Pallbearers accompany the body of Bishop Emeritus Manuel D. Moreno following his Mass of Christian burial at St. Augustine Cathedral Downtown. About 1,500 people attended the service, including schoolchildren, more than 200 priests, 17 bishops, an archbishop and a cardinal, and several local civic leaders.

David sanders / Arizona Daily Star

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In a packed farewell service filled with colorful pageantry and music, Tucson Catholics on Tuesday morning said a final goodbye to Bishop Emeritus Manuel D. Moreno.

Draped in a black bow, the Downtown St. Augustine Cathedral hosted the elaborate funeral, which included Scripture readings and hymns in English and Spanish that emphasized love. Moreno has been the only Hispanic bishop to lead the local diocese.

A Knights of Columbus honor guard with vibrant, plumed hats in yellow, green, white, purple, blue and red lined the aisle of the cathedral, swords drawn upward in a salute. The cathedral bells chimed as priests acting as pallbearers escorted the casket down the aisle.

Rabbi Samuel M. Cohon of the Midtown Temple Emanu-El, a Reform Jewish congregation, began the ceremony by sounding the shofar, a horn used to mark Jewish rituals — symbolic because Moreno was known for improving relations with the Jewish community.

Those in attendance then sang "All Creatures of Our God and King," which has a refrain of Alleluia.

About 1,500 people attended the service, including schoolchildren, more than 200 priests and several local civic leaders, among them Tucson Police Chief Richard Miranda and Tucson Mayor Bob Walkup. Also in attendance were 17 bishops and Archbishop Michael J. Sheehan of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe. Cardinal Roger Mahony of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, where Moreno was ordained, presided over the service, which lasted more than two hours.

By most accounts, Moreno, 75, was humble, pious and dedicated to parishioners. His funeral Mass reflected that.

His unpretentiousness, childlike faith, humility, forgiveness and compassionate love stood out to longtime friend Monsignor Thomas Cahalane of the East Side Our Mother of Sorrows Catholic Church.

Cahalane read aloud a poem he wrote about the prayer walks Moreno used to take outside Our Mother of Sorrows during his final years, "cane in one hand and the rosary beads dangling in the other, on your journey to the holy."

Moreno, who served as bishop for 21 years, was devoted to interfaith relations, human rights and church social teachings. He also appointed the diocese's first-ever female chancellor — June Kellen. Quiet by nature, he loved blaring Tex-Mex music, said current Bishop Gerald F. Kicanas, who delivered the homily.

Moreno hungered for justice and was determined to fix what was broken, Kicanas said, "to heal the deepest hurt, to get down on his knees and ask for forgiveness."

In 2003, Moreno retired because of health problems, including Parkinson's disease and prostate cancer.

"He counted on Christ and Christ has not, not let him down," Kicanas said. "Our friend, we will miss you so much. I only wish, bishop, you had been able to hear all the beautiful things said about you in these last few days."

He died four days after undergoing surgery at Banner Good Samaritan Medical Center in Phoenix to relieve pressure caused by bleeding on his brain. His family brought him back to Tucson on Nov. 17 and he died that night, surrounded by his grandnieces and grandnephews, who sang "Table of Plenty" to him. The song was sung again during his service Tuesday.

A native of Southern California, Moreno instantly caught the community's attention when he was appointed bishop in 1982. During his first year, he embarked on a pilgrimage to visit every parish and school in the nine-county diocese — the fifth-largest in the continental United States, covering nearly 43,000 square miles from Yuma to Morenci and now numbering 350,000 parishioners.

The son of a migrant Mexican farmworker, Moreno was the local diocese's fifth bishop and succeeded Bishop Francis J. Green.

His tenure was marked by two major struggles: The purchase of a diocese television station that led to about $30 million in debt, and a spate of civil lawsuits concerning the sexual abuse of children by local clergy that resulted in a $14 million settlement in January 2002.

Moreno and Green were accused of failing to report abuse they knew was occurring. Those close to Moreno say the local and national sexual abuse crisis took a severe toll on him.

"He was so happy when he was no longer the bishop. Being the bishop was a very great and uneasy burden for him," Cahalane said. "All the accompanying sufferings and challenges during his years as bishop were prayerfully and humbly embraced."

Sheehan read a letter of condolence from Pope Benedict XVI. As pallbearers exited the cathedral with Moreno's casket, many in attendance wiped their eyes as they sang, "May the choirs of angels welcome you/Where Lazarus is poor no longer/May you have eternal rest/May you have eternal rest."

Francis Quinn, bishop emeritus of the Diocese of Sacramento, led the rite of committal ceremony at Holy Hope Cemetery, 3555 N. Oracle Road.

About 400 people gathered around Moreno's casket and sang along to mariachi music in Spanish, including "De Colores," and "Un Dia a la Vez."

Moreno was buried alongside Green and Daniel J. Gercke, who was Tucson's third bishop, from 1922 to 1960.

Also buried nearby is Bishop John Baptist Salpointe, who was appointed the vicar apostolic of Arizona before the diocese was created.

Though virtually all of Moreno's family lived in California when he retired in 2003, and though he had faced harsh criticism for the abuse scandal in his final years as bishop, Moreno decided to remain in the city where he had served for two decades. He lived in a house across the street from Our Mother of Sorrows.

"He was totally dedicated to his parishioners," said Moreno's cousin, Sue Santana, 53, who lives in La Habra, Calif. "He was always there for us when we needed him, but he loved it here in Tucson."

On StarNet See video and a slide show of images from the funeral of Bishop Moreno at azstarnet.com/ faith