Our Sunday Visitor names Bishop Kevin J. Farrell one of their "Catholics of The Year for 2014"

Eight Catholics were selected by a team of editors at Our Sunday Visitor as 2014 Catholics of the Year for their contributions and witness to the Church during the last 12 months. Bishop Kevin Farrell was selected as one of these eight Catholics for 2014.

Here is an excerpt from the article:

"From Ebola to Iraq to physician-assisted suicide, 2014 has been a year of heartache and hope, and, throughout it all, Catholics have played an undeniably active role ..."

When Dallas County officials ran out of options to house several people who had come into contact with an Ebola patient, they turned to Bishop Kevin J. Farrell, the shepherd of the Diocese of Dallas and its 1.3 million Catholics. The bishop said yes, and along with a select few throughout the city, kept the location secret to protect the four people housed at the Catholic Conference and Formation Center. The four people included Louise Troh, the fiancée of Ebola victim Thomas Eric Duncan who succumbed to the disease, and three of her relatives.

Bishop Farrell’s decision to house the four people when no one else would is one of the reasons Our Sunday Visitor has named him one of the 2014 Catholics of the Year. At a news conference on Oct. 20, after the 21-day quarantine was lifted for the four people and numerous others who had come into contact with Duncan, Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins, Mayor Mike Rawlings and other city and health officials talked about how they were handling the virus’ impact on Dallas and broke the news that the diocese was responsible for housing the family. That morning, Bishop Farrell met with the four people for the first time at the Catholic retreat center, which had remained closed during the quarantine period. He told reporters that he only mulled the decision for a few minutes before asking, “What would Jesus do?”

For the full article, please visit OSV.com, the official website for Our Sunday Visitor.