Former Diocese of Belleville Bishop and current Bishop Emeritus Edward K. Braxton at his home in west Belleville (David Wilhelm photo).
THE MESSENGER: You have been a priest for 54 years and a bishop for 29 years. What have been some of the most fulfilling aspects of your journey?
BISHOP BRAXTON: The joy of my ministry as a priest and bishop comes from journeying with the Christian faithful and the priests, deacons, sisters, and lay ministers who care for them through the drama of life, from birth to death and the hope for the life of the world to come. Celebrating the sacraments, especially the Sacraments of Initiation, celebrating the Eucharist, delivering homilies on the Lord’s Day and inviting parishioners to a deeper understanding of scripture (particularly the Gospels) have been at the heart of my efforts to nurture the Christian community. Visiting and encouraging the sick, calling parishioners when there is a death in their families, visiting the young people in our schools and collaborating with the priests of the Diocese to help our Catholic people to learn their faith, love their faith, and live their faith have been very important parts of the effort to help people realize that the Church really is the ‘sacrament’ of the encounter with Christ, and every Christian should be a ‘sacrament’ of the encounter with the Church. It was as this sacramental community that I worked with our priests and people to develop The Pastoral Plan for Parish Renewal and Restructuring to address the challenges of the future.
My years of service to the People of God have had a moving viewpoint, taking me from parish ministry in my home Archdiocese of Chicago, to serving on the theology faculties at Harvard University Divinity School and the University of Notre Dame, to serving as a theological advisor to bishops, to spending many years as the Theological Consultant to the Catholic publisher, William H. Sadlier, to serving as a Bishop in St. Louis, Lake Charles, La., and here in Belleville. My life as a priest and bishop, like all lives, has been filled with exhilarating joys and unspeakable sorrows. But even in times of sorrow, I was never sorry that I was a priest.
THE MESSENGER: Has your perspective changed since you became Bishop Emeritus on July 22, 2020?
BISHOP BRAXTON: No, not really. My pastoral responsibilities have changed, but my understanding of my life and ministry has not. The Vatican Instruction on the role of the Bishop Emeritus specifically states the Bishop Emeritus should not be considered ‘retired’ in the ordinary sense of the word. He is encouraged to remain fully involved in the life of the diocese and the larger Church. I continue to celebrate Sunday Mass in our parishes. I also attend the meetings of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and remain engaged in theological education, giving lectures on a wide range of subjects. (On) Nov. 6, at the invitation of President Peter Kilpatrick, I gave an address at The Catholic University of American on eschatology, titled, ‘Does Everybody Go To Heaven?’ Later this month, I will give the keynote address in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, celebrating the 40th anniversary of the African American Bishops’ Pastoral Letter, ‘What Have We Seen And Heard?’ I am also regularly involved in the international Chautauqua Institution in New York.
THE MESSENGER: You remain, theologically, quite active. What topics are you currently investigating?
BISHOP BRAXTON: I have been investigating for some time the tension between the teachings of the Catholic Church concerning “the life of the world to come (Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory; Limbo is no longer taught, since Pope Benedict XVI), as presented in ‘The Catechism of the Catholic Church,’ and the prevailing secular, scientific worldview that rejects the possibility of ‘life after death’ as well as the tensions that sometimes exist between popular, devotional beliefs about the ‘afterlife’ and the actual teachings of the Church. I am focusing on the centrality of faith in studying the unique nature of language about ‘the life of the world to come’ and the way this language is different from ‘ordinary language.’ A key issue is the difference between “the immortality of the human soul” and ‘the resurrection of the body.’ I am studying the reasons why the Catholic Funeral Mass (‘The Liturgy of Christian Burial’) has come to be called, incorrectly, ‘The Mass of the Resurrection’ or ‘A Celebration of Life.’ I delivered an address on this topic on Sunday afternoon, Nov. 17, at the Cathedral of St. Peter. I encouraged those who attended the lecture to learn more about their faith by reading and discussing ‘The Catechism of the Catholic Church.’
I am also studying the gradual process by which in American media, challenging moral issues, such as euthanasia, abortion, capital punishment and sexual identity, have come to be exclusively seen as merely cultural issues and NOT moral issues. This is certainly due, in part, to the fact that American society is no longer centered on the Judeo-Christian worldview, as Charles Taylor examines in his magisterial work, ‘A Secular Age.’
Additionally, I am continuing my ongoing research on topics explored in my (2021) book, ‘The Church and the Racial Divide: Reflections of an African American Catholic Bishop.’ I am studying the extraordinary stories of remarkable people of God who are now under canonization as saints: Venerable Pierre Toussaint (1776-1853), Servant of God Mother Mary Elizabeth Lange (1784-1882), Venerable Henriette Delille (1813-1862), Venerable Fr. Augustus Tolton (1854-1897), Servant of God Julia Greeley (c.1833/1848-1918) and Sister Thea Bowman, FSPA (1937-1990). A book may come from some of this work. However, it is too soon to tell.
THE MESSENGER: You seem to be focused very much on your pastoral and scholarly interests. Do you take time for yourself? I have heard you read a great deal, enjoy music, and that you have traveled extensively.
BISHOP BRAXTON: I certainly do. From my earliest years, my dear parents, Cullen and Evelyn Braxton, taught me to strive for an inegrated life, developing body, heart, mind and spirit. I try to make time to do some form of exercise every day. I am careful about what I eat. I do not drink alcohol beyond a glass of wine on special occasions. I see my physician regularly. I also make a silent retreat each year at a Trappist monastery.
