Faith in Action—Bishop Keehner, June 22, 2026

Tune into Faith in Action at 9 a.m., Monday, June 22, on Channel 88.1 FM, Siouxland Catholic Radio. Host Joanne Fox interviews Bishop John Keehner, the eighth bishop of the Diocese of Sioux City.

This program replays at 7 p.m. Saturday, June 27.

Faith in Action is brought to you by Mary's Choice, a Sioux City Pregnancy Resource Center. Previous Faith in Action programs can be found at siouxlandcatholicradio.com, on YouTube, and on several other podcasting platforms. Programming is subject to change.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:19

Maybe it's data or maybe many of our other local programs are also on Spotify and a number of other podcasts and platforms. That's all the general choice resource centers which is the exclusive underwriters for the shelf, and we are still critical for their supportive clusters. And that would be a separate different step. So today in my program, I still taught that joining us to kind of talk about what that first year might have been like for him itself. And I appreciate you taking the time out of your busy schedule to chat with me and kind of enlighten our listeners about what's going on.

SPEAKER_01 1:28

Thank you, Joanne. It's good to be with you today.

SPEAKER_02 1:31

And so why don't you start out, Bishop? Because I'm not sure if everybody knows your background. If you could tell the listeners a little bit about yourself, where you grew up, where you went to school, all the the biographical stuff that may they may not be aware of.

SPEAKER_01 1:46

Sure. I grew up, one of five children, to John and Betty Keener in Youngstown, Ohio, actually one of the suburbs, Austin Town, and I attended Austin Town Public Schools. And so my dad um had been in the Marines, and then um he was uh at one time was a steel worker, and then, you know, the the the life of a steel worker in Youngstown was so unstable that when he had an opportunity to get a job as a custodian at one of the local schools, he took it, and thank God he did, because um i I think in 1977 or 78 the uh the steel industry just sort of fell apart in Youngstown, the bottom fell out, and my dad was one of the few who was gainfully employed and we're grateful for that. Uh uh he worked hard. Um, but you know, my my parents were were very simple people. My mother would occasionally work in a restaurant or um I it at times she she decorated cakes and did a nice job with that on the side, but uh her main job was caring for us and raising us and um you know making sure that we were attentive to what we needed to do, namely our our studies and and being a family.

SPEAKER_02 3:10

And may I ask you, where are you in the birth order?

SPEAKER_01 3:14

I am the troubled middle child.

SPEAKER_02 3:16

Oh, yes, although many times the middle child is the negotiator.

SPEAKER_01 3:20

Oh, that's exactly what I've been most of my life, yeah. Uh I have an older brother, uh he and his wife were both musicians. She's still in the Navy, um in the DC, but my my brother is a school administrator in uh in Maryland, uh, and they have two daughters. I have a twin sister who's who's nine minutes older than I am and used to lord it over Meta, though she's now in in denial over those nine minutes. And she's in food services and lives in um uh Cortland, Ohio, uh not far from where we grew up. Um she's widowed and remarried, and she has a a grown son who's an attorney. And then uh I have a brother, Michael, who died as a as an infant, and then um my brother Rich, who's my best friend. And uh in fact, my my brother Rich came uh he was able to get away for a couple of weeks to care for me recently as I was recovering from surgery. So very grateful for him to be here and to uh uh bring he brought my dog and it was so good to see my dog. Um and and she was a great comfort too in my early early days of recovery.

SPEAKER_02 4:34

So So you get done with high school, and um it was interesting that you mentioned your dad was in the Marines. Um and of course I love people who served our country, my dad, my br my father-in-law, uh my son. So I got a lot of connections with the military, but I'm not hearing that you went into the military.

SPEAKER_01 4:55

No, I went w right from high school to to the college seminary, and I I I attended the Pontifical College Josephineum in Columbus, which has both the House of College and the House of Theology, and so I was in a seminary program from the age of 18. Um and I majored in English there, English literature, one of my great loves. Um, but I minored in Spanish and then didn't use it for 40 years. But um uh you know I I I got a great education there, and then I went on from college to Mount St. Mary's Seminary of the West in Cincinnati. Now we're west of Cincinnati and we're not quite west either, but at the time that that seminary was founded, it was on the western frontier. Yes. Hence the name.

