In today's world, one institution after another succumbs to the temptation of becoming more “relevant” and thus appealing to a broader audience. In the process, many of the faithful wonder if the institutions have lost their reason for being.

So being a leader in such an institution today is a tough challenge, one ably met by Bishop John D'Arcy, 77, retiring head of the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend. In his 24 years in that position, he has been true to the teachings of the Catholic Church but mindful of the church's position in a larger, much more secular world. It is a testament to his success that he has so often been quoted on church matters but also by the secular world on a host of ethical issues.

Earlier this year, D'Arcy was in the middle of a controversy involving an invitation to President Obama to speak at the University of Notre Dame and the decision by that university to confer an honorary degree on the president. He was one of more than 70 bishops and other Obama critics who said the president's support of legal abortion and embryonic stem-cell research made him a bad choice. He said he would boycott the event. He later decided to go but not attend the actual speech.

Later in the year, reports the Catholic News Service, in an article in America magazine, D'Arcy said the controversy was not about Obama “or whether it is appropriate for the president of the United States to speak at Notre Dame or any great Catholic university on the pressing issues of the day.

“This is what universities do,” he said. “No bishop should try to prevent that.”

The central question, he said, is: “Does a Catholic university have the responsibility to give witness to the Catholic faith and to the consequences of that faith by its actions and decisions — especially by a decision to confer its highest honor?”

A bishop, he said, “must be concerned that Catholic institutions do not succumb to the secular culture, making decisions that appear to many, including ordinary Catholics, as a surrender to a culture opposed to the truth about life and love.” But the church can communicate with the larger culture, and there is much to learn by both groups from the exchange. Whatever else is said about the bishop, let chief among them be that he has been a good teacher both for Catholics and non-Catholics.