Shortly after the ceremony of the episcopal ordination and installation for Bishop Victor Galeone, I was interviewed by a reporter. The question asked was: “What was the most touching experience for you during the ceremony?”

I was so delighted that the words “touching experience” were selected by the reporter. I really didn’t have to hesitate, I immediately gave my response. I related that it came toward the very end at that part in the worship aid booklet entitled “Bishop Galeone Addresses Assembly.” It happened in connection with a walk through the Cathedral-Basilica by Bishop Galeone accompanied by Bishop Snyder and Archbishop Favalora of Miami.

When Bishop Galeone arrived with a beaming smile of welcome and warmth in the right transept where all the priests had been seated, he “broke down.” Tears began to fill his eyes as he looked at all of us, his brother priests, especially those of us who would be brother shepherds in serving the people in the Diocese of Saint Augustine. What a source of comfort it was to me personally to see my bishop express this human emotion.

Shortly after this he proceeded to the pulpit to thank the cardinals, archbishops, bishops, ministers of other faiths, his family, friends, and all who had prepared for such a beautiful liturgy and generous hospitality. And, when he mentioned his thanks to all of us priests, he again “broke down.”

I recall a headline in an Italian newspaper in Rome the day after the opening of the Second Vatican Council which addressed a question to Pope John XXIII, asking, “Santo Pandre, perche piange?” (“Holy Father, why are you crying?”)

Answer: These are called tears of joy. When I saw my bishop with tears, I too was deeply moved. I immediately bonded with him. It was my guess he felt reassured in his concern to fulfill his “new” vocation as chief shepherd knowing he could and would depend on us and everything is going to be okay.

In reality, many prelates of high office had generously come to be supportive of the ceremony, but we, his priests, are in it for the long run!

Bishop Galeone had used the word “affirmation” several times in thanking those present. I sense though, he knows deep down in his heart that there is no affirmation quite like that which comes from one’s brother priests. I have come to experience and realize that such affirmation, while not exclusive of others, is the first and foremost needed in the lives of priests, even those who are called to the Order of Bishop.

Now, I hope you can appreciate how deeply I was touched by the events of Tuesday, August 21, 2001, in the city named for the great Saint Augustine.

Father Mike Williams is pastor of Holy Faith Parish in Gainesville and dean of the Gainesville Deanery.