SPEAKER_02 5:43

So well now let me ask you this, um, because many times um when I've interviewed individuals who have chosen the priesthood or the religious life, that the there's a period of discernment, and a lot of times they go into um a secular college or they work a little bit, but you went right into the seminary. So maybe you could tell the listeners about your vocation journey.

SPEAKER_01 6:06

Sure. Um, you know, my my family was not the traditional Catholic family that attended Mass each week together. I can count on one hand the number of times we attended Mass together as a family. My mother was not Catholic until the year before I was ordained a deacon, and my father was basically a fallen away Catholic, and so they made sure we received the sacraments and then we went to Sunday school, and if we wanted to go to Mass, we went on our own. And I often did that myself. Um I lived only a couple of blocks away from the church, so I was able to do that, and uh I kept getting drawn in. Um at one point they needed somebody to play trumpet and I I played very badly, but not not so badly that they didn't invite me back for for uh uh you know, the next event, and then I joined the choir and then I became a lector and then I got involved. Only in my senior year did I get involved in the youth ministry. Um but, you know, I kept getting drawn in um and and realized that I I absolutely loved the liturgy and loved scripture and um uh really, you know, felt very close to Jesus while I was in church and um you know, I was looking looking for some kind of stability in my life and I found that, you know, in in a relationship with Jesus. So um so I pursued that, you know, always assuming that I could leave and um but I just, you know, stayed the course and um you know, I'm I will be ordained thirty-three years a priest in June and I'm still very happy that I that I chose this course. So um, you know, I had good spiritual directors in college and theology and you know, good formation, and um uh I'm I'm a happy man, so uh happy as a priest.

SPEAKER_02 8:08

And I know you mentioned, you know, that uh your family and wasn't the traditional Catholics where you know we're going to mass every Sunday and we're participating. They were uh maybe a little bit more laid back. So what was it uh that drew you to the church? Um y y you know, a lot of times we talk about this little it's almost like Pinocchio and Jiminy Cricket in our heads going, you need to do this, you need to do this. It's a kind of a nagging. I call it the Holy Spirit working in mysterious ways.

SPEAKER_01 8:42

Yeah, no, I I I agree. And um I I again I I think you know, I once I became accustomed to the Mass, I I I really loved it. And um, you know, I love the communal aspect of it, the the celebration together, the the singing, the um but but really felt drawn into the mystery of what the mass is and you know, without even being able to articulate what it meant to me. Um I remember um maybe in my junior year I w I was um attending the Holy Thursday Mass, the you know, the Mass of the Lord's Supper, and I I was just so so intrigued by the mystery of what it was that um that I was encountering and who it was that I was encountering in being there and you know, it just f it it's as if something clicked. Something clicked into place and I thought this is who I am, this is what I'm called to do, this is who I'm called to be. And uh, you know, I I look back at that as as one of the watershed moments of my life.

SPEAKER_02 9:56

Um you know, yeah, and I think we can all point to those in our own lives, you know, where we're suddenly we start going in another direction. And again, I think it's interesting, you know, when we make certain choices and I've often kitted with other individuals on the program, especially those who have made a decision to maybe convert or maybe embrace the faith a little more, or those uh individuals who say, you know, I want to be a priest or I want to, you know, enter the religious life or the diaconists. That not everybody is out there with us doing the dance of joy in the parking lot.

SPEAKER_01 10:34

Because that's that's correct.

SPEAKER_02 10:36

Some people go, Oh, really? Uh oh.

SPEAKER_01 10:41

That that was the reaction of my siblings. Oh, yeah. Really? Oh, okay.

unknown 10:46

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 10:47

Now my parents were very supportive, even though I think my mother was confused, she didn't un understand what it meant, and she was afraid I'd never see her again. You know, I think my dad had a little better you know, he he knew priests and um had a little better perspective on on what this meant, although I think he was still pleasantly surprised, you know, as as I got closer to priesthood and and once I was a priesthood, how much a part of the family I was still able to be and and and to engage with them. But um Right.

SPEAKER_02 11:20

You weren't going to be a missionary going off to uh Africa or a a cloistered Carmelite in prayer all the time that you were still going to be able to connect with them.

SPEAKER_03 11:30

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 11:30

Yeah. So th that was wonderful. So tell me about um, you know, as you pursued your studies, you know, um through college and the seminary and then you were ordained a priest for the diocese of Youngstown?

