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	Father of Faith By Jodi Schwan Keloland.com [South Dakota] February 14, 2005 For the past 11 years, he's been the leader of 130,000 eastern South Dakota Roman Catholics. But this week, Bishop Robert Carlson leaves the diocese to take a new assignment in Saginaw, Michigan. In 1994, the man who would become bishop of eastern South Dakota was far from familiar with the state. Carlson says, "I didn't know much about Sioux Falls or the area. I knew almost nothing about farming and agriculture." So Bishop Robert Carlson says he started his service here with an open mind and a message to the faithful. Carlson says,"And I said the bishop's going to listen to you because I have to learn to see South Dakota through your eyes. What he saw was a Diocese with needs spread in different directions. From his discussions came an expansion of the Good Sheppard Center to include struggling women and children and the Berakah House for those dealing with AIDS. He says,"Helping wherever we could." The bishop also set out to expand the borders of the church, transforming Our Lady of Guadalupe into a Hispanic parish with 600 families, starting services for Sudanese worshippers and beginning a community of nuns from Mexico. Carlson says,"if the church is just taking care of itself, it's not doing its job because the world is bigger than our little corner." Carlson also says, that at times his communityhas needed a consciousness. He's weighed in on everything from abortion to video lottery, knowing his positions weren't always popular. He says,"I'm not there to say what people want to hear." But he says the church has a role to play in the political process. Carlson explains,"And if politics is about the common good, and it's supposed to be, there is room for a moral voice." During his time in diocese, Carlson also heard the voices of those who'd been hurt by his church. Victims of sexual abuse came forward. But first, Carlson says his approach to handling the crisis came to him in prayer. He says,"We started looking for victims in 1996, we didn't wait until 2002." Carlson says while he didn't handle everything perfectly, he continued to learn with each incident. He found everyone heals in different ways, and he hopes the church's public struggle could benefit the rest of society. Carlson says, "There is no room for abuse in our culture. It has to stop." The bishop has also been through some personal challenges. In 1997, he was treated for bladder cancer. Carlson says,"I was going to do it very privately. Originally I was going to go in the hospital under an assumed name." Instead, he told the state about his diagnosis...knowing, he says, that he would need their prayers. South Dakotans didn't let him down. He says,"I received 6,000 cards, notes from people. I remember one card from a fellow who was a Baptist and it said I know the Catholics are praying for you but I am too and God hears Baptists prayers." They all worked. Carlson says,"I'm very fortunate to be alive. I always tell people the cancer removed the ambition and some of the things people probably didn't like about me and hopefully made me a better person." While he's led the diocese, he's also tried to make it a better place. When Carlson arrived at St. Joseph Cathedral, it needed a lot of work. He remembers,"Stones were literally falling out of the tower, the electricity was bad, water was seeping through the building." Today, the exterior is fixed up, there's a new chapel for worshipping, and the interior is next on the renovation list. Carlson says,"And I was looking forward to it but God decided it wouldn't be my work. Someone else will do it." Looking back his service, Carlson says he's most proud of the people he met in South Dakota and how they helped improve their church and communities. Some of his best memories come from serving mass to Catholic schoolchildren. In them, he sees the future of his church. So he leaves with this parting message, for them. Carlson concludes, "What's been exciting about the last eleven years is that we took dreams and visions of people and put them to work. So if they have dreams or vision because they've got something to say about how the church, the world and their community could be better they should share them. Because they've got something to say." The Vatican could take months to a appoint a new bishop in Sioux Falls. Carlson says he hopes to come back to visits when that person is installed.
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