Welcome message to Bishop Donald Lerow

This weekend Bishop Lerow is making a pastoral visit to our Church of Saint Michael The
Archangel. Here, we share humbling words.
Bishop, on behalf of the good people of St. Michael, I welcome you and thank you for coming. We
thank God for this wonderful day and we glorify his most holy name for granting you a safe trip to
our Parish.
Indeed, we are highly excited to welcome you in our midst—to pray with us and bless us. And more
importantly, to celebrate the Holy Eucharist with us, which is the source and summit-of our life, we
thank you for baptizing the two boys and welcoming our brand new baby girl, the youngest of our
congregation. Your Pastoral visit, this day will ever remain fresh and green in our grateful hearts.
It is praiseworthy to note here that within the few years of your episcopacy in this diocese of, a lot
of achievements were recorded; especially in the areas of organization, administration, unity, peace,
justice, and pastoral apostolate. You love reaching out to those in the furthest end of the diocese;
hence, today we become beneficiaries of your thoughtfulness.
I would like to take this opportunity and thank God for your life of selfless service and tremendous
sacrifice to the diocese during these years.
Bishop, you are a special gift to our generation, a seasoned administrator, a humble and simple chief
shepherd, source of inspiration and encouragement to many who have come your way. Concisely,
you are a man of integrity, and like John the Baptist, pointing not to yourself but beyond yourself to
our Lord Jesus Christ in your teachings and homilies. There is so much more we can say to describe
what a wonderful bishop you are, but there are no words to describe the love we have for you.
We are so blessed to have you in our midst today. We pray that your apostolate here will continue to
bear fruit for eternal life. We also pray God to grant you good health of mind and body to bear
further, meaningful, and effective witness to God’s divine love at all times and in all places.
Enjoy this hospitality of your good people in this parish. Once more, welcome bishop and have a
wonderful day!