SPEAKER_01 11:45

Yes, yes, June twelfth, nineteen ninety-three. And um I have one classmate, my my classmate father Wi Leo Werlin, uh we and we started studying together at the age of eighteen, and and we were ordained together um by that time I think I was twenty-seven and he was twenty-six, and uh um you know.

SPEAKER_02 12:07

Seems like that was a long time ago then.

SPEAKER_01 12:09

It was a long time ago, thirty-three years.

SPEAKER_02 12:12

My goodness. Yeah. So once you are ordained and um what kind of assignments did you have initially with the diocese of Youngstown?

SPEAKER_01 12:21

I I was assigned to St. Charlesborough Mayo Parish in Boardman. Boardman is a suburb south of Youngstown, and it's um you know, contiguous with Youngstown, and it was it was and remains the largest parish in the diocese, and so I was assigned with two other priests who were full-time, and there was also a priest in residence, and um but but the two priests I was with were both ill. And so it was it was kind of a difficult first assignment in that regard. The one died while I was there, the other died not long after I left. And um I was there for four years. Um I still have several very good friends from my time at St. Charles. I'm grateful to be in contact with them and um you know, cherish the time I had there. Um and so I was doing a lot of weddings, a lot of funerals, you know, a lot of school events.

unknown 13:25

St.

SPEAKER_01 13:25

Charles had a large school at the time. They still have a a school. Um it it was a busy, thriving parish.

SPEAKER_02 13:34

And um Yeah, I would imagine so. It's one of the larger ones.

SPEAKER_01 13:38

Yeah, yeah, yeah. They at the time they had about twenty seven hundred f households.

SPEAKER_03 13:44

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 13:44

I think now it's over three thousand. Oh wow. You know, it's really l really large suburban parish. But the nice thing is I was fifteen minutes away from my family.

SPEAKER_02 13:55

That is nice.

SPEAKER_01 13:57

Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, I was able to see my parents probably about once a week. Um able to spend time with them and um and I'm grateful for that. Um, you know, I could have been an hour or an hour and a half away from my family, and the fact that I was so close after being away for nine years, yes, I was very grateful.

SPEAKER_02 14:23

So the diocese of Youngstown from one end to the other is about an hour and a half 'cause like in the diocese of Sioux City, from one end to the other could be three hours.

SPEAKER_01 14:33

Yes, yes. Um the Diocese of Youngstown runs along the border of Ohio's border with Pennsylvania, it runs from Lake Erie to the Ohio River, and then it extends over one other county, um, just below the Akron area. So um, yeah, it's from from Youngstown itself, um, you're never more than an hour and a half away from the furthest parts of the diocese.

SPEAKER_03 15:03

Nice.

SPEAKER_01 15:03

Yeah, that is nice. And uh, you know, even the furthest furthest distance um from Ashtabula, where I served at the time that I was named bishop, all the way down to Lake Erie, and uh Ashtabula was on Lake Erie, so all the way down to the Ohio River was maybe an hour and forty-five minutes.

SPEAKER_03 15:25

Oh boy.

SPEAKER_01 15:26

Yeah, much, much smaller area. Six counties in Ohio as a as opposed to the twenty-four counties here in Iowa.

SPEAKER_02 15:33

Right. So once uh were you you were at St. Charles for four years?

SPEAKER_01 15:39

Yes, I was.

SPEAKER_02 15:40

And then uh where were you assigned?

SPEAKER_01 15:42

Then uh I w I I had the opportunity to I I asked to go study scripture, and Bishop said I I don't need scripture scholars, I need canon lawyers. Um he sent me to Rome to study canon law, and I was at the Angelicum, living at the Casa Santa Maria, which is part of the North American College, for two years, and um, you know, really had a wonderful experience uh studying in Rome, you know, getting to appreciate the universality of the church. It was in the waning years of uh Saint John Paul the Second and um i it but it was an exciting time to be in Rome. Um, you know, it was in those years just just prior to the Great Jubilee and um you know, Rome Rome was thriving, um busy, um although I have to say uh having had the opportunity after twenty-five years to go back to Rome this past fall, it's much cleaner. Good to hear. Yes, the the pollution is much lower, the uh um you know they've uh I think they use a lot of electric electric vehicles. They have uh limitations on who can drive into the historic part of the city where I lived. I lived the Casa Santa Maria is um right around the corner from the Trevi Fountain, and on the other side of it is the famous Piazza Venezia, so it's it's a very busy part of the historic center. Um but it you know, I I loved my time in Rome. I I I saw a different side of the church that I never saw in uh in Youngstown and and I think grew to appreciate the uh universality of the church. You know, I was studying with people from Latin America, from Africa, from Asia, from all of Europe, you know, um in addition to people from the United States and Canada. Um and i it was a great experience.

