LINCOLN, NB (Catholic Online) - I make it a regular task to call attention to the wonderful Bishops we have in the Catholic Church in the United States. Benedict the Builder is placing the Foundation stones in place upon which will be built a firm foundation for the Church in the United States. She is being secured and made ready for the challenges we face.

From the beginning of his service to the Church, Pope Benedict XVI has been about rebuilding the Church. When this papacy is recounted in history, I believe that Pope Benedict XVI's apostolic work will be credited with having re-secured the Catholic Church in a time of trial so that she could inaugurate the new missionary age of the Third Millennium. His appointment of Bishops is a key to that entire undertaking.

I believe that Pope Benedict XVI will also be credited with stemming the slide of western civilization into a new paganism. Of course, there is much work to be done. The Church is the only hope to preventing such a slide. She is not some irritant, preventing progress, she is the very path to authentic progress and human flourishing.

In continuity with the 2,000 year teaching of the Catholic Church and helping to ensure that the proper  understanding of the Second Vatican Council within a hermeneutic of continuity, Pope Benedict XVI is re-securing the foundation stones of the Catholic Church in the United States in many ways.

His selection of Bishops proceeds from his unwavering conviction that the Catholic Church - and the message of authentic and true human progress which she offers the world - is what is most needed in this critical hour in human history. Pope Benedict XVI is placing in pastoral leadership over the Catholic Church precisely the kind of Shepherds we need in this vital moment of Church history.

Bishop James Conley is one of those whom I have called "Benedict's Bishops" in my articles over the last year. He was installed as the Bishop of Lincoln, Nebraska at 2 pm on November 20, 2012 in the Cathedral of the Risen Christ. His homily, reflecting this holy man, was focused on holiness.

He turned first to his brother Bishops, telling them, "If the Church is to flourish in the world today, if the New Evangelization is to really take root, if we are to truly build a culture of life, holiness must begin with us." He then spoke to his priests, asking for their prayer and pledging his own for them.  He told them, "You were made for greatness. We are all made for greatness. And your bishop wants nothing more from you than sanctity. The Church needs holy priests now more than ever. "

In a beautiful homily on the Sacred Heart, he told all present that "Our sufferings can transform our hearts into the Sacred Heart of Jesus. They can allow us to love as Christ loves". His affirming challenge to holiness was extended to the consecrated religious, seminarians and to the lay faithful whom he reminded, "Your greatest vocation is to holiness. Your holiness can transform the world."

Bishop Conley's appointment to succeed the heroic defender of Catholic orthodoxy, Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz, was a welcome announcement. He is a true son of the Catholic Church who understands the great gift of the teaching Magisterium. He is unabashedly and uncompromisingly Catholic to the core. Yet, he also has that extra asset so necessary in our age, the gift of evangelical joy.

Bishop Conley is only 57 years old. He is dynamic, spiritually and physically. I met him several years ago when I spoke at the Diocesan Conference in Denver. However, I had followed his heroic defense of unborn children - and admired his courageous support of those who stood on the front line of the Pro-Life effort - for many years.

I was well aware of his dynamically orthodox Catholic Christian faith through the testimonies of people whose lives he had touched with his infectious love for the Lord and His Church. They were always eager to share their experiences. That should be the hallmark of a truly good Bishop,  that the faithful not only love him but bear witness to his ministry in their own lives. 

He also has a compelling life witness. Bishop Conley was raised in a Presbyterian family in Wichita. He hungered for the fullness of truth and entered into the full communion of the Catholic Church when he was a junior at the University of Kansas. It is an interesting fact of contemporary Catholic life that so many Christians from other communities are not only entering the Church but becoming a much needed resource for its genuine renewal.

One has only to look on the bookshelves in Catholic and other Christian bookstores, or check the CD and DVD rack in the back of so many parishes, to see what I mean. "Converts" and "Reverts" (former or fallen away Catholics who return home) have become one of the greatest resources of the new Evangelization in the Church. ...