New KCK Archbishop Shawn McKnight: ‘Pope Francis gave me to you. I belong to you now’ | Opinion

Cardinal Christophe Pierre, Rome’s envoy to the United States, jokingly explained at Shawn McKnight’s Tuesday installation as archbishop of Kansas City in Kansas that although the apostolic mandate he had come to read, the one officially naming McKnight, was due to circumstances not actually signed by a pope, it was still completely kosher, so to speak.

McKnight was appointed by Pope Francis, so the document, Pierre said, was drafted “during the life of Francis, but Francis died. So what happens? Well you know, this is the Vatican,” where there’s “always a way.” Big laugh in Leawood’s Church of the Nativity, where the Mass was held. “So it’s signed by somebody representing the College of Cardinals.” By Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Francis’s longtime deputy and secretary of state, who spoke so beautifully of the pope’s legacy of mercy after his death. “And it’s correct, don’t worry.”

Then, as part of the ritual, McKnight walked through the church showing the mandate to the faithful.

The new archbishop’s hands were shaking as he did so, and I took that as a good sign.

It reminded me of the story about our new pope, Leo XIV, who when he realized that he was about to be chosen to lead the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics, reportedly had his head in his hands in the Sistine Chapel.

The former Cardinal Bob, an Augustinian priest, later quoted St. Augustine: “What I am for you terrifies me; what I am with you consoles me. For you, I am a bishop, but with you, I am a Christian.”

Shepherding the some 180,000 souls of this archdiocese is a daunting responsibility, too. And as ready as McKnight has been for the two months since his appointment was announced, he said at a Q&A after the Mass that like Leo, he found his new role exciting but “somewhat terrifying as well.”

On this day, unity

During McKnight’s homily, he talked about unity: “We hear Jesus make explicit his desire that we be one just as he and the Father are one.”

There were definitely both conservative and progressive Catholics packing the pews, all singing “Make Me a Channel of Your Peace,” united at least on this day.

And McKnight also spoke, as he has before and I think it’s safe to say will again, many times, about how important it is for all Catholics to take responsibility for the future direction of the church: “It is not rocket science, but it is supernatural, the supernatural instinct of faith among all the faithful, what is meant by the term sensus fidelium,” which has been described as a kind of sacred common sense.

Pope Francis promoted taking greater responsibility through synodality, which means pulling church governance into a more consultative process, “recognizing our need to listen attentively to this supernatural instinct,” McKnight said, so we can all do our job. That is, “so we can more effectively bring glad tidings to the lowly, heal the brokenhearted, release the prisoners and comfort all who mourn. This was the mission of Jesus of Nazareth and it is ours today.”

But, he added, “becoming a more synodal church, a church that listens and accompanies those who feel far away from God does not mean becoming a church without boundaries or defined doctrines, as if it were all up for grabs.”

So there, too, he is like Pope Leo, and every other man who might have succeeded Francis, in being completely orthodox.

McKnight, who grew up in Wichita, told his new flock, “Pope Francis gave me to you. I belong to you now. Please pray for me, that I will lead with an openness of spirit.”

The Mass included a reading in Spanish, singing in Latin, prayers in Vietnamese, Filipino, Burmese and Swahili, and a particularly gorgeous performance of “I Need You to Survive,” by a Gospel choir from Our Lady and St. Rose Catholic Church in KCK.

At the end of the service, McKnight spoke longer than he had in his homily — seven minutes, compared to six — in thanking everybody from his long-serving predecessor, Archbishop Joseph Naumann, to Cardinals Blase Cupich of Chicago, McKnight’s rector when he was in the seminary, and Robert McElroy of Washington, D.C., who were also part of the celebration. He thanked those who’d helped move him a few days ago and those who’d planned the liturgy.

‘You better be a good one’

He choked up a little when he thanked those in the Diocese of Jefferson City, where he’s been bishop for the last 7 years. And he choked up a lot when he thanked his parents, Mary and Gary Schaffer, who are no longer with us.

He told me later that if his mother had been present, she would have been proud, of course, but would also have said, “Now you better be a good one.”

At the Q&A, which I dare to see as a sign of greater transparency, I asked McKnight what local Catholics were to make of the fact that not long before his installation, several deceased priests were added to the list of credibly accused abusers in the archdiocese based on recent substantiated allegations.

“Number one, it’s still an issue for us to deal with. Even when you have deceased priests who are responsible, we have living victims, and that’s our responsibility as a church. We do this in order to heal, and to take care of everyone, so I don’t see this as something that will be bracketed in terms of time.

It’s an ongoing reality for the church. And now that — from the moment I sat in that chair in the first part of the Mass, it’s now my responsibility, so I will be reviewing everything and looking into all things so that I can be assured and I personally have confidence that the church is dealing with this issue as we should, as Christ would have us do.”

This is not over. He knows that, and that’s a good thing, too.

This story was originally published May 28, 2025 at 5:08 AM.

Melinda Henneberger

Opinion Contributor,

The Kansas City Star

Melinda Henneberger was The Star’s metro columnist and a member of its editorial board until August 2025. She won the Pulitzer Prize for commentary in 2022 and was a Pulitzer finalist for commentary in 2021, for editorial writing in 2020 and for commentary in 2019.