SPEAKER_02 17:54

Oh I yeah, I would agree with you. Um on one of my trips to Rome, and I think it might have been for Archbishop Schnur's pallium because other archbishops were getting palliums too, and I was sitting next to a woman and she had her prayer book open. And listeners know that all four of my grandparents came to this country from Poland, so I am I'm a little bit uh uh okay with reading Polish. And I looked over and I I thought, oh my gosh, I recognize some of these words and so I met her and I said Polish. I said Czechoslovakia. That was a real eye opener that I was sitting next to someone from Czechoslovakia and we were both experiencing the same ceremony effect. It's like you said, the universality of the church really kind of hits you up the side of the head when you're in Rome. And I realize you're just one of millions of.

SPEAKER_01 18:53

One of billions or at least a billion dollars. Yeah, I think I think yes, you're right.

SPEAKER_02 18:59

Yes, I have to Wikipedia that, um but I think you're right. I think we're in the billions. So you get done with canon law, which I I must congratulate you. I can't even imagine canon law. I am always in awe of anybody who comes back and says, I I studied canon law. So you come back, do they do they assign you a parish or do they put you in the tribunal, or what do they do with you?

SPEAKER_01 19:20

Well, they put me in the tribunal and um and that first year I I circuit rode, so you know, I was I never knew where I was going to be for mass the next Sunday for that first year, um from week to week. It was wherever somebody was sick or wherever somebody was on vacation. And um thought, yeah, I was in the tribunal full they they considered it full time. Um and you know, I I worked with wonderful people and um who really cared about the people they were serving. You know, the the i one of the hard things about the tribunal work is that there's never good news because it's always a result of people with broken hearts.

SPEAKER_02 20:04

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 20:06

And um just I just truly learned and was edified by the people with whom I worked, um, who taught me what it was to to meet the people where they were and to um appreciate what they were suffering and going through and you know, really trying to see that as a healing ministry, which was very difficult for some people. So, you know, so the bulk of my work was was on marriage. Um, but I did a lot of, you know, reference work in terms of other sacraments, you know, rights and responsibilities, and you know, what's the pastor's right, what's the pastor's responsibility in this situation, what right does this parishioner have, uh, you know, in that similar situation, and you know it was a very eye-opening experience. So, you know, I I did that in addition to the circuit writing for a year and then in two thousand, uh, I was assigned to live at the cathedral rectory and to serve as the vice rector. And at that point I I basically became the master of ceremonies for the bishop. Uh the parish duties weren't extreme because uh we had lots of masses but very few people. Um and so um, you know uh a lot of what I was doing was was ceremonies.

SPEAKER_00 21:31

Sure.

SPEAKER_01 21:32

Um so you know, I so I learned a lot. Um you know you know, how to be the bishop's master of ceremonies and um and was with him for confirmations, um, although um we quick quickly found out the bishop was a better driver than I was. So I wasn't driving him, he was driving me. Um listeners, you heard heard that here first. Yes, yes, so yeah, the bishop was a better driver than I was. was so traditionally the master of ceremonies would drive the bishop but he didn't like my driving. He liked my work as Master of Ceremonies, but not my not my work as driver as driver. So um but you know the nice thing is, you know, I'm still at that point I'm ten minutes away from my parents.

SPEAKER_02 22:19

Oh wonderful.

SPEAKER_01 22:20

And I was there for the next twelve years. And that was important because my father died um about six months after I got there and my mother had been um pretty limited in her abilities since a stroke at the age of thirty-four. And I was in seventh grade at the time and so um so my you know my father really uh carried the bulk of the household at the uh up to that point when he got sick and then my younger brother Rich was still living there. He was um I'm sorry, my phone just went off and I need to turn it off.

