MINNESOTA
Star Tribune
By Jean Hopfensperger Star Tribune MAY 11, 2016
Archbishop Bernard Hebda had just finished posing for an official portrait at the St. Paul Cathedral in advance of his installation this week when he turned to the assembled staff members with the burning question: “What are you doing for lunch?”
Hebda suggested they check out the cafeteria at St. Paul College. Everybody walked over and had a “great time,” said cathedral rector Rev. John Ubel, marveling that Hebda even knew about the place.
“He can be spur of the moment … and he genuinely enjoys being with people,” Ubel said. “Those are fantastic qualities that will serve him well in the archdiocese.”
Hebda, an unpretentious cleric with a Harvard degree, will be installed as the Twin Cities’ ninth archbishop Friday, taking leadership of a church confronted by more than 400 clergy abuse claims, bankruptcy and restlessness in the pews. He replaces archbishop John Nienstedt, who resigned last June when church officials were charged with failing to protect children.
Hebda has garnered praise from priests to parishioners for his Pope Francis style of engagement. But advocates for victims of clergy abuse wonder when he will contact them, as they represent the central issue behind the archdiocese’s deep troubles.
They say the archbishop’s true colors will not be revealed until the archdiocese unveils its bankruptcy plan for compensating abuse victims, expected later this month.
“I don’t know that he has done a
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