Alaska News

Eielson chaplain hears the call at 6:15 a.m. to become Fairbanks bishop

FAIRBANKS -- When the command post at Eielson Air Force Base summons an U.S. Air Force chaplain, it's almost always a crisis that requires immediate attention.

After the phone rang at 6:15 a.m. that Saturday morning in November, the Rev. Chad Zielinski, 50, thought it was not an emergency, but a big mistake.

In this case, the caller, perhaps not fully aware of the time zone, identified himself as Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, the ambassador from the Vatican who represents Pope Francis in Washington, D.C.

"Our Holy Father, Pope Francis, has appointed you Bishop of Fairbanks," Vigano told Zielinski.

Zielinski, a chaplain for 12 years and a Catholic priest for 18 years, asked Vigano who he was three or four times, thinking that the Apostolic Nuncio had the wrong Zielinski.

"I was so tired and could not think straight," Zielinski said, reconstructing the Nov. 8 conversation in a letter to those who worship with him at Our Lady of Snows Catholic Community at Eielson.

"This makes no sense," Zielinski told the archbishop. "This cannot be as I am an active duty military chaplain."

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"I know," Vigano said.

"You have me confused with somebody else as I am not qualified to be a bishop. I am the least likely person. I have no doctorate degrees," Zielinski said he told Vigano. "I an a simple priest. Who would even think I could be a bishop? I have never wanted this or asked for this."

Zielinski said that Vigano "could sense my overwhelming confusion" and suggested that he call back Monday morning to confirm.

Zielinski said he spent a lot of time in prayer that weekend, struggling to make sense of it all

"I am a broken vessel," he wrote to the members of his parish. "I am a man who has been to combat and witnessed the worst of humanity and the wounds of war still live within."

He said the scripture that kept coming to his mind was from Samuel, "God does not see as a mortal, who sees the appearance. The Lord looks into the heart."

"To this moment, I am not certain what God sees," Zielinski wrote. He said he approaches his new task with doubt and anxiety, but also with "peace of mind and heart knowing that God provides when he calls."

On Monday afternoon in Fairbanks, eight archbishops and bishops participated in a mass of ordination in the Carlson Center as Zielinski became the sixth bishop of Fairbanks. From 700 to 800 people attended the mass, at which the Gospel was read first in Yupik and then in English.

Anchorage Archbishop Roger L. Schwietz celebrated the mass, along with Archbishop Timothy Broglio, archbishop of the military services of the United States, and Bishop Steven Raica of Gaylord, Michigan. Vigano, the Apostolic Nuncio who coordinates the secretive process used by the church to consider candidates whose names are forwarded to Rome, attended along with many other priests, church officials and local Catholics.

Zielinski is going to continue serving multiple roles in the months ahead. He is to remain on active duty as a major until late January and then he will transition into the Air Force Reserve.

This is the first time an active duty chaplain has been picked to lead a diocese, according to a press release from the Diocese of Fairbanks. Zielinksi replaces Bishop Donald Kettler, who was transferred to become bishop of St. Cloud, Minnesota.

Zielinski said one of his first priorities will be to visit the 46 parishes spread across the largest diocese in the United States. There are about 11,000 Catholics in the diocese, which extends from St. Patrick's in Barrow to the Immaculate Conception Church in Bethel.

There are also administrative duties and responsibilities to learn.

"Because I'm still active duty in the military, I haven't had the time to sit down with the entire diocesan staff to figure out what's on the radar screen. That's going to happen in the upcoming weeks and months as we discuss what are the pastoral needs of the diocese," he said in an interview last week.

In a statement, Schweitz said that Zielinski has the qualities needed to serve the people of the diocese.

"He has learned to work with people from all backgrounds, and do so under the stresses of war. Yet he is also humble and prayerful. I understand why the Holy Father chose him as a servant leader for Fairbanks," Schweitz said.

Zielinski was born in Detroit and grew up in Alpena, Michigan. He served in the Air Force for four years before he went to the Mount Angel seminary in Oregon and the Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit. He was ordained as a priest in 1996 in Gaylord, Michigan.

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After the terrorist attacks in 2001, he volunteered as an Air Force chaplain and did three tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. He has served as the Deputy Wing Chaplain, 354th Fighter Wing at Eielson since 2012. Before coming to Alaska, he served as a chaplain at the Air Force Academy.

"My simple approach to this call in life is to love the Lord my God with all my heart, all my soul and all my mind and serve my brothers and sisters in the Diocese of Fairbanks," he wrote of his new job. "I say this fully knowing I need God's grace and their talents and abilities to climb a steep learning curve."

Dermot Cole

Former ADN columnist Dermot Cole is a longtime reporter, editor and author.

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