SPEAKER_02 23:01

Yeah, no worries. It happens here too.

SPEAKER_01 23:04

Yes um so uh you know I was able to get home almost every evening. Part of my mother's issues was eating and swallowing and somebody had to be with her while she ate so my brother lived there but I was able to get home in the evening, sit with her and um while she ate and cook for her and then get back for wedding appointments and things like that. So um so I was at the cathedral in addition to being at the tribunal then I had the opportunity to um also in addition to that become the campus minister at Youngstown State University. Um which was again contiguous to the cathedral grounds so I could walk there um to the Newman Center and um I enjoyed those three years that I that I did that but then I had to give it up at one point because the rector was um at the you know he was older and he was beginning to develop some dementia and so um at one point he retired and I became the cathedral administrator. We were waiting for a bishop at the time and then once the new bishop came in I was named cathedral rector and I spent another five years there as as the rector.

SPEAKER_02 24:25

And I'm just going to interrupt because listeners I want to remind you if you're just tuning in well thank you. We're glad that you tune in whenever it's uh a good time for you. But this show is Faith in action. I'm your host Joanne Fox and on the phone with me is Bishop John Keener who is the eighth bishop of the diocese of Sioux City and he's kind of telling us a little bit about you know his background and of course we're going to get to the burning question is uh how did you find out that uh the Holy Father would like you to be Bishop of Sioux City.

SPEAKER_01 24:57

Oh my gosh. So by this time I was assigned to um four little parishes at the top of uh the the northern edge of the diocese on strung along Lake Erie. And I just gotten back from a sabbatical a couple of months before and uh uh and you know it was a horrible winter. Very snowy and in fact uh Thanksgiving weekend we had had five feet of snow. So you know you know it with that lake effect that famous lake effect snow and and so once it starts it doesn't stop. Um because Lake Erie w was still very warm and the and the the the Arctic air was coming down from Canada which was right across the lake from us. So um so it was a really cold snowy wintery day and I'm actually preparing to to enter into a meeting with some diocesan officials from the finance office because we needed to alienate some property and it could have been potentially a contentious meeting and my phone rang and um you know I'm I I I see that it says apostolic N. I thought well who is this I said oh this can't be the nuncio if the nuncio if it's the nuncio I'm in trouble. I did something wrong you know and uh so uh I very tentatively answered the phone and the a voice that was heavily accented said are is this Father Keener and I said yes it is he said are you alone and I said no but I can be and my parochial vicar was standing in the doorway of my office then and I just shoot him out and close the door and um in the meantime the door's glass so I'm watching people enter into the conference room for the meeting and and and he began and and I'll be honest with you I don't remember the first part of what he said I just remember I can't understand him.

SPEAKER_03 27:01

Sure.

SPEAKER_01 27:01

And then um it it occurred to me oh he just told me I've I've been named a bishop and I I remember asking is this a joke luckily he has a good uh that was Cardinal Pierre he had a very good sense of humor and he laughed and he said oh father I assure you this is no joke and then he said you will say yes of course and then my question is yes to what because I don't remember I don't know where he said I was going and then you know all I could think and then I heard Sue and I I'm thinking Sue Falls and I said is that in South Dakota? He said no it's in Iowa look it up so again I I I said um he said you will say yes of course and I said well I can I talk to my spiritual director and and um and his response was well he he can't make that decision for you can he? The Holy Father has appointed you bishop will you accept? And you know the first thing that jumped into mind then was you know I I promised obedience and um and I said yes and and then the room started spinning and you know and I broke out in a cold sweat which was a bad thing to do because it was already so cold in my in my office that wind blowing um through the glass doors and uh um and then I and then I again I'm thinking where am I going? And and he said Sioux City Iowa and I and and he and I said can I tell anybody no and I said does does does my bishop Bishop Bon know he said yes you can talk to him so before I went across the hall and they they were waiting for me by that point I tried to call Bishop Bonner but he was in a meeting and so I left him a text and I said I need to speak with you A S A P and I knew he'd know what this was all about and then um so I you know I I texted him and I I went into the meeting and and my my Brokyovicar are you okay? You look like you've had a stroke so so you know it just i it I don't know what else to say. It was it was it was such a a a a weird feeling and and then I couldn't talk about it. I couldn't tell them what it was all about and then as we're sitting there um Bishop Bonner called me back so I I had to excuse myself they you know they heard me say yes Bishop um and then you know so Bishop Bonner really calmed me down God bless him and he assured me everything would be okay and he he told me I know you can't tell anybody but you can call me and talk to me anytime you feel like you need to be called down from the edge you know or the ledge.

