Last Friday a week ago I received a phone call in the morning from the Bishop of Covington, KY informing me of the death at age 91 of the former bishop twice removed, Bishop William A Hughes. Sixty-six years a priest and 29 a bishop, he had spent recent years in Carmel Manor, an assisted living and nursing home in his diocese owned and operated by the Carmelite Sisters. I thought the world of the good bishop and missed him very much in these later years. Amazingly, Bishop Foyes call was to inform me that Bishop Hughes had asked me to preach the homily at his funeral Mass which was yesterday (February 15th) in the beautiful Covington Cathedral. It was a labor of love so I wish to share it with all of you who have the time and patience to read it.

I must admit that I was somewhat taken aback when Bishop Foyes called me on Friday morning to inform me of the death of Bishop Hughes and indicate that in his funeral directions, he had asked that I give the homily this morning. I am honored since I have long held Bishop Hughes in admiration and once had the privilege of working for him.

Death allows for no survivors and is one thing which all humanity shares in common. No amount of money or any position of prestige buys a “pass” from death’s embrace. It is a reality which we all must eventually face and for which many of us prepare. Seeking a dwelling place in the Father’s house is our life project for “God shows no partiality.” Kings and Queens, Popes and Presidents, bishops and priests, religious and lay all await that moment when we either will or will not be called to the “mountain top” where we will either have the veil which hides our vision of eternity lifted and are invited to join the elect, or face an eternity doomed to never see the face of God. The person of true faith fears not that moment and often when they pass from this life to the next, few tears are shed because there seems to be a surety of a life well lived.

Ninety-one years was a long time to wait for that moment, but unlike Thomas in the Gospel, when one has a fairly certain instinct where Jesus has gone, where He is to be found among us today, and how we follow the path of holiness by following the one person once on earth who came as “the way, the truth and the life”, then a peace sets in and waiting and watching take second place to reflecting on and thanking God for the manifold blessings which have been at the heart of one’s life. So today we gather not in grief but rather in gratitude, today we lift our voices not in lamentation but in praise, today we celebrate a life well lived according to the Gospel and we rejoice, strangely enough, in Bishop Hughes’ passing to the place for which he longed, one with Jesus, Mary and all the saints, and reunited with James and Anna his parents, and with others among his family, friends, and the faith communities of the dioceses of Youngstown and Covington where he served as priest and bishop.

I first met the bishop in 1969 when he was Superintendent of Schools for the Diocese of Youngstown and I as a young, cocky layman interviewing for a position with the Catholic Conference of Ohio. All of the Ohio superintendents interviewed me that day but there was one who scared the daylights out of me, saying little and staring me down. That was Monsignor Hughes. I was sure I would not get the job and I didn’t. But they created a position for me anyway and in the ensuing months I came to know, appreciate and admire all the Catholic school leadership of Ohio and especially Monsignor Hughes. He believed in Catholic education and with the help of several highly talented religious women and one fine lay man, they ran the best diocesan school program in the state.

After my own ordination as a priest, almost ten years later, and my subsequent involvement as a staff person for the United States Catholic Conference, I came to know Bishop Hughes much better, as a friend, mentor, supporter, and defender. He helped me especially come to understand and deal with his seminary classmate, friend of many years, and eventually his bishop, James Malone, a formidable figure of our Church in this country in the ‘80’s who was capable of striking fear in any other person’s heart. Involved as almost a charter member of the new NCCB Committee on Priestly Life and Ministry, Bishop Hughes was a silent author of many of that committee’s best efforts in defining the post-conciliar hope for the priesthood.

He, like his friend Bishop Malone, were bishops of the Second Vatican Council, the latter an attendee and the former a disciple. Excited by the possibility of preaching the Gospel with new enthusiasm and shepherding the Church in the modern world, Bishop Hughes devoted his truly pastoral years to implementing what he saw as the Council’s spirit and vision. I have reflected the last several days on the first reading of this Mass from Isaiah and truly believe that Bishop Hughes and his contemporaries in the episcopacy saw their roles in the Church in a new and prophetic manner – to reconcile all people to Christ and one another through collegiality, subsidiarity, and liturgy. Those three words, collegiality, subsidiarity and liturgy, led them to long for a more sensitive, loving, caring, inclusive Church, which would be at its best when “the People of God” gathered for Eucharist and the other sacraments. What he may have held sacred, as he was ordained as priest almost 66 years ago gave way to a somewhat albeit slightly different vision of Church when he was ordained a bishop 29 years ago. Those two men, both bishops from Youngstown, OH, could at times be stubborn, but they felt it was Gospel and Council driven stubbornness. And in the face of criticism at times from some who did not share their vision, they stayed their course and led as they believed their Lord would wish of them.

