Students at St. Mary-Johnson City ask him about his episcopal ring, how much he is paid, and more
By Bill Brewer
Bishop Mark Beckman was in impressive company during one of his most recent get-to-know-you meetings with Diocese of Knoxville parishioners.
In attendance were young leaders of the community, including a paleontologist, a sheriff, a soldier, a physician, a nurse, a firefighter, a police officer, a school principal, an athlete, a chef, a NASA astronaut, a ballerina, a princess, and Spider-Man.
The bishop had a captive audience at St. Mary School in Johnson City during Catholic Schools Week as these heroes, and even the superhero, took part in a question-and-answer session with the diocese’s shepherd.
Bishop Beckman visited St. Mary on Jan. 28 and met with various classes in the pre-kindergarten-through-eighth-grade school.
On this theme day, students could dress as their favorite vocation and teachers could dress as St. Mary students. It was a fun and fascinating turnabout.
As Bishop Beckman asked the younger students who they were dressed as, they asked him about being a bishop.
The questions were insightful and probing. And Bishop Beckman didn’t hesitate.
Among the students’ questions were:
- “What do you wear around your neck?”
- “Why do you wear a ring?”
- “Can bishops get married?”
- “How much do you get paid?”
- “What are your favorite movies?”
- “What is your favorite book?”
- “What do you like to do when you’re not being the bishop?”
- “How did you get to be a bishop?”
- “What’s the different between a priest and a pastor?”
- “Do you have to be a priest first before you become a bishop?”
- “Have you ever met the pope?”
- “Do bishops have to travel?”
Bishop Beckman answered each question, fully explaining the details of his position and interjecting personal anecdotes along the way.
A young student from St. Mary School in Johnson City receives a blessing from Bishop Mark Beckman at Mass on Jan. 28.
“God called me to be your bishop in the Diocese of Knoxville. So, all of East Tennessee I’m responsible for taking care of. We have 51 churches, eight grade schools, and two Catholic high schools. We have three university centers on the campuses of UT-Chattanooga, UT-Knoxville, and East Tennessee State University,” the bishop told the kindergartners.
A St. Mary teacher asked him what some of his favorite activities are.
“As a bishop, my favorite thing to do so far is doing what I’m doing right now, and that is to go out and visit. I like visiting our churches and our schools and meeting the people of God. I really enjoy traveling all around East Tennessee and seeing everybody,” he answered.
The bishop then turned the conversation around and asked the young students if they knew what his job was.
“Do you talk about things at church?” one kindergartner asked.
“Yes, I do talk about things at church,” the bishop responded. “I teach you all about Jesus and God.”
“You preach,” another young student interjected.
“I also celebrate all the sacraments, like the Eucharist,” Bishop Beckman replied.
“I saw you at Mass,” a student said. “You are in charge of the church.”
“Yes, you did see me at Mass. And yes, I also am in charge of the church. I lead it; I shepherd it. I’m called to be like Jesus, the Good Shepherd,” the bishop acknowledged.
“God loves us,” one of the students remarked.
“Yes, He does. God does love us,” Bishop Beckman assured her.
A student observed that there are priests from different countries in the Diocese of Knoxville.
“Yes, we have priests from Mexico. We have priests from Colombia. We have a priest from Poland. There are priests from lots of different places in this diocese—many, many countries.”
Bishop Beckman then made a further observation.
“We as a community come from many, many countries. My mother’s side of the family was Italian. Her ancestors came from Italy. On my dad’s side of the family, his father came from Germany. His father was half German and half Irish. We have people from all over the planet.”
Bishop Mark Beckman speaks to a class Jan. 28 at St. Mary School in Johnson City during Catholic Schools Week. (Photo Dan McWilliams)
One topic of particular interest to the students, and to Bishop Beckman: the question of pets. Does the bishop have one?
No, he responded, but…
“I have no pets right now, although in my backyard I have two wild rabbits. They are always out back, and they were playing in the snow. I saw their little footprints in the snow. They are very small; they are little brown ones. They are good. I like rabbits. I enjoy having them in the backyard.”
“Do they take carrots from your house?” asked an inquisitive young girl.
“No, but I have thought about putting food and water out for them to keep them around. So far, they have plenty to eat,” the bishop said.
He then shared this bit of information: “If I had enough time at home and I weren’t traveling as much, I would love to have a dog.”
The children were especially amused when the guest speaker told how he came to be a bishop.
“The way that I found out that God was calling me to become a bishop was I got a telephone call!” he said.
That comment drew responses of amazement.
“What!” they said in unison.