SPEAKER_03 29:59

Right.

SPEAKER_01 29:59

Um and so I went back into the meeting and then not long after that then Bishop Nicholas called me so I had to leave the meeting again and um uh I finally went back in and just told them they they would have to continue without me. So um so you know that's a day I'll never forget.

SPEAKER_02 30:19

I it just I don't I don't know if you saw the the US C C B put out a a video uh on on their Facebook page of uh newer bishops talking about getting that phone call and what a what a frightening um but profound moment that was and and almost all of them you know talked about the disbelief the uh the room spinning the the sweaty hands and you know yeah and having interviewed many of our the bishops of South City in my career uh a couple of my favorite ones Bishop Frank Greteman um he was in Carol Iowa at the time and he got a registered letter from the Apostolic delegates and they figured it had to do they were going to consolidate the character there and he opened it up you know because I didn't make phone calls expensive and it said you know that things and when I interviewed him about it looking at it and then the other one that just architects right now I don't have to all of these are the same over and over is just over and over the precepts I've interviewed the the name the bishop has said they wanted to tell somebody and the only person that they could chat with was their own bishops and so they were anxious to tell you know their moms or dads if they were still alive or their brothers or sisters and and you had to keep it quiet. And that's hard when you have such astonishing news to share with someone.

SPEAKER_01 32:45

Yes it is it is and it it was very hard uh you know to keep that quiet. You know I I people knew I was going on a trip they didn't know at one point I'm trying to schedule things in the parish and they kept saying well let's let's do this on such and such a day and I said I can't be there. Well why not? Are you going on vacation? I said I said no but I I have to go somewhere. Well where are you going? And I said uh I I I I can't talk about it and then uh you know uh well I'm you know I'm being sent someplace by the bishop and they they look at me and said well I am a canon lawyer you know um which all of that's true I didn't say which bishop was sending me.

SPEAKER_02 33:27

Right um so um I have some canon law work to do. That's all you need to know.

SPEAKER_01 33:34

Yeah yeah so uh so I had a friend who kept teasing me uh who's who sang Secret Agent Man Oh funny because I wouldn't say where I was going or what I was doing but knew that I had to be taken to the airport and so you know when I told my siblings the night before um the announcement uh I I think my twin sister was upset that I hadn't told her ahead of time but I knew that would have been bad news because she likes to put things on Facebook.

SPEAKER_02 34:04

Um we won't judge her on that yes yes we won't uh my my younger brother wept oh that is just lovely yeah my older brother uh who is not Catholic but was it was just very very you know wow this is a big deal this is really important I'm very happy for you you know um and then and I was able you know that night call a few friends um most of them were in bed by that time but you know so my my best friend who's a priest in the diocese of young son he didn't pick up his phone well that's similar to Pope Leo trying to get a hold of his brother yeah yeah so uh well I really would like you to share because I was at your ordination uh installation mass and you shared about um that you went on the Camino which God love you for doing that I barely can walk a hundred yards and I'm tired and you did this and in your homily you talked about that you asked God for an epiphany. And I almost fell out of the pew when you said that because obviously we are sitting in the cathedral of the epiphany. And maybe you could tell the listeners a little bit about that.

