is, if you trust Him and ask Him into your life, like my family did. It’s amazing what He can do when we say, ‘yes.’ Thank you for your ‘yes,’ and let us travel together in our waka (Maori canoe), wherever God leads us.”