Most Rev. Salvatore Joseph Cordileone

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Dear Friends in Christ,

It is with humble gratitude and joyful anticipation that I accept my appointment by Pope Benedict XVI as the fourth Bishop of Oakland.

I am also grateful to all of you, the priests, deacons, religious and lay faithful of the local Church of Oakland for the good work accomplished here over the past nearly fifty years under the direction of my esteemed predecessors, the late Bishop Floyd Begin, Bishop John Cummins and Archbishop Allen Vigneron.

Our mission here in the Diocese of Oakland is to know Christ better and to make him better known. In Christ, God reveals to us the full meaning of what it is to be truly human. In him the fullness of life dwells, and only in him can we be fully alive, and know the true joy that God wills for us.

While the needs are great — as recent events here have tragically attested to — greater still is God’s grace. Indeed, the rich diversity of cultures and spiritualities in this local Church is truly a sign of the vitality of the people of God, and the power of faith to transform culture.

Let us engage that power, which comes from Christ our true love, the head of the Body whose members we are. Through the intercession of Our Lady, Queen of the World, let us “live the truth in love,” so that we may “all attain to the unity of faith and knowledge of the Son of God.”

In Christ our Hope,

Most Rev. Salvatore Cordileone

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