SPEAKER_01 35:23

Well you know I I I kept when I when I when I asked for my um uh sabbatical uh I met with Bishop Bonner and you know I I was at that time ordained thirty years both of my parents had died and you know I was at a point in my priesthood where I wasn't questioning what it was to be a priest I was I but I was conscious of of the need to to what am I doing with my life? Am I making a difference? You know am I truly giving witness to Christ and one of the things I was conscious of, you know, that you know dryness in prayer dryness in my relationship with Jesus and and so when the bishop pressed me on well why do you need to do the Camino? Why can't you do something else? And I said, well I need the solitude. I need I need I I said I I like to walk um I I I feel that this would allow me time for prayer and solitude. He said well you can do that in the monastery and I I said no I I don't think I can I I I said I I but I need I need to I need to come to know Jesus and so in a in a better way so um so you know even that was a year before I was actually able to begin it. I you know I had to request it that that far in advance. So then I and he then telling me well yes you can you can do this but you need to change parishes in the meantime. So so then I get moved to Ashtabula and I wasn't real happy about that but I really came to love Ashtabula, Coniot Uh Sheffield and and um Geneva on the lake those were the four communities that I to which I went um but I but I'm I'm consciently consciously asking God you know as I prepare to do this and as I do it you know I I feel that you you you you have an epiphany for me and what what is that epiphany and you know what what are you trying to tell me and um you know I I walked the 500 miles not really getting that epiphany and um and I realized this might be something that would take months maybe even years to to understand but I kept asking for that epiphany. So I I got back in Ohio in early November and like I said a couple of weeks later we had that horrific snowstorm get through the Advent season and I'm in January and I'm God what is what is my epiphany what is my epiphany what were you trying to tell me by this and you know I I think I had little ones all along the way recognizing Jesus in the places and the people certainly in the Eucharist and in in prayer but but I was still feeling that distance that that something was missing. And I didn't know if it was something that was missing in me or something that was missing in my relationship with Jesus. And so I still kept consciously and purposefully using that word epiphany and um so I got I got to Sioux City and um in in February and it was such a cold cold night it was um I think it was negative twelve degrees on that on that day in February when the announcement was made and so we we got through the announcement and you know it was kind of like a surreal experience for me um and I just turned to Bishop Nicholas at one point he said so what what's next? He said Well we're we're going we're going to the cathedral for mass and and I knew that we were going to be celebrating Mass because he'd asked me to write a homily for parahomily so as we walked in I said so what what is the name of our cathedral? And he said it's the Cathedral of the Epiphany I said oh my gosh I think I almost passed out you know um wow it's the Cathedral of the Epiphany and I thought oh gosh maybe this is my epiphany I've been asking for an epiphany for a year, year and a half and maybe that this is what what God's telling me. This is where he wants me to be very much so. What he wants me to do and so my next question is how? Yeah right you know how do I do this? And and so um you know I I'm I'm still kind of in in disbelief. I I've been here in Iowa now for over a year. And in some respects I still feel like a stranger in some respects I still feel like I'm visiting but in other respects I feel like I've been here forever. Sure.

SPEAKER_02 40:27

It's uh yeah it's definitely a learning curve because you know like you mentioned earlier, you know we have the twenty four counties in northwest Iowa we have a lot of parishes we have schools which we are very blessed to have elementary and high schools in the diocese and i it's uh kind of a steep learning curve so I guess the question is what have you learned in this first year as Bishop of the diocese of city? Well you know I it a couple of surprises one uh and and I'm being lighthearted here but one surprise I learned is the uh is the relationship between chili and and cinnamon rolls which I've never heard of oh my gosh I would have thought in Ohio that would have been a oh that was a deal when I was growing up with the school was the chili and the cinnamon rolls.

SPEAKER_01 41:14

No I and and the first time I saw them together I thought what what is this? Oh my and you know I I like food and I like to study food and and and so that's been an interesting interesting thing for me to learn. The other the other is you know I just assumed that Iowa is so German that um around Christmas I asked okay who does pork and sauerkraut for New Year's and people looked at me like like I had a third eye you know what are you talking about? I even asked you know uh one of our priests who's distinctly German and who uh uh likes to give me a hard time from my Irish ancestry and um I and and he makes sauerkraut he makes his own sauerkraut and I said uh I said surely you do pork and sauerkraut on New Year's Day and he said what are you talking about and I said well in in Ohio it's it's it's a custom that's was begun by the Germans but it was picked up by the the Slavics and the even the Italians that everybody eats pork and sauerkraut on New Year's Day as a you know for good luck.

SPEAKER_02 42:17

And he said uh I blame the Irish Oh my gosh that is spot on and I must confess I've never heard of pork and sauerkraut on New Year's Day and I'm bullish and uh we didn't do that.

SPEAKER_01 42:31

So I'm big deal big deal in Ohio.

SPEAKER_02 42:34

Who knew who knew I know I know so now that you've got a year under your belt um what would you like to see happen in the diocese? What what might goals might you have for all of us?

