God Bless Bishop Scott McCaig!

By Ralph Martin

I just returned from Ottawa, where Fr. Scott McCaig, the general moderator of the Companions of the Cross, was ordained as a bishop for the Military Ordinariate of Canada. As many of you know, Bishop Scott is on Renewal Ministries’s Canadian Board of Directors, and for years now, he has participated in a significant way in our mission work, particularly in Africa. It was such a joy to hear of his appointment and to be able to attend his ordination and the events accompanying it.

Peter Herbeck, Sr. Ann Shields, and I traveled up to Ottawa for the events and were joined by Chairman of our Canadian Board Msgr. Greg Smith and Canadian Board Member Fr. James Mallon.

The events began with a dinner for family and friends of Bishop Scott, including all the members of the Companions, who with seminarians and sisters, now number about sixty. One special moment during the dinner was when Bishop Scott specially honored Lloyd and Nancy Greenhaw for their inspiration in his life. Bishop Scott and the Greenhaws have been on many mission trips together. Lloyd and Nancy, as many of you know, are some of our busiest missionaries. They arrived in Ottawa directly from Uganda, where they had just led hundreds of seminarians into a deeper relationship with the Lord and the Holy Spirit, thanks to Renewal Ministries’ supporters.

The next evening was the ordination itself—at the very beautiful cathedral for the Archdiocese of Ottawa—resided over by Archbishop Terry Prendergast, and assisted by the outgoing bishop for the military ordinariate and Bishop Christian Reisbeck, another member of the Companions, who was made an auxiliary bishop for the archdiocese a few years ago. The papal nuncio to Canada was also there. The ceremony was beautiful and very moving. A highpoint for us was when they held the book of the Gospels over Bishop Scott’s head and slathered his head with the anointing chrism! Another highpoint was when Archbishop Prendegast took Bishop Scott by the arm and led him all around the cathedral to prolonged cheers of the congregation.

The next morning, Bishop Scott took possession of his home base “cathedral”—actually the armed forces chapel on an Ottawa military base.

Both in his remarks at the end of the ordination the night before and in his homily the next morning, Bishop Scott made it clear that he was going to continue to preach the Gospel just as boldly as a bishop as he had when he was a priest on mission with us. After his ordination, he proclaimed in his remarks: “What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and suffer the loss of his soul!”

There was a lot of joy this week in Ottawa! Thank you Lord, for Bishop Scott. Please protect him, continue to empower him, and give him the wisdom and courage he needs to continue to advance your kingdom!

Peter Herbeck, Ralph Martin, Bishop Scott McCaig, and Nancy and Lloyd Greenhaw