Hundreds Attend Ordination of Auxiliary Bishop Christopher Coyne, by Robert King, Indianapolis Star, March 3, 2011

Hundreds Attend Ordination of Auxiliary Bishop Christopher Coyne

By Robert King
Indianapolis Star
March 3, 2011

http://www.indystar.com/article/20110303/LIVING09/103030394/1001/Hundreds-attend-ordination-auxiliary-bishop-Christopher-Coyne?odyssey=nav%7Chead

Hide caption Buy this photo People lined up waiting to get into St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church for the ordination of Rev. Christopher Coyne as the new auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Indianapolis, Wednesday March 2, 2011.

People lined up waiting to get into St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church for the ordination of Rev. Christopher Coyne as the new auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Indianapolis, Wednesday March 2, 2011.

Archbishop Daniel M. Buechlein anoints the head of the Most Reverend Christopher J. Coyne as he was ordained Auxiliary Bishop of Indianapolis at St. John the Evangelist Church in Indianapolis Wednesday March 2, 2011.

Boston Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley lays his hands on the head of the Most Reverend Christopher J. Coyne, as a sign of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, as Coyne was ordained Auxiliary Bishop of Indianapolis at St. John the Evangelist Church in Indianapolis Wednesday March 2, 2011.

Archbishop Daniel M. Buechlein prays the solemn prayer of consecration as two deacons hold open the Book of Gospels over the head of Bishop-elect Most Reverend Christopher J. Coyne, as Coyne was ordained Auxiliary Bishop of Indianapolis at St. John the Evangelist Church in Indianapolis Wednesday March 2, 2011.

Hide caption Buy this photo The Most Reverend Christopher J. Coyne Auxiliary Bishop of Indianapolis, is recognized by the crowd, including Archbishop Daniel M. Beuchlein, Archbishop of Indianapolis, after Coyne's ordination as Auxiliary Bishop of Indianapolis at St. John the Evangelist Church in Indianapolis Wednesday March 2, 2011.

Part of the crowd looking to the back of the church at the Ordination of The Most Reverend Christopher J. Coyne as the Auxiliary Bishop of Indianapolis, at St. John the Evangelist Church in Indianapolis Wednesday March 2, 2011.

Hide caption Buy this photo Part of the crowd facing the altar at the Ordination of The Most Reverend Christopher J. Coyne as the Auxiliary Bishop of Indianapolis, at St. John the Evangelist Church in Indianapolis Wednesday March 2, 2011.

Hide caption Buy this photo The Most Reverend Christopher J. Coyne Auxiliary Bishop of Indianapolis, walks down the aisles and blesses the crowd after his ordination as Auxiliary Bishop of Indianapolis at St. John the Evangelist Church in Indianapolis Wednesday March 2, 2011.

Hide caption Buy this photo Seminarians and Priests stand at one side of the sanctuary during the Ordination of The Most Reverend Christopher J. Coyne as the Auxiliary Bishop of Indianapolis, at St. John the Evangelist Church in Indianapolis Wednesday March 2, 2011.

Hide caption Buy this photo A woman from the Ladies of Grace Knights of Peter Claver 4th Degree, left, and members of Knights and ladies of the Holy Sepulcher were part of the Entrance Procession for the Ordination of The Most Reverend Christopher J. Coyne as the Auxiliary Bishop of Indianapolis, at St. John the Evangelist Church in Indianapolis Wednesday March 2, 2011.

The Most Reverend Christopher J. Coyne Auxiliary Bishop of Indianapolis, walks down the aisles and blesses the crowd after his ordination as Auxiliary Bishop of Indianapolis at St. John the Evangelist Church in Indianapolis Wednesday March 2, 2011.

Hide caption Buy this photo The Most Reverend Christopher J. Coyne Auxiliary Bishop of Indianapolis, serves Communion after his ordination as Auxiliary Bishop of Indianapolis at St. John the Evangelist Church in Indianapolis Wednesday March 2, 2011.

He was anointed with oil.

He lay face-down on the altar as prayers to the saints were offered over him.

He knelt as a succession of 16 bishops from across the country -- and one cardinal -- came by and placed their hands upon his head.

Yet the moment that meant the most to Bishop Christopher J. Coyne during his ordination Wednesday as the new auxiliary bishop of Indianapolis was a simple thank you -- to his parents.

It came near the beginning of the 21/2-hour service when Archbishop Daniel M. Buechlein, whose ailing health necessitated the appointment of an auxiliary, looked at Coyne's mother, Rita, on the front row and said, "Mrs. Coyne, thank you for the gift of your son."

Coyne, until now a priest with the Archdiocese of Boston, is leaving his family in Massachusetts behind to come to the 72-year-old Buechlein's aid -- a sacrifice his mother was initially hesitant to embrace and harder still because of his father's frail health, which prevented William Coyne from coming to the ordination.

"For him to publicly recognize that," Coyne said, "it was very moving to me and to my family."

Coyne becomes the No. 2 official in a Catholic archdiocese that serves 225,000 Catholics in 39 counties. And he is only the third auxiliary bishop in its history. The last such ordination was in 1933.

The ordination, broadcast on CatholicTV and the Internet, was witnessed by about 1,000 people who packed St. John the Evangelist Church, the city's oldest Catholic parish. And the crowd, which included more than 100 priests, a small cadre of gray-veiled Little Sisters of the Poor, and the Knights of St. John in their white-plumed hats, gave Coyne a standing ovation, part of a welcome that seemed to take the 52-year-old bishop aback.

Speaking to the audience, Coyne said he seeks to be "a brother who walks with you and seeks to be a friend to all." But he also showed the irreverent side of his personality. He said he hoped Boston's Cardinal Sean O'Malley, who was present for the event, would send his last parish "a pastor who is a bit of a jerk so you will miss me." And to the people who came from Boston to witness the ordination, he offered a "proper Boston salute: You are wicked awesome."

They were words perhaps never before uttered by a Catholic bishop.

Outside, across the street, 10 people from groups representing victims of the priest sexual abuse scandal were remembering Coyne's Boston ties for a different reason. They staged a silent protest. Coyne, said protester Mary Hines, must have had knowledge, during his tenure as a spokesman for the Boston Archdiocese, about cover-ups and transfers that allowed abusive priests to go unpunished.

Coyne has said he never abused children and, as a spokesman, never "defended the indefensible." In speaking to the media after his ordination, he said of the protesters: "I hope that someday they can recognize that I wasn't part of what happened; I was only part of the solution at that time."

Call Star reporter Robert King at (317) 444-6089.