SPEAKER_01 42:46

Well you know um I I I'm still trying to figure that out I I think um becoming more focused on Christ um not not that we're not but I think it's something we all need to do ever more consciously every single day.

SPEAKER_02 43:06

Um so I I actually have a pastoral letter coming out um on um Trinity Sunday on the Sacred Heart of Jesus and it's it's it's a prelude to the dedication of the nation by the bishops on June 11th the the consecration of our nation to the sacred heart of Jesus in celebration of our I can't say the words the 250th anniversary of our independence it I tell you this is great minds thinking alike because the next thing I was going to ask you was are you working on a pastoral letter for us all? And there he there you must have read my mind.

SPEAKER_01 43:50

Yeah it's so it's it's in the the final stages where where you know I I I'm the English is done uh we're still working On the translation into Spanish. But yeah, it's done. And it you know, I think it's a wonderful opportunity for us to emphasize the necessity of our personal relationship with Jesus, who loves us, and who wants nothing more than that we allow ourselves to be loved by him. And then living our lives accordingly. If Jesus loves me like this, who is it that I am? Who is it that I'm called to be? How is it that I'm called to act? Um and I don't spend a lot of time on that in the letter, but you know, just just really reminding us that this has to be at the very forefront of what we do as Catholic Christians, as you know, remembering that our lives are focused on the love of Jesus. So it just happens that Trinity Sunday, um, I only found this out after the fact I began focusing on uh there's an image of the sacred heart from the eighteenth century. It's a painting, I'm sure you've seen it. Uh Jesus is exposing a sacred heart, but he's weeping and he's crowned with horns. And at the bottom, written in in Latin is Sig Deus dilexit mundum, which is literally God so loved the world.

SPEAKER_02 45:23

I I actually know that only because I took two years of Latin in high school. So I have to brag every once in a while, so the listeners think I I bring something to the table. That's right. Oh, you do. I I am familiar with that painting, and I'm so glad you mentioned that. Because that's that's that's relevant to an awful lot of us who grew up in families that you know love the sacred heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary. That that resonates with us a great deal. So I uh time is a thief. I wish we had more time, and uh what I'd like to do maybe is um uh get you back on again sometime in the future, Bishop Keener, and you know, we can chat more about uh you know your enculturation here to the Diocese of Sioux City with uh with no pork and and sauerkraut and our children.

SPEAKER_01 46:14

Lots of chili and cinnamon rolls.

SPEAKER_02 46:16

Lots of chili and cinnamon rolls. But this has been an absolute delight. Um again, I can't thank you enough for taking time out of your busy schedule to chat with me and enlighten our our listeners about you know you as the Bishop of Sioux City. I am very grateful. Before we leave, could you please give us your apostolic blessing?

SPEAKER_01 46:36

Absolutely, Joanne. Thank you for having me on. And yes, um, let's pray. May the peace of God be which is beyond all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God and of his son, our Lord Jesus Christ. And may Almighty God bless you, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

SPEAKER_02 46:55

Amen. Well, listeners, that wraps up another edition of Faith in Action. Again, I'm so pleased you took time out of your schedule to listen to us. Um if you are able to listen to us live, that's great. If not, um, you know, you can always go to our website, Siouxland Catholic Radio.com, click on um Faith in Action, listen at your convenience, and that is all due to the generosity of Mary's Choice Asous City Pregnancy Resource Center, which is the exclusive underwriter for this show. And don't forget, you know, we do a lot of wonderful national and international EWTN programming, but we also have great local programming. We love the Divine Mercy Chaplet, which Bishop Keener introduces when we do it at 3 p.m. daily. And then we have Mass that is broadcast from Modern Day Parish that's Sundays at 9 a.m. Life Plan, which is so great for our younger people, that's Sunday at 8 p.m. And then Catholic Ministry Professionals with John and Ty. That is Tuesday at 4 p.m. Draw Near with Fred and Kara, Wednesdays at 4 p.m. And then Father Knows Best with Father Mark Stoll, Wednesdays at 9 p.m. So please take time to go to our website and listen to these programs. Again, we are so grateful for your support. And so that again that brings up uh another edition of Faith in Action. I'm your host, Joanne Fox, and on behalf of myself and my executive producer, Ann Reed, I want to remind you that a faithful reaction is good, but faith in action, it's so much better. Thanks for listening and God bless.