``Unc'' is Bishop Anthony Michael Pilla, who will celebrate his silver jubilee, his 25th anniversary, as bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland on Friday. He has the distinction of being Cleveland's first native son to be installed as bishop of the diocese and the longest-serving bishop in the history of the diocese.

Over the years, he has maintained his godly reputation and image among those who know him best. Everyone -- from his big brother, Joseph, to other religious leaders, like Bishop J. Delano Ellis, senior bishop of the United Pentecostal Churches of Christ -- describes him as a quiet, gentle man who is deeply spiritual.

Despite being ``a very shy person who is painfully introverted,'' as his administrative assistant, the Rev. Ed Estok, put it, Pilla has managed to be what most consider successful in a very public position.

In fact, his diocese is considered a model for other dioceses. One of his initiatives, The Church in the City, has gained international recognition as a prototype to help churches reverse the decay around old neighborhoods.

Ellis is not alone in expressing love for the man under whose leadership the diocese has reorganized and expanded its youth ministry offices, extended its ministries to Latinos, established an evangelization office, opened a retirement home for priests, opened the Akron Catholic Center and established a seminary educational endowment.

The Rev. James Ragnoni, pastor at St. Anthony's parish in Akron, attended the seminary with Pilla more than 40 years ago. He said he always knew he had the makings of a bishop.

Ragnoni and Bishop Martin J. Amos, auxiliary bishop for the southern portion of the diocese, said Pilla's life has always reflected being a disciple of Christ. He has particularly mirrored Jesus in his sense of mission to the poor and oppressed, they said.

``He is very strong on social justice and definitely has an inclination to the poor,'' Amos said. ``He is very quick to reach out to those in need. You see it in education when he urges us to keep the schools in the cities. You see it when people are hungry and he urges us to feed them.

Pilla recently mirrored Jesus as the advocate for the poor, the forgotten and the isolated, when he made an annual visit to the Cuyahoga County Jail to celebrate Mass and visit with the staff and inmates. He stopped to talk and pray with the inmates in the maximum security unit, where one of their cellmates had committed suicide the day before.

On more than one occasion, Pilla has made it clear that he is personally a product of his family, his culture and his community. He credits his late parents, George and Libera, with who he is. The Italian immigrants came to America shortly after World War I. His father was an electrician, his mother a homemaker.

He and his only sibling, Joseph, attended public schools in Cleveland until high school, when they went to Cathedral Latin High School. Joseph, a retired chief of federal parole and probation for the Northern District of Ohio, said he remembers having to take his little brother everywhere he went -- mostly to the neighborhood playground, where they played football, baseball and basketball.

The older Pilla said the prelate is most comfortable when he is with family. When their mother was alive, they continued the family tradition of Sunday dinner together. Now, they have Sunday brunch at Joseph Pilla's East Cleveland home. His eight children and 21 grandchildren are very close to his brother.

The Pilla brothers were separated when Joseph started classes at a community college and Anthony, after spending one year at Cathedral Latin, entered St. Gregory High School Seminary in Cincinnati to answer a call to the priesthood.

It was at the seminary that Deacon Dennis Smith, of Nativity of the Lord Jesus in Springfield Township, first met Pilla in 1960. It was Pilla's first year teaching at the seminary and Smith was a high school freshman in his world history class. Pilla also served as priest moderator of the dormitory where Smith lived two of his four years at Borromeo.

Pilla was appointed auxiliary bishop of the diocese by the late Pope John Paul II in June 1979. His appointment as bishop was announced in November 1980, and he was installed as the ninth bishop of the diocese on Jan. 6, 1981. In 1995, he was elected as president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops for a three-year term.

During his tenure as bishop, he has served on numerous community boards and committees and has gained a reputation as an advocate of interfaith and ecumenical relationships and a champion for social justice. Those values reflect a lesson he learned early in life -- that there is room for everyone at the table.

In developing The Church in the City strategy, Pilla called on the people in suburban areas to come together, recognize their interdependence, and work toward creating and promoting development in the urban core. The initiative was established out of Pilla's concern about the education of children and the increasing isolation of people by race, culture and income.

Pilla is hopeful that his most recent initiative, Vibrant Parish Life, will be as effective as The Church in the City. Vibrant Parish Life encourages collaboration between parishes.

Bishop Marcus Miller, leader of the Northeastern Ohio Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, believes that both initiatives speak to the universal church and that Vibrant Parish Life can serve as an example of how an urban diocese can be effective. Miller, who met Pilla shortly after coming to Cleveland in 1980, considers Pilla a friend and respects him deeply.

The diocese has a population of more than 800,000 Catholics in eight Northeast Ohio counties -- Cuyahoga, Summit, Medina, Wayne, Geauga, Ashland, Lake and Lorain.

Like other Catholic dioceses throughout the nation, the local diocese and Pilla's leadership have been affected by the clergy sex-abuse scandal that erupted in 2002 and led to revelations that some bishops moved guilty priests without warning parents or police.

Pilla admits the past three and half a years have been difficult. He has apologized to all who have been affected by clergy abuse and has said that any priest or deacon who sexually abused a child will be permanently banned from ministry.

His nephew, Jamie Pilla, said he has seen his uncle's hurt and pain over the scandal, but believes he handled it with the same compassion and grace that he has come to know as the essence of who his uncle is.

Pilla has made it no secret that he plans to retire whenever the Holy Spirit and the Holy See say it's time. He doesn't speculate on his legacy but says that is for others to decide.

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