Major Surgery Is Set for Bishop McFarland

Bishop Norman F. McFarland, who has led the county’s congregation of 610,000 Roman Catholics for more than a decade, will undergo major surgery Thursday morning to remove a large aortic aneurysm in his abdomen.

The surgery, to be performed by doctors at Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian in Newport Beach, is expected to last five hours, according to Msgr. Lawrence J. Baird, a spokesman for the Catholic Diocese of Orange.

Catholics from the county’s 55 parishes have been praying for McFarland since Jan. 8, when doctors discovered the aneurysm, a sac formed by the weakened wall of an artery.

Such an aneurysm can be fatal if it ruptures and causes an internal hemorrhage, or impedes blood flow.

“Think of a major earthquake poised to happen and the need to retrofit,” McFarland said, describing his illness and the operation needed to correct it in a letter addressed to the clergy and the faithful in Orange County parishes.

McFarland described Thursday’s operation as “big-time surgery.”

McFarland, who will turn 76 later this month, had gone to doctors complaining about fatigue, Baird said. After a series of medical tests, doctors found the aneurysm in his stomach.

McFarland said doctors told him that his surgery was serious in his case, because he already suffers from a weak heart and lung problems.

Noting that the surgery had been scheduled “with hopeful expectations,” McFarland said, “I would, of course, be grateful if you and your people could offer a prayer or two for me.”

Baird said Catholics from across the county were calling the diocese’s Orange offices to offer their support for McFarland.

“We received a wonderful call [Tuesday] morning from a woman who was going to have chemotherapy, and she was offering up her suffering for the bishop,” Baird said.

Baird said that despite his illness, McFarland has not cut his work schedule and that he planned to work late into the night tonight and then report for surgery Thursday morning.

“He’s a man of deep faith,” Baird said. “He’s resigned to God’s will.”

McFarland left his post as bishop of Reno-Las Vegas to head the Diocese of Orange when Bishop William R. Johnson died in 1986.

Following church policy, McFarland submitted his letter of resignation to the Vatican last February when he reached the age of 75. The pope has not yet accepted his resignation, Baird said.