“I did. Pope Francis, through his representative in Washington, D.C., the nuncio, Cardinal Christophe Pierre, called me and he told me Pope Francis wanted me to be your bishop. That’s how I got called to be your bishop,” he explained.
He went on to tell them that God planted a desire in his heart to be a priest when he was in high school. He shared that a priest in his parish when he was young had a strong impact on his decision to become a priest.
The bishop’s meeting with the kindergartners went well judging by the litany of questions they continued to ask him as they left the classroom on their way to lunch.
A different crowd then greeted Bishop Beckman. Upperclassmen ambled into the room and took their seats, curious about the tall stranger in black clerics (pants and shirt) and a white collar.
As he was introduced, hands went up from the older students with questions of their own.
“Do you always wear black?” one fashion-conscious student asked him.
“I don’t always wear black. Sometimes I go running or I go to the gym and wear my gym clothes. When I go hiking, I wear my hiking clothes. Or if I’m relaxing, I will wear my blue jeans and a T-shirt. But most of the time when I’m working, I wear these clothes,” he answered.
The bishop also explained that the cross he wears around his neck is called a pectoral cross and is worn by most bishops. Similarly, he wears a ring called an episcopal ring that symbolizes his commitment and “marriage” to the Catholic Church, which put to rest the question of whether Catholic bishops can be married.
Another student who appeared to be age-conscious asked him how old he has to be to retire, to which the bishop responded that bishops must retire at age 75, although the pope sometimes extends that.
And then a financially conscious student asked if the bishop is paid for his position.
“I do get paid to be a bishop. I get paid almost the same amount as priests do but $100 more a month, so just about the same,” said the leader of the Catholic Church in East Tennessee.
When a student asked if he was the bishop for just Catholics or people of all faiths, the bishop responded, “Just Catholics. I am the bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Knoxville. Now, obviously, I should be concerned about everybody living in East Tennessee. We have a responsibility to everybody in East Tennessee.”
And when asked, the bishop acknowledged getting nervous on occasion, especially when it’s something big that he hasn’t done before.
Dana Bellino leads a group of third-, fourth-, and fifth-graders in a song at St. Dominic School on Jan. 28. (Photo Bill Brewer)
When asked if he sees God in visions, the bishop said he is blessed to see God almost everywhere he looks. “And I see God in your faces,” he shared with them.
In response to another question, the bishop explained that no one “applies” to be a bishop. Bishops are called by God, and that calling is relayed by the Holy Father.
Other fun topics included his favorite movies and books, which include The Hobbit and The Chronicles of Narnia series, and where are his favorite places to eat.
Bishop Beckman was able to relate to the students even more when he was asked if he has ever met the pope. He shared with them that he met Pope Francis in September when he had to go back to school, to “new bishop school” in Rome.
“Wow, you have asked lots of great questions,” Bishop Beckman told them as they left for another class.
The bishop began Catholic Schools Week in Chattanooga on Jan. 26 at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church, where he celebrated a Mass in which Our Lady of Perpetual Help School students participated.
He concluded Catholic Schools Week by celebrating an all-school Mass for Sacred Heart Cathedral School at the cathedral on Jan. 31 and by celebrating Mass at the cathedral on Feb. 1 for Scouts in the diocese.
The bishop expressed joy and gratitude at being able to celebrate Catholic Schools Week with so many students around the diocese.
“Catholic schools are a place where we learn how to live the will of God in our lives,” he said, emphasizing the two love commandments of Jesus, loving the Lord Our God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and loving our neighbor as our self.
“The schools are a great place to learn that love because there are so many good models of living that in our Catholic schools,” he added. “The kids were so excited.”
“The greatest thing about Catholic Schools Week is [that] being at a Catholic school is something that’s wonderful year-round. But it’s nice to stop and have the time to celebrate it. The things that the kids do during Catholic Schools Week they remember the rest of their lives.
“I remember when we were kids and had Catholic Schools Week: we had volleyball competitions, we had a field day, we had the red and blue day. The memories of those things stay with you throughout your life. I think it’s great that we do that,” he noted.
The bishop believes strongly in the role of Catholic schools in strengthening faith and helping the faithful hold on to their unique Catholic identity, especially in parts of the world and this country that are not predominantly Catholic.
Bishop Beckman was delighted by the variety of questions he was asked at St. Mary School.
“Oh, my goodness. The questions from the kids were delightful. The funny things I didn’t expect were the littlest kids who were excited to tell me about their pets. And the older kids were surprisingly animated to tell me about the best places to eat in Johnson City. Aside from that, they asked what a bishop does every day, how much am I paid, where do I live, what do I like doing best, and those kinds of things. That was fun,” he concluded.
