The following story first appeared in the Spring 2005 Glenmary Challenge.
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A Mission-Minded Bishop
Bishop Walter Sullivan inspired, awed by Glenmary and those living in Appalachia
By Father John S. Rausch

STANDING WITH: Bishop Sullivan (right) with missioners Father Bob Rademacher and Christine Ramirez in 2003.

When the epic flood of 1977 hit Southwest Virginia, Bishop Walter Sullivan flew from Richmond to inspect the devastation. He toured the area for a few days, checked the churches and conferred with clergy and religious.  On the day scheduled for his return, he traveled through an isolated coal camp in Lee County where he came across a woman sitting on the remaining half of her porch, mud and debris everywhere, her house in shambles.

“What can I do to help you?” he asked.

“Just sit and talk with me,” she said. He did.

For Bishop Sullivan small gestures count as authentic ministry.  Reflecting later on the incident, he says, “We’re not looking for success stories.  The success is your presence.”

Since 1974 till his retirement last year, Bishop Sullivan headed the Diocese of Richmond by being present, touching hearts and spirits—in other words, just sitting and talking awhile.

And he has always held a unique affection for Southwest Virginia—the remote mission part of the diocese where Glenmary today staffs churches in Clintwood, Gate City and Dungannon and once served Pennington Gap, Big Stone Gap, Norton, Coeburn, St. Paul and Lebanon.

“I love the people in Southwest Virginia,” he readily admits.  “They are an inspiration.” His commitment to address the economic plight of this region led to his involvement with two seminal pastoral letters about Appalachia.

In 1975, after more than 100 small meetings with people throughout Appalachia sponsored by the Catholic Committee of Appalachia (CCA) and facilitated by Glenmary Father Les Schmidt and Sister Beth Davies, 25 Appalachian bishops, including Bishop Sullivan, signed the pastoral letter, This Land Is Home to Me.

“This first pastoral emphasized coal was king and the powerlessness of the people,” Bishop Sullivan says. “People were land wealthy, but all the coal profits went outside the region.”

His voice grows excited as he describes the pastoral’s call to listen to the folks and stand with them, rather than coming in with answers.  Nationally, he says, that pastoral made U.S. Catholics “open their eyes” to the systemic problems of the region.

Twenty years later the Appalachian bishops issued a second pastoral, At Home in the Web of Life, addressing the need for sustainability for the family, the environment and jobs. Bishop Sullivan was the only bishop to sign both pastorals.

Through the process of the pastorals, Bishop Sullivan was introduced to the struggles of mountain folk, and he went on to meet with workers at a blouse co-op in 1984, support the coal miners in the Pittston strike in 1989, and learn about mountaintop removal at an environmental forum in 2003. Glenmarians like Fathers Bob Rademacher, Les Schmidt and myself frequently stood by his side.

Bishop Sullivan and Glenmary have always enjoyed a mutually supportive relationship because of their common mission perspective. National Public Radio in 1997, in an interview about the priest shortage, asked Bishop Sullivan if he would consider closing parishes. Without hesitation he cited Glenmary’s mission parish in Dungannon that had only eight members at the time and said: “I would never close down Dungannon.” 

Today, that mission has more than 20 people at Sunday Mass.

“Our diocese has been blessed by the presence of Glenmary,” Bishop Sullivan says.  “I’ve always admired their work and mission.”

Glenmarians might well respond that outreach and social ministry were a joy under a mission-minded bishop like Walter Sullivan.