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Bishop Frank J. Caggiano was installed as Bishop of Bridgeport Sept. 19, telling his new flock to “leave no one behind”: to build bridges with non-Catholics and with those who have left the Church.
“Leave no one to fend for themselves. Leave no one to be tossed into the shadows of our parishes, schools, neighborhoods, and homes,” Bishop Caggiano preached at his installation Mass. “All have been called, all must be served, all must be strengthened in faith hope and love.”
“For just as all earthly bridges are made up of stone, earth and mortar, the spiritual bridges God creates in us are made up of living spiritual stones – that’s you and me.”
Bishop Caggiano, 54, formerly an auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Brooklyn, was installed as Bridgeport's bishop during a Mass at St. Theresa Catholic Church in Trumbull, Conn., attended by over 1,200 people.
Archbishop Henry J. Mansell of Hartford concelebrated the Mass with Bishop Caggiano, while Archbishop Carlo M. Vigano, apostolic nuncio to the U.S., read the letter from the Pope appointing Bishop Caggiano to head the 60-year-old diocese.
In his homily, Bridgeport’s new bishop said Catholics must begin by strengthening their own unity and serving the body of Christ in their own way. They must love one another and “serve those in greatest need,” including the poor, the sick, the disabled, the lonely, the unborn, those who “live in fear in distress,” and those “who have given up hope in life.”
“Every human life is precious, needed, must be cared for.”
Bishop Caggiano, who was born to Italian immigrants in Brooklyn in 1959, reflected on the unifying power of bridges in both his native Brooklyn and in his new hometown of Bridgeport. He said the mission of Catholics is about “strengthening and building spiritual bridges in our midst.”
He said God has built a “spiritual bridge” into every heart and invites everyone to unite with him and to “experience his liberating love, to be transformed.” God loves each person “despite the sins and shadows that lurk in every human heart.”
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