Early in my own life as a bishop, I needed the support of other bishops and through the kindness of the late Archbishop Kelly of Louisville, I was invited to join the bishops of the province of Louisville in their Jesus Caritas support group. I had to fly farther and travel longer but it was a grace to be with these brothers who were also bearing the “heat of the day.” Bill Hughes once again sat opposite and facing me on many occasions but this time there were smiles exchanged, words of comfort and support instead of the sharp questions of our first close encounter. He had retired and Bishop Muench had succeeded him so he seemed freer. He would come to my diocese on the Gulf coast in the winter for a few weeks in the sun and to play golf. And in the Fall, we would often meet in South Bend for a Notre Dame football game. He lived long enough to see the Fighting Irish in a national championship game but its final result may have hastened his death.

Nonetheless, I know that he felt secure that on the day when death and the Lord would come to claim their servant, he felt that he had served the Lord well enough. Last Friday was that day. We pray that he rests now in peace, having heard the words for which everyone in this beautiful Cathedral longs to hear: well-done, good and faithful servant. . . .come now to the place which the Father and I have prepared for those who love me.”

He was a humble, simple, loving and caring servant of Jesus Christ who like the Lord he served came not to be served but to serve. Rest in peace, dear Bill, and may perpetual light always shine upon you.

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Praying the Prayer for Protection of Religious Liberty with the congregation before the end of Mass. Photo kindness of Maria Mertens.

Last night, St. Paul Catholic Church in Tampa was almost full with those who came out to the Fortnight for Freedom Mass. I thank those who came and everyone who has been praying for the protection of our religious liberty.

I’ve included the text of my homily below. The video taken of my homily is also below if you would rather watch than read. You can read a PDF copy of my homily by clicking here.

There are a few photos from the Mass included after the text of my homily below. You can see more photos from the Mass by clicking here.

Brothers and Sisters, 

An often overlooked call to prayer, which in older times was called the Introit and since the Second Vatican Council called the “Entrance Antiphon,” tonight introduces the liturgy and this homily with these words: “These are the ones who, living in the flesh, planted the Church with their blood; they drank the chalice of the Lord and became the friends of God.” 

            Peter and Paul, far from perfect men as we know so well, rose with courage to plant the seeds of faith in the early Church and then sprinkled it with the blood of martyrdom. Peter, imprisoned in tonight’s first reading, by the same King Herod who out of sheer jealousy had ordered the slaying of countless Holy Innocents and John the Baptist, finds himself in chains. From the depth of his faith in Jesus Christ, Peter would not allow his voice to be silenced by an agent of the state.

Paul, time after time thrown in jail, tortured and beaten, simply because those in power, civic or religious, could not and would not brook a challenge to the established order, the introduction of a new way of life focused on a Jew crucified as a too-often purveyor of a message of love in a culture of doubt, suspicion. Or put another way, an advocate of a new faith rooted in a new covenant between God and humankind. Paul’s comfort in his final days on earth, before his beheading (a manner of death experienced sixteen centuries later in England and visited upon St. John Fisher and St. Thomas More who parted company with their king over their Church’s view of the indissolubility of marriage) was found in that in running the race, at least in later life he had fought the good fight.

            I chose this evening to call us to prayer at a moment when a dark cloud hangs over the future exercise of freedom of religion in our beloved country. The climate and culture of this moment in human history creates a welcoming environment for an attack on religion. Slowly but surely, this nation, founded as “one nation, under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all,” which we pledge alliance to, is becoming more and more Godless. How sad! Without God there can be little hope that is true and lasting hope. In his final days in Rome, Paul was not surrounded by a clamoring crowd yelling, “tell us more, tell us more.” Rather, he might have looked upon his efforts as singularly unsuccessful. But, listen to his words of confidence before his death: “I have kept the faith. From now on, the crown of righteousness awaits me, which the Lord, the just judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me, but to all who have longed for his appearance.” Now there is a man of hope.

            Likewise, the clumsy, impetuous and sometimes even imprudent Peter never gives up hope in God and in Jesus Christ. One can take on the prevailing opinion when one is personally comfortable that in so doing we are following in the footsteps and riding the shoulders of those who have gone before like Peter, Paul, John, Thomas, and the Baptist, all of whose feasts we have observed during this fortnight.

            As a more modern example, the Carroll brothers of Maryland – one a signer of the Declaration of Independence and the other the first bishop on this soil. Fighting in the revolution for the freedom we til this time have enjoyed, Bishop John Carroll often found himself defending to his superiors the American experiment of democracy and true freedom of religion. He and the other Catholics of the colonies found the first amendment to the Constitution to offer solid, sustainable hope for the future. Countless other bishops and laity over the succeeding years rose to defend the American ideals because of the hope which they had in their new land and its leaders. Even a less than zealous man of faith like Jefferson of Virginia argued strenuously for true free exercise of religious liberty because it was not just one of the basic pillars of this new land, but its first privilege, its first right.