Because of the moving viewpoint of my life, in addition to my family, I have a circle of wonderful friends around the country and abroad. I take the time to call them (much better than a text!), write them, visit them, pray for them, let them know of my support for them and assure them of my love for them and that they, in turn, support and sustain me with their love. My family members are the center of that love. The recent death of my precious sister, Patricia, is a source of unspeakable sorrow. (It is because my family is so dear to me that I choose to be buried with them in the Braxton Family Gravesite in Chicago rather than the Bishops’ Vault beneath the Cathedral of St. Peter.) As a priest and bishop, I see a great value in the ministry of hospitality. I regularly have guests at my residence for a meal and leisurely conversation that are a kind of extension of the eucharistic meal. Fortunately, my parents taught me how to cook. (Dear Karen Siddall, who took care of the bishop’s residence for many years and often prepared these meals, was not my ‘housekeeper.’ She was a remarkable friend and my coworker in the ministry of hospitality. Her untimely death on Dec. 10, 2021, is a source of profound sorrow.)
Since I believe that, in many ways, the real trip is in your mind, reading has long been an essential part of my life. It goes without saying that I read scripture daily. Because of time constraints, I am selective in my reading. When I was growing up, my Mother Dear took me to the Chicago Public Library and introduced me to the library’s music room, where I could listen to every kind of music, from my parents’ favorites, Nat King Cole and Ella Fitzgerald, to popular music, to film soundtracks and to all of the great classical composers. Ever since then, music has functioned within my heart and spirit as a kind of soundtrack to my life. Visitors to my home will almost certainly hear music, like the French master Erik Satie, and especially his piano work, ‘Gymnopédie,’ in the background. Music is a portal to the transcendent. Catholic Liturgy is transformative when it is supported by extraordinary music.
Theater and art have also played a part in my interior life, thanks to my mother, who introduced me to the Art Institute of Chicago. Currently, I am working with the Polish artist Wiktor Szostalo in an effort to repair his splendid sculpture, ‘The Angel of Harmony,’ which we worked on together and erected next to the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis. Recently, a vandal toppled the 16-foot-high sculpture and damaged it significantly, shattering the wind chimes in the wings and bending the arms of the angel, which are sweeping away disharmony from three children at play. We are hoping that this well-known work of art … can be restored. This work is so significant to my soul-space because the face of the angel is that of my only brother, Lawrence, who died of cancer when he was only 54 years old.
It has been my good fortune to travel extensively throughout the United States and around the world. I have had the opportunity to go on many pilgrimages to Israel, which does not seem like the Holy Land at this troubled hour, when the deadly conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza threatens to become a dangerous Middle Eastern war. I have lived in Rome, where I could pray at the tombs of St. Peter and St. Paul. On frequent journeys to Africa, I have experienced first-hand the vibrant and rapidly growing young churches. I have had the privilege of ordaining dozens of priests in dioceses in Nigeria, Uganda, Kenya and South Africa. I have been able to invite a number of these priests to come to our diocese and serve in our parishes alongside our dedicated local priests.
It is a grace to have a private chapel in my residence. It is the heart of everything. Not only is it the setting for the celebrations of the Eucharist and the Liturgy of the Hours, but also the Blessed Sacrament is familiar company in my residence. Christ is quite literally my companion throughout the day. I can drop in for quiet times in His presence any time throughout the day or night, especially when I feel the need for greater spiritual strength, and when people ask me for prayers at a time of need. With some regularity, families join me for Mass and breakfast when there is a death in their family or to mark a wedding anniversary. At times, I have had particularly sensitive conversations in the chapel. Before departing, as the Bishop Emeritus of Belleville, I pray for the members of the presbyterate of our diocese in my chapel every day. I keep a list of all their names and pray for them throughout the day, that the Holy Spirit will lead them and guide them in their ministry of building up the Body of Christ.
By the time my sisters and brothers in Christ read this interview, we will know who the new president of the United States is. I hope that whatever we have thought of the candidates during a campaign filled with angry rhetoric, we will commit ourselves to fervent prayer for the new head of state, that the 47th president will be greeted by God to bring to our war-torn world and our deeply divided nation the spirit of reconciliation and respect for the dignity and value of our fellow citizens, so that together, we can help the United States to continue to be an example of the world of acting justly, loving mercy and walking humbly with God. What a great fortune to have lived for 80 years in good health. I have lived long enough to learn with clarity that God is not God the way we would be God if we were God. I appreciate more fully Lonergan’s insight when he said we human beings live our lives pressing forward, ever forward into the realms of the known, the known-unknown, and most of all, the unknown-unknown. I look back on joyful halcyon days gone by with gratitude, and I look forward to the future with a serene heart. Each day, I strive to live by St. Thomas More’s maxim, ‘I say none harm, I do none harm, I think none harm.’ With the passing of every year, with the completion of every new journey around the sun, I become more acutely aware of Milian Kundera’s wisdom when he wrote about the unbearable lightness of being.
Dear readers of The Messenger, please join me in praying for Bishop McGovern, Bishop Stanley Schlarmann (our Bishop in Residence who will be 92 on his next birthday) and for vocations to the priesthood in our diocese. Be assured, dear sisters and brothers, of my daily prayers for you and those who are dear to you. Please pray for me as well.
