Outside the cathedral in Setúbal, hundreds of people lined the streets. For hours they stood in the rain, first to see the image of Our Lady of Fatima brought to the cathedral on pilgrimage, and then to get a glimpse of the man who would soon be their new bishop: José Ornelas Carvalho, SCJ.
On October 25, the former superior general of the Priests of the Sacred Heart became the diocese’s third bishop. His ordination was linked to the 40th anniversary of the diocese. Among those in attendance were its first bishop, Bishop Manuel Martin (his 40th anniversary of ordination as a bishop would be the next day) and Bishop Gilberto Canavarro dos Reis. Bishop Ornelas succeeds Bishop Gilberto, who is retiring after 17 years of service.
Atop the cathedral steps the soon-to-be-ordained bishop greeted the people before him, many of whom would not be able to come inside because of space limitations. Over 1,500 remained in the rain, watching the ordination on large screens posted on the front and side of the cathedral.
And then it was time for the ceremony itself. Bishop Ornelas passed through two columns of concelebrants, including Fr. Heinrich Wilmer, the current superior general of the Priests of the Sacred Heart, and many other fellow Dehonian priests and bishops who came from around the world.
Manuel Clemente, Cardinal Patriarch of Lisbon and also president of Portugal’s Bishops Conference, was the principal celebrant and ordaining bishop. He was joined at the altar by Bishop Gilberto Canavarro dos Reis (out-going bishop) and Bishop António de Sousa Braga, SCJ, bishop of Angra in the Azores.
Eventually all of the concelebrants would process into the cathedral, many using their vestments to wipe the raindrops off of their glasses.
Once all were seated Monsignor João José Lobato, vicar general of the Diocese of Setúbal, opened the Mass with a formal greeting to Bishop Ornelas from the diocese. The celebration, filled with music from start to finish, would last approximately three hours. Many remained outside for it all.
A single desire; many paths
José Ornelas Carvalho, 61, entered the seminary at 13 hoping to be a missionary. He professed his first vows with the Priests of the Sacred Heart in 1972 and was ordained in 1981, still feeling the call to missionary service.
It was a dream reaffirmed during a two-year break from his theological studies when he served in Mozambique from 1974-76.
It changed me,” he said. “It opened my eyes to the internationality of the congregation.”
He hoped to return to Mozambique after his ordination but the country’s civil war thwarted those plans. Instead, he went to Rome, where he earned a licentiate at the Pontifical Biblical Institute. It was the first step on the path to a career in academics. From 1993 to 1996 he studied at the Jesuit University in Frankfurt Germany and in 1997 he received a Doctorate in Biblical Studies from the Catholic University of Lisbon. For many years he was professor of Sacred Scripture in Lisbon. He was just settling into what he thought would be his life’s path when he was elected as provincial superior of Portugal.
“I had been teaching for about 11 years and thought that I had some capacity for it,” he said. “I saw myself doing research, being a biblical scholar, giving conferences.”
But the call to leadership moved him in a new direction, first in province leadership and then as superior general of the Priests of the Sacred Heart from 2003-2015.
Yet his love of the missions, and an international sense of the congregation, which he first experienced in Mozambique, never shifted. These two passions became primary building blocks in his general administration.
When asked what gave him joy in looking back over his two terms as superior general, Fr. Ornelas quickly listed the increasing areas in which the congregation is now found, including new missions in Vietnam, Taiwan, Chad, Paraguay and Angola.
In fact, it was Angola that Fr. Ornelas was packed and ready to go to when he received a message from Pope Francis. The Holy Father wanted him to serve as the next bishop of Setúbal.
Pope Francis said to him: “I do not impose upon you, but I ask you to go and be the bishop of Setúbal… you will be a missionary, for Europe needs to rediscover its missionary dimension.”
And so on a new path, but with the same spirit of mission, Bishop Ornelas continues to serve as a Dehonian.
PHOTOS: Click here to view photos from the ordination
Click here to read Bishop Ornelas’ concluding remarks in ENGLISH
Click here to read Bishop Ornelas’ concluding remarks in the original PORTUGUESE
