Bishop Emeritus James Griffin says he feels blessed that at age 90, he’s in good health and continuing to live an active lifestyle.
“God has certainly been good to me,” he said in an interview at Powell St. Joan of Arc Church. “At 90, I’m still doing the things I want to do and my doctors say I’m where I should be at this point in my life. Like anyone who has reached this point, I have some health concerns, but nothing major.”
The diocese honored him on Thursday, June 13, his birthday, at an anniversary Mass in Columbus St. Joseph Cathedral.
Since retiring in early 2005, Bishop Griffin has lived in a condo in Powell. “I’ve been retired for 19 years and have been a retired bishop now for almost as long as I was bishop of Columbus (nearly 22 years),” he said. “I had to retire early because I needed a knee replacement, but having that procedure was a great boon to my health.
“The operation was necessary because with my knees the way they were, I could barely get through confirmations, one of the most essential parts of being a bishop. I was taking Tylenol all the time because of the pain. Once I recovered, I got back to doing all the things I used to do.
“I have cut back on some things, especially since the COVID pandemic in 2020 and 2021. I used to serve as a weekend assistant for Masses at St. Joan of Arc but stopped that a few years ago. I might celebrate a Mass in public occasionally if asked, but mostly I say Mass in private every day on an altar I have at home,” he said.
Bishop Griffin and his successor, Bishop Emeritus Frederick Campbell, who retired in 2019, continue to appear regularly at important diocesan functions, most recently at the ordination of five diocesan priests on Saturday, May 18 at the cathedral.
“There’s been a great increase in the number of diocesan seminarians in recent years and I can’t speak specifically about the reasons for that because I’m not in contact much with seminarians these days,” he said. “But I think it’s due to the emphasis Bishop Fernandes has put on the priesthood in his two years as bishop of Columbus.
“His two points of emphasis have been pursuing vocations to the priesthood vigorously and encouraging everyone in the diocese to play a role in evangelization, and I think the success of those efforts is shown in the number of young men undergoing priestly formation.”
Bishop Griffin grew up in the Cleveland area in a family of seven children and continues to visit there regularly to see relatives. “Every few weeks, my one surviving sister, Mary Lou Kistner, who lives in Gahanna, and I go to see my brother-in-law Bob Barendt in Berea,” he said. “The rest of the extended family gathers there and we spend the day eating and talking.
“This always has been very important to me, with most of my brothers and sisters gone, to stay in touch with the in-laws and for us to know we continue to be part of the same family.”
The bishop said he’s always been an early riser. “I get up at 5:30 a.m., eat breakfast, pray and say Mass, then usually take care of all my domestic chores and walk a mile every day. I still play a little golf, but it’s best to say now that I go to the golf course next to my home more than I play,” he said.
“I read a lot – some spiritual books, some novels, some history. With the number of books available on tape, I’m also able to ‘read’ a good bit while driving, so I seldom turn on the car radio.
“The retired priests of the diocese have regular gatherings, but I don’t go to them, mostly because they’d rather not have a bishop there, and I understand that. All of us may be retired, but a bishop’s presence still makes a difference,” he said. “Priests still call me on a regular basis, so I’m still in touch with many, just not as a group.
“One priest I remain close to is Msgr. (Joseph) Hendricks,” retired pastor of Dublin St. Brigid of Kildare Church, who was vice chancellor, chancellor and vicar general of the diocese under Bishop Griffin. “We meet regularly for dinner and he usually brings another priest or two with him,” he said.
Bishop Griffin said the restructuring of the diocese through parish closings and mergers that are part of its Real Presence Real Future initiative is something he had been anticipating at about this time since early in his tenure as bishop.
“Back when I was chancellor of the Diocese of Cleveland in the mid-1970s, I had a study done on the future of the clergy there, based on projected seminary enrollment and the ages of priests there, and it predicted with amazing accuracy what the number of priests would be there today and how it would necessitate parish closings and mergers,” he said.
“I did the same sort of study in the mid-1980s after I’d been here a few years, and it showed that this diocese would have to make the same types of changes at this time. So what’s happening now didn’t take anyone by surprise.
“I think Bishop Fernandes and Bishop (Robert) Brennan before him have been doing an excellent job explaining the situation and bringing about the changes the diocese is undergoing in a way that’s been well-received.”
Bishop Griffin said he feels the Catholic Church is still recovering from the effects of the COVID pandemic. “I think the Church in America suffered greatly as a result of COVID,” he said.
“Only about 80 percent of regular Mass goers have returned, so in America, the Church is not as strong as it used to be in the public square. But in Africa and other places, the Church is thriving. History establishes that the Church goes through periods of advancement and decline wherever it is, but it’s always there.”
Bishop Griffin also said he still has a “bucket list” of things he’d like to do but prefers to keep it private.
“Approaching 90, you do a lot of reflection and think about ‘What are the best things I did?’” he said. “When I look back, I find these were the things that involved helping individuals, many of whom were in terrible straits when they came to me. These are stories I can’t tell because they’re kept in confidence between me and those people. But there are a number of them and they give me great satisfaction.
“When I became bishop of Columbus after being an auxiliary bishop in Cleveland, I read somewhere that most bishops serve a diocese for about 11 or 12 years. I thought maybe I’d get 15, and it turns out I had 21, plus another 19 in retirement. I never imagined I could be of such help to so many people. When I wake up every day, the first thing I do is thank God for the privilege of continuing to serve Him.”
