Nov. 20--New Archbishop Blase Cupich sought Thursday to turn attention to Chicago's Catholics and the work ahead of him following days of pomp and circumstance.
Looking out on a room packed with the city's political movers and shakers at a downtown breakfast hosted for him by Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Cupich said he wanted to return the focus to the city.
"I realize the cameras and the lights have been focused on me in these days. People understandably want to know who this guy is," Cupich said.
But a sibling's comment after the hoopla surrounding his installation -- "I don't get it, you're just not that interesting" -- helped ground him, Cupich said.
"I think that we all love normalcy," he said after the breakfast. "So I know all of the lights and the cameras, while important in the first few days, are going to ebb and I can get on with the everyday business of life."
Speaking to reporters, the archbishop again expressed his support for comprehensive immigration reform ahead of a scheduled Thursday speech on the subject by President Barack Obama.
"I would encourage, and I know my brother bishops would as well, all the parties, all leaders in the Congress as well as the White House, to work together to achieve that goal of comprehensive immigration reform," Cupich said.
During introductory remarks, Emanuel noted Chicago's strength as a city of immigrants whose Catholic churches "have stood firm while the identities of their neighborhoods and parishioners have changed around them."
