It began with a phone call.  My eyes fell on the read-out of my phone console and I did a double take. 

“It can’t really be him,” I thought.  It hadn’t even been a week since his surgery.  And yes, he’d emailed a few times, because for him e-mailing is like breathing …. but a phone call?

After exchanging greetings, he got right to the point of his call.  In what is sure to be the beginning of a steady flow of ideas from Bishop David O’Connell during his recuperation and rehabilitation, he said, “I think I’d like to do a video.” 

Apart from the timing, I wasn’t all that surprised.  Years of being in front of a camera as a Catholic commentator and the telegenic grace that God has given him made video something he was very comfortable with and particularly good at.  He has proudly recalled the nickname someone had once given him of “One Take O’Connell” and he was nearly always successful at living up to the name.

I planned to suggest a video at some point … down the road …. Certainly not less than a week after surgery.  But he beat me to the punch, as he often does.  He did say, however, “Just give me a week to get myself a little further along.”  It made complete sense to me, and I welcomed the time to prepare myself and our team here.

The week went quickly and with just a day or so left, I took advantage of the quiet of my house that weekend to come up with some questions.  It was a more difficult task than I expected it to be.  What happened to him was intensely personal and private, and yet there were so many people around the Diocese, and even the country who wanted to know how he was doing. 

 I took a break from my task and dropped him a quick email advising that I’d have questions to him by Monday morning so he had a day to prepare.  He wrote back:  “No questions are needed.  This is just a friendly chat.  Relax and enjoy your weekend.”

Well I gave it my best try, though I had to admit to being nervous about the interview.  I have interviewed this Bishop enough times for it to be familiar and comfortable.  But we were not going to be talking about a new pastoral letter, or a decision regarding a parish or school. The topic was unlike any I ever had to address in working for bishops over the last 20 plus years.

I think I feared the possibility of feeling emotional or distracted because of the trauma he’d been through. Despite my best efforts not to, my thoughts kept drifting back to the last day before his hospitalization – when he insisted on spending time with all of us in the Chancery at our Christmas party before he would agree to go to the hospital.  We could all see how sick he was, but also how determined he was to celebrate with us before the Christmas break.  At the insistence of his secretary, Deacon Jason Parzynski, he went right from our party to the hospital, where he spent the better part of the next week basically fighting for his life.

It was just a little intense.  

Technically there was nothing to worry about.  We had two of the best in the business on this shoot – Rose Kimball and Frank Lettieri, from our Radio and Television team.  We had make-up if it was needed.  And with only one main camera and a small second, we would not make too much of a fuss.

Still I was worried.  That is, until I stood before the Bishop.  Seated in a wheelchair, dressed in his clerics, his leg that had the surgery propped up, he looked fantastic.  His color was good, and he was sharp, focused, optimistic and in great humor.  Of course he waved off any attempt to put make-up on.  And he didn’t need it.

And all the nervousness melted away.   The video tells the rest of the story.  He was perhaps the most unguarded I’d ever seen him.  He opened up and told his innermost thoughts in a very moving way.  As I held the microphone I couldn’t help but think how much this would bring to the people who were emailing and writing … who were offering prayers and uplifting thoughts. … who were thanking him for all that he does for them.  I was grateful and excited to be part of something that would be so meaningful.

In his typical generous spirit, Bishop O’Connell gave to many of us who were praying for him and worried about him the gift of peace of mind, the assurance that he is doing well and will be back in action soon.

And, as usual, he did it in one take.