CLEVELAND — When former Bishop Nelson Perez was installed as the 11th Bishop of Cleveland in September of 2017, among those in the celebratory procession that day was the man who would become the 12th, Bishop Edward Malesic of Greensburg, Pennsylvania.
Truth be told it's the last time he was in Cleveland but he said he's well aware the church he's inheriting here is impressive.
"I know because I googled it," he deadpanned at a news conference Thursday.
And he also spoke by phone with the man he's replacing, Archbishop Perez.
"He said 'I have two words for you. Lucky you.'"
The 59-year-old's only other tie to Ohio was his time in the seminary in Columbus, but the challenges the church faces today, Malesic said, know no border.
"We have COVID 19, racial tensions and political divisions, we cannot ignore these challenges."
There is the challenge of dwindling church participation fueled over the last decade or two by the church sexual abuse scandal.
"There's a crisis of credibility because bishops in the past did not do the things the way that bishops today would be doing," he said. "I sometimes think that they've heard about church that 'I don't belong,' to sometimes people say 'well the church is mean, the church is corrupt, the church is this' and I'm like that's just not the church I belong to so I need to tell them what the church is."
Bishop Malesic acknowledged the difficulty in taking over a diocese during a pandemic.
"Normally I'd be walking among you, shaking your hands and we'd be getting to know each other. Now we're distant from each other. Same thing with the clergy, it's hard to get together, get to know them right away so that will have to be delayed until a time we can get through this particular pandemic and we can get together and they can get to know me. I'm a stranger to them let me tell you, they don't know the name Malesic until they googled it this morning," he joked.
And as for the debate among those who claim their faith will protect them in ways a mask won't, the former biology major said this.
"The Lord also gave us a brain and he gave us science, he gave us faith but he also gave us science and we have to use the best science we have available and so I listen to the experts," he said. "Wearing a mask is really an act of charity towards our neighbor."
The lifelong Pennsylvanian though had one request to ease his transition from Steelers country to Browns.
"Can I at least bring one terrible towel with me for old times sake?"
Bishop-designate Malesic will be formally installed at the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist on September 14.
RELATED: Edward Malesic named new Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland
