The Ordination Mass for Bishop-elect Greg Kelly will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Thursday, February 11, 2016 at the Cathedral Shrine of the Virgin of Guadalupe in downtown Dallas. Bishop Farrell will preside as consecrator. An episcopal ordination Mass is a joyful and beautiful liturgy with numerous bishops from around the country and clergy of the diocese.
The cathedral will open its doors at 12 noon for open seating. Limited parking in the cathedral garage is available at the special rate of $5 with surrounding lots a minimum of $15.
The diocese will offer an HD livestream of this historic event. For more information about the livestream please visit https://www.cathdal.org/video or contact Cynthia Bates at 214-379-2889 or cbates@cathdal.org.
At a news conference celebrating the announcement on December 16th, Bishop Kevin J. Farrell welcomed the 59-year old Kelly as his new brother bishop. “I consider the fact that our Holy Father has appointed such an outstanding priest as Greg Kelly to serve as a bishop in our diocese to be an early Christmas gift from Pope Francis. Bishop Kelly is extremely well-respected by priests and parishioners alike. He has done an outstanding job as pastor and chaplain, and has been very helpful to me in his role as Vicar for Clergy.”
Bishop-elect Kelly expressed his gratitude and asks the community for prayers “I am truly overwhelmed and shocked when I think about it. I am confident that God’s grace to do this job comes with this call but ask that you please pray for me. I am grateful to the Holy Father, whom I greatly admire, for this appointment and I look forward to serving the people of the Diocese of Dallas as a bishop and working with Bishop Farrell and Bishop Doug Deshotel in this new capacity.”
Bishop-elect Kelly’s title of Bishop became official with the Pope’s announcement on December 16th. He has been a priest in the Dallas diocese for nearly 34 years. Born in Le Mars, Iowa to John and Marilean Kelly, the new bishop, one of five children, grew up in Colorado and came to North Texas in 1976 as a student at the University of Dallas and seminarian at Holy Trinity Seminary in Irving. He will now join Bishop Farrell and Auxiliary Bishop Douglas Deshotel (pronounced Des-hotel) in ministering to an ever-growing flock of 1.3 million Catholics in the Diocese of Dallas.