St. Francis Xavier Church
Carlsruhe, Ontario, Canada

Bishop Peter Hundt

                 New bishop pays tribute to rural roots

                  
                   Most Rev. Peter Hundt, a Hanover native,
                            was ordained a bishop of the Roman Catholic church yesterday.

 
                  (Apr 26, 2006)

                  A Hanover-area farm boy who became a Roman Catholic priest was
                  ordained a bishop yesterday.

                  Most Rev. Peter Hundt was ordained during a mass at the
                  Cathedral of Christ the King in Hamilton. He will serve as one
                  of three auxiliary bishops in the Archdiocese of Toronto.

                  As a bishop serving a big city, Hundt won't be leaving his
                  rural roots very far behind.
                  When the Pope appoints a bishop, he must devise a personal
                  coat of arms.

                  In a telephone interview yesterday, Hundt said he wanted to
                  include the image of a plow in his coat of arms -- partly to
                  honour his rural upbringing and partly because of references
                  to plowing in Scripture.
                  "In the Gospel, Jesus says, 'He who begins to plow and looks
                  back is not worthy of The Kingdom,' " Hundt said.
                  "Well, you know if you're looking both ways you're going to do
                  a heck of a poor job of that furrow. It's going to get very
                  messed up and all the neighbours are going to laugh at you."

                  But Hundt said Vatican staff told him plows aren't depicted in
                  ecclesiastical heraldry.
                  So a green-and-white striped background will represent the
                  dark furrows of Hundt's boyhood farm.

                  Hundt, 49, graduated with a bachelor of arts degree from St.
                  Jerome's College in Waterloo.

                  He served at St. Clement's Roman Catholic Church in Cambridge
                  during his seminary studies. Later, he served as deacon at
                  Blessed Sacrament Roman Catholic Church in Kitchener.

                  He was ordained a priest in 1982 and received his licence in
                  canon law in 1987 after studying at the Pontifical University
                  of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome.

                  From 1987 to 1994, he was vice-chancellor and chancellor of
                  the Hamilton Diocese, which includes parishes in Waterloo
                  Region.

                  He has been a parish priest in Georgetown for a dozen years.

                  His Eminence Aloysius Cardinal Ambrozic, archbishop of
                  Toronto, presided over the Hamilton ceremony.

                  During the next month, Hundt plans to celebrate mass in
                  Hanover and in his boyhood parish in nearby Carlsruhe.

                  Starting June 1, he will be administering 62 parishes in
                  Simcoe County, York and Durham regions.

                  mpetricevic@therecord.com