'... extremely valued and trusted person by each bishop ...'

adapting to each one’s modus operandi.”

While Love and A.G. raised five kids (all of whom graduated from St. Joseph Catholic School and went on to college), she juggled being a band mom, soccer mom and sports mom while being flexible when it came to her responsibilities for each bishop.

“With my arrival in the Diocese of Jackson, Christine extended her dedicated service to me at my home with weekly house cleaning,” Bishop Kopacz said. “I note ‘extended her service’ because at the time of my arrival she was also attending to Bishop Houck and Bishop Latino.

“She worked with others to prepare my house to receive guests for special events, and she always made sure my Labrador Retriever had some extra loving and treats. She’s rightly enjoying a well-deserved retirement surrounded by her children, grandchildren and friends. I and the Bishops who preceded me – Bishops Gerow, Brunini, Houck and Latino – are eternally grateful for her dedicated care, her strong faith in the Lord Jesus, and her love for the church.”

“I tried to bring honesty and work ethic to whatever I did,” Love said. “Bishop Houck always encouraged me. He said, ‘You can do it. You can make it. I want to see those kids graduate from St. Joe.’ He encouraged me to open my own business and was very proud when I created Love Janitorial Services 18 years ago.”

“Christine is a very circumspect person,” Woodward said. “She and I could discuss important matters about the household, but it would never go beyond us. She understood the life of a bishop and had an immense amount of respect for the office and the man in it. Maintaining a bishop’s house is an awesome responsibility, and Christine was an extremely valued and trusted person by each bishop. I knew if I called her to come check on something she would be on her way before we even hung up the phone.”

Love says she’ll always get a bit emotional when talking about Bishops Gerow, Houck, Brunini, Latino and Kopacz and the impact all have had on her life.

“I can’t say I’ll miss the work,” she said, “but I’ll always miss my bishops.”