            Tonight I seek your support in prayer to God who is both the source of our hope and inspiration to see what is at stake at this moment. Carroll, Jefferson, Washington, Franklin, and Lincoln would and could never have envisioned the federal government defining what is a religious exercise and what is not. They fought and many spilled their blood for the contrary. Left to stand, the language of regulation of a single department of the executive branch of government would define Tampa Catholic High School, Jesuit High School, the Academy of the Holy Names, Saint Joseph and Saint Anthony Hospital, Catholic Charities and our homes for those with HIV-AIDS and Pinellas Hope (to name but a few) as not Catholic ministry because more than ten percent of the staff and the recipients of the education, healing ministry, homeless shelter are not Catholic. I repeat the line of Cardinal Timothy Dolan, “we do not assist people because they are Catholic, but precisely because we are Catholic.” They can’t regulate our freedom to be who we are and destroy our very  Catholic DNA which derives from the two great commandments, love of our God and love our neighbor. It is the Gospel which defines who we are, not a single agency of our government.

            What we are praying for tonight and throughout these days in our parishes and homes is simply this: let us define our mission, our purpose, our purview, free of outside influence while in harmony with the foundational ideals of our great nation and we will continue to be those in our neighborhoods who teach our children to be good citizens, who reach out to those who have either fallen through the safety net of previously government responsibility or who have no access to the safety net, who heal those sick and dying, who care for widows and orphans, who fight alongside others for freedom when called for, and fight for peace always.

            Brothers and sisters, failure to uphold our freedom of faith and liberty of practice is not an option even if the general culture of our society sinks into a religion of secularism. Others may chose other paths, but we pray that this great nation will allow us to continue to walk the road less travelled by if that should become the case. Catholics love this country, have spilt their blood for this country, and have risen to serve others in this county and tonight we pray for the continued ability to live free as Catholic Americans.

            Finally, it may well be a long walk to reinforce religious freedom. But it was a long walk for Peter and Paul. One could and did say “I have competed well; I have finished the race.” The other could and did say Now I know for certain that the Lord sent his angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod. . .” On this feast day, let us all be women and men of the Church and become at this moment in history to be the ones living in the flesh” seeking and working for the same freedom of religious liberty purchased some 237 years ago at the price of our ancestors’ blood. We shall not go quietly into this dark night.

Giving the homily. Photo kindness of Maria Mertens.

Praying the Litany for Liberty with the congregation. Photo kindness of Maria Mertens.

Fortnight for Freedom Mass. Photo kindness of Maria Mertens.

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Taking the Oath of Attorney during the Red Mass. Photo courtesy of Maria Mertens.

Yesterday at beautiful Sacred Heart Church in Tampa we celebrated the annual Red Mass invoking the blessings  of the Holy Spirit on all judges, lawyers and clerks in our area. The Mass derives its name not from the color of vestments which the priests wear, but when the custom originated in Britain many centuries ago, the judges all wore red robes, hence “the Red Mass.” Yesterday was also the Feast of St. Andrew the Apostle and since all the apostles suffered a martyr’s death, we always wear red when we remember them. The largest assembly of lawyers and judges in my time gathered to pray for the gift of divine guidance through the gifts of the Holy Spirit. We have great Catholic lawyers and judges and it has always been a pleasure to be with them. Each year on the Sunday prior to the first Monday in October opening of a new session of the Supreme Court, many of the nine justices travel to Washington’s St. Matthew Cathedral for what may be the largest and most important Red Mass held in the nation.

In my homily I chose to bring up a possibility arising from Health and Human Services regulations which bother me deeply precisely because I and many others find them   violative of the religious liberty assured us by the first amendment to our Constitution and also of our personal moral consciences. These regulations will apply to the implementation of the soon to be fully implemented federal health care law.

The Diocese of Saint Petersburg has approximately 2300 employees who participate in a generous health care plan as part of their employment. While it covers almost everything, it excludes contraceptives, abortifacients, sexual enhancements like “Viagra”, etc. The first draft of the regulations for implementation issued by the Department of Health and Human Services mandated these and more services which I and others think violate the freedom of religion of our Church as regards procedures which we believe to be not in keeping with God’s law.  Further, if a person is required by law to provide, perhaps in a hospital emergency room situation procedures violative of their individual conscience( in the past they have  been exempt because of conscience concerns), they would be forced by this law to do so. Reacting to the first wave of complaints from the Catholic Church the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services modified the regulations slightly to exempt only Catholics working for a Catholic employer (other religions with serious moral concerns would also be included). Alas, I would still be required by law to provide the services to non-Catholic employees. What kind of sense does that make?

