The brilliance of the sunshine outside was matched only by the brightness of Bishop Michael Mulhall’s smile as he greeted the people of the Ottawa Valley as their new spiritual leader.

St. Columbkille’s Cathedral was filled to overflowing for the nearly three-hour ordination ceremony on September 21, with approximately 150 dignitaries joining the parishioners for the occasion.

“May you proclaim the Word of God with unfailing patience and sound teaching,” said Archbishop Luigi Ventura, Apostolic Nuncio to Canada, in his homily.

“Your new ecclesial family has already warmly welcomed you,” he added.

September 21 marks the Feast of St. Matthew, and Archbishop Ventura’s homily was based on the Gospel of St. Matthew, which concludes with the great commission: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And remember I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

“This is the mission that the Lord issues today and entrusts to you as the Bishop of Pembroke,” Archbishop Ventura said.

“Through your ministry, we pray that all will experience His presence — the eternal Shepherd who never leaves his flock untended.”

“A bishop does not dispose of the truth as if it were his own possession,” Archbishop Ventura noted, adding that, like St. Matthew, a bishop is to allow himself to be overtaken by the mission of Jesus as “a living person who knows us, encounters us and seeks to inspire us with His love.”

“I feel deeply humbled today to be chosen,” Bishop Mulhall said in his first address to the diocese.

Referring to the significance of the Feast of St. Matthew, the new bishop said: “I have felt a strong and consoling intercession both from the apostle and from our first bishop. I join with all of you in expressing my deepest gratitude to the Lord who has called me to the grace of one baptism in the one holy Catholic and apostolic faith.”

“May the growth of His people in holiness be my abiding and my eternal joy,” he concluded.

The reception in the church hall following the formalities was a scene of joyous chaos. Members of the Pembroke Diocese anxiously gathered to get to know their new bishop, while those who knew him from previous placements were just as keen to wish him well. Hundreds of people mingled and celebrated together, their voices punctuated by laughter and, at one point, the harmonies of a beautiful Byzantine blessing sung by a contingent from Madonna House.

Bishop Mulhall’s broad smile captured the spirit of the day as he took a few moments to reflect on the beauty of the ceremony and its historic significance.

“It’s been passed on to us because of what it says to us,” he commented.

Turning to the future, he shared his fondest hope for the days ahead: “Simply that we live our faith and hand on our faith and are joyful in doing that, and that we live to the fullest — that we find sanctity in what we do, and that we offer that for our salvation and the salvation of so many others. If there’s a goal, it’s the salvation of all of us which was given to us.”

Speaking for the entire diocese, Father Patrick Tait had earlier shared the highest hope of all in attendance, “may God bless you and keep you with us for many, many years,” he said, inspiring prolonged and enthusiastic applause from the congregation.