Bishop Emeritus Bosco left ?legacy of leadership? in church

By Mary Pickels

Published: Wednesday, July 10, 2013, 3:24?p.m.
Updated 32 minutes ago

Hundreds of mourners filled Blessed Sacrament Cathedral in Greensburg for the funeral Mass of Bishop Emeritus Anthony G. Bosco.

A steady stream of mourners slowly walked past Bosco's open casket, pausing to pray or briefly touch his hands.

Bishop of the Diocese of Greensburg from 1987 to 2004, Bosco, 85, died on July 2 in his Unity home.

He celebrated his last Mass at the cathedral three days earlier.

Bishop Lawrence E. Brandt greeted those who filled the cathedral to its capacity of 900.

?At the same time I express heartfelt sympathy for all of us here who mourn him. ... We pray together in thanksgiving and gratitude for the time he was ours,? Brandt said.

Monsignor Roger A. Statnick, who served as vicar general during most of Bosco's episcopacy, gave a funeral homily punctuated with tears and laughter.

He recalled Bosco, the third bishop of Greensburg, overseeing the construction of several new church buildings and launching the diocese's first capital campaign.

?And although I can't verify the accuracy of the claim, I think he could make a case for the most bowls of pipe tobacco smoked within one lifetime,? Statnick joked.

But buildings and programs did not constitute Bosco's legacy, Statnick said.

He told the story of two disciples on the road to Emmaus, who meet up with a fellow traveler. The stranger takes over the conversation and proceeds to interpret for the disciples the meaning of the Scriptures.

?Can't you just hear Bishop Bosco in those words? He loved a good conversation seasoned with differences of opinion. He loved to teach. He would take an idea and provoke a debate, not to win any particular point but to clarify the issue ? not to hear himself expound erudite platitudes but to discover the links of mind and heart that make sense of life,? Statnick said.

?Bishop Bosco's legacy is not about what he did and said, but what God did and said through his leadership in the church,? Statnick said.

Bosco was a shepherd, directing in ways sometimes casual and personal.

Statnick recalled some of Bosco's turns of phrase: ?You got to work with the wood that you have? and ?I want to be your older brother, not your father.?

Bosco was a storyteller, he said, whose tales of family and experiences in his ministry were of ?ordinary situations and how to keep moving forward through them faithfully on the journey.?

Statnick recalled John ?Jack? Robertshaw, a former member of the Diocesan Finance Council, commending Bosco after finance council meetings.

?He said, ?Bishop, when you are gone, they are going to thank you for the decisions you are making.' And he would say, ?I wish they would thank me now,'? drawing chuckles from the pews.

His voice breaking, Statnick gave Bosco his due.

?Oh, good and faithful servant, thank you. We love you. Walk now with God in peace on the journey of eternal life,? he said.

Bosco's funeral Mass was celebrated by Archbishop Charles J. Chaput of Philadelphia.

The casket, closed and draped, was carried from the cathedral for the final time.

Committal services were held in the Bishops' Plot at the Greensburg Catholic Cemetery in Hempfield.

Brandt declared Wednesday an official day of mourning in the Diocese of Greensburg, closing the city's pastoral center and parish offices.

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