Chaput: Set to be wingman to Pope Francis

WHEN POPE FRANCIS comes to Philadelphia in September, there will be one man by his side the entire time - Archbishop Charles Chaput, who should be a fascinating tour guide.

Chaput, 70, a member of the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation, was the second Native American to become a bishop and the first to be appointed an archbishop. He was ordained 45 years ago and said that, aside from brief dreams about a career as a stunt actor or a doctor, he has wanted to be a priest "from the time I remember being conscious."

A native of Kansas, he was appointed as the bishop of Rapid City, S.D., in 1988 and then as archbishop of Denver in 1997. In 2011, he was appointed to serve as archbishop of Philadelphia.

He will travel to Rome on June 22 with a delegation of Philadelphians, including Mayor Nutter, for the next stage of planning for the World Meeting of Families and Pope Francis' visit.

In a recent interview with Stephanie Farr, Chaput spoke about how his Native American heritage led him to become a bishop, about his tenure here and his hopes for September's big events - and about how he may get to ride in one of the world's most famous cars.

Q You were the first Native American ever to be an archbishop. I understand that you've gone on vision quests and prayed in sweat lodges. Your faith obviously plays a large role in your life, but what role does your heritage play? And how has your heritage informed your faith?

My sister and I, we're close in age and we were always very proud of being Indians. [We] actually used to play Indians and Indians. But my mother was cautious because she had experienced prejudice against the Indian community.

People ask me: Why did I become a bishop? Well, the pathway was my relationship with the Indian community. I was active in Indian-Catholic concerns and they were looking for someone to serve in the diocese of Rapid City, which was a very heavily Catholic-Indian community, and that's how I became a bishop. They were looking for someone to meet that need.

Q What's been your biggest challenge as the archbishop of Philadelphia thus far and your biggest accomplishment?

The biggest challenge is trying to organize the ordinary life of a diocese in the face of all the big complex problems we've had.

The first year I spent a lot of time on clergy-personnel issues that were part of the grand jury situation and then the second year we began to focus on trying to solve the financial problems. Then we had the World Meeting of Families come along.

Maybe come November of 2015, I'll begin to have kind of an ordinary experience as a bishop. At least I hope so.

The biggest accomplishments? I think trying to bring peace and order into a very confused and chaotic situation. And I think there is more of a peace and more order today than there was three years ago. We have some way to go, but I think things are more stable that way.

Q When you look forward to September and the World Meeting of Families and Pope Francis' visit, what are you most excited about?

I think, as all of us are, I'm most excited about the pope's visit. But I think I have a unique perspective on that because he'll live in my home and I'll be with him almost every moment of the time he's here. I'm actually looking forward to those two days, the 26th and 27th of September. Getting from here to there is more difficult.

Q I understand you'll get to ride in the Popemobile.

I think so. It's tradition that the hosting bishop rides along with the pope when he goes through the crowds. I haven't been told that directly, but I suspect that's what's going to happen because that's what happened before.

Q Pretty excited?

Yes. Very excited.

Q I'm excited for you. Do you have a history with Pope Francis?

He and I were made archbishops the same year. That next year both of us went to Rome for a synod, which is a gathering of bishops, on the relationship of the church to the Americas. It was sponsored by Pope John Paul II. And since we were appointed about the same time we sat close to each other, just a seat apart.

I got to know him and admired him. He was really quite articulate speaking about the needs of the church and the needs of our time. I thought, even back in those days, that he'd make a good pope.

Q Do you have a lot of people asking to come sing at the papal mass?

I have everybody in the world asking. Everybody who plays guitar, cello, who sings, who has any interest in church music. Anybody who's ever served mass, they want to serve for the pope. I have people offering to cook for him. People just want to have a chance to be close.

And, of course, I have people who I've known from South Dakota and from Colorado call in and remind me of our relationships and how they think that that should somehow lead to their having a special role.

Of course, we're going to focus on people in Philadelphia that do those kinds of things, but it is a World Meeting of Families so it's not just something that Philadelphia's going to do, we're going to have people who are involved from all parts of the world. They're traveling here for this and we're going to involve them.