Short trip to Chicago, retreat mark Bishop-elect Izen’s ordination preparation

By Joe Ruff

The Catholic Spirit

Quiet time alone with the Lord on a canonically required retreat and a trip to Chicago with Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Williams were important moments of Bishop-elect Michael Izen’s preparation for his April 11 ordination at the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul.

The bishop-elect held his March 20-25 retreat in a familiar place: a lake cabin near Dassel owned by one of his sisters, Mary Izen Book, and her husband, Bill, of St. Timothy in Blaine. Bishop Donald DeGrood of the Diocese of Sioux Falls, South Dakota — a former priest of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis who was consecrated and installed as a bishop in 2020 — directed the bishopelect’s retreat by Zoom and phone.

“I was blessed to spend the week in silence, at my sister’s cabin, where I was able to spend four to six hours praying each day,” the bishop-elect said in an email. “It was really a special week and I give thanks to God for giving me just what I needed.”

As he continued in Stillwater to shepherd the Churches of St. Michael and St. Mary as pastor, at St. Croix Catholic School as canonical administrator, and in Bayport as parochial administrator of St. Charles, Bishop-elect Izen was appointed in February to the office of vicar general for the archdiocese.

He found time to be with family and friends, including celebrating his 56th birthday Jan. 12 and sharing dinner and conversation with former 3M workmates Feb. 25. Both events were in St. Paul.

He flew to Chicago Jan. 27 with Bishop Williams. The two went to the House of Hansen, where Bishop-elect Izen was measured for his choir cassock, house cassock, an alb, two miters and other vestment needs. Of Bishop Williams the bishop-elect said, “his wisdom and friendship were really the highlight of the trip.”

Bishop-elect Izen took time March 16 to suit up in the various vestments for his official portrait taken at the Archdiocesan Catholic Center in St. Paul.

All the while, he continued to think about fashioning his coat of arms, about the crosier given him by an anonymous group of parishioners, and about his episcopal motto.

The latter he has chosen: “God with us.”

“It comes from Matthew 1:20-23, where the angel visits Joseph and tells him not to be afraid to take Mary as his wife,” the bishop-elect said. The Scripture says Mary is to bear a son, Jesus, who will be called Emmanuel, which means, “God is with us,” Bishopelect Izen said.

“Advent and Christmas have always been my favorite time of year,” he said. “This reading falls right at the end of Advent, which is also when I received the call from the apostolic nuncio, informing me about this appointment (Dec. 18),” the bishop-elect said.

“Perhaps even more significant is the strong connection to the Eucharist, which is the center of my life, and I imagine, any priest’s life. God is with us, most concretely, in the Eucharist.”

As ordination approaches, Bishopelect Izen said, he will return to his journal as he recalls the graces from his episcopal retreat. “Sometimes we have to remind ourselves how good God has been to us,” he said. “Especially at those times when we feel stressed from too much to get done, etc.”

During Lent, Bishop-elect Izen said, he prayed the Litany of Trust every day and cycled through the Surrender Novena. “Surrendering and trusting are qualities that I need to grow in for this call,” he said. “I wouldn’t be able to do any of this prep work, let alone become a bishop, if it wasn’t for God doing it all through me.”