But there is an even larger problem for the Diocese of St. Petersburg. It is self-insured and our plan is only administered by a health care agency. Therefore the diocese by this law is an insurance company and all insurance companies must provide these services with currently no exemptions allowed. There are no exemptions to even include the situation outlined above. If the argument focused on abortion, a matter of public morality since the life of another person is involved, I suspect many more people would carry the fear which I have about this exercise of regulatory authority but because it seems to focus on contraception, a matter of private morality, lots of people do not understand what is at stake here. My genuine concern is that it is simply the proverbial camel’s nose under the tent. In my homily I outlined perhaps the only option left for the diocese as an employer if these regulations stand and believe me, colleagues in ministry and service and I will experience a marked loss of health care insurance coverage. A Church cannot be forced to violate its teaching, do something which is possibly immoral, and stand idly by and watch our Catholic doctors, nurses and aids forced to perform procedures which are both against their conscience and previously protected.  That’s what involved in this and there is considerable opposition to the position of the Church coming from Planned Parenthood and other organizations which see this moment as an opportunity to close the conscience clause exemption which they have long despised. If you don’t believe me, read the blogs of those other groups. No one in yesterday’s congregation has the power to fix whats wrong with the Affordable Health Care and Patient Protection Act of 2010. Only the President of the United States and his Secretary for Health and Human Services can do that but a gathering for Mass such as yesterday’s does provide me a forum for vetting a serious question of the intersection of law and morality and learning from those far more skilled at interpreting and applying the law than myself. From the reactions which I immediately received and throughout the day yesterday by e-mail and personal contacts, posing the matter of religious freedom was appreciated and as you can see below, I asked nothing of those present but to listen, reflect and pray.

Here follows my homily to those attending the Red Mass. I believe you will find it simply a pastor raising a moral v. potentially legal dilemma before people far wiser than I about the law, individual rights, and the danger to something many deeply cherish and love love about our country to date.

Distinguished Judges, members of the bar, clerks and friends of the courts

            It is an honor for me to join you once again in our annual invocation of the Holy Spirit for each of you in your respective and awesome responsibilities as dispensers and arbiters of justice in this time and place. Realizing fully my own need for the gift of wisdom from on high, I am certain that it is this gift of God and this gift alone which unites us this afternoon in this place and for this celebration.

           “Come follow me” is the invitation, which our Lord extends to Andrew, the apostle whose life and death the universal Church celebrates today, and to his brother, Simon. Such an invitation is also a generic call to all of us to follow Christ in the path of discipleship and service to humankind. No one living near Capernaum along the Sea of Galilee that day would have thought a thing about it because both men were simply uneducated fishermen. They were not antiquities forerunners of Rhodes scholars or McArthur fellowship award winners, they were what they were, fishermen.  But in addition to three years spent in the close company of the master teacher, Jesus, they would with nine others gather in one room and await the infusion of wisdom, courage, understanding, knowledge, piety, counsel, fortitude and fear of the Lord, all gifts of the same Holy Spirit to whom and for whom we pray today. The Lord heard their prayers, gave them the gifts necessary to shape, form, and lead His people then and  until His Son returns again in glory.

            Today in many ways attempting to follow the Lord requires that each of us know our limitations and return from time to time to seek divine assistance. I am sure that you can say the same as I do each morning when at prayer: “Lord, I do not know what is in store for me today but I am sure that today will be unlike any other, give me grace and strength, wisdom and patience.” The words of St. Paul in the first reading are assuring to those of us who realize that we were not born with all of life’s answers: “no one who believes in him will be put to shame. . . .For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. “

            Life on planet earth, the North American continent, and the United States has over time become exceeding complex and challenging and matters which the framers of our Constitution could never have envisioned now propel daily discourse. It is incumbent upon religious leaders like myself to present a consistent moral vision faithful to the law of Christ and the teachings of the Church and upon members of the judiciary and bar to navigate the tricky waters of law and precedent. But both of us are bound by vow or oath to be faithful to something, which must stand the test of time, be it creed or constitution. Occasionally our paths cross and less frequently but still occasionally they collide. I have such a fear at this moment in time.

            You probably have heard that the Catholic bishops of the United States have focused a significant amount of attention in the last few months on the matter of religious liberty and the rights of individual conscience. The matter is headed, of course, to the courts bit it is not that direction which I wish to call to your respectful attention today. Rather I think you should know that the Catholic Church through its bishops are in conversation with the Administration on certain published regulations of the recently enacted Health Care Plan which we find both unacceptable and worse still which we see as frontal attacks on our liberty of freedom of conscience. As employers we would be forced to provide in health care plans services and procedures which clearly are contrary to our beliefs and teachings and individual Catholics would be required to participate in procedures which in the past have enjoyed conscience protection in the law. So far the Administration has not publicly blinked on any of these matters of deep concern to us. If they fail to shift in their present positions, then 2300 employees of the Diocese of St. Petersburg will lose their health care coverage which they have come to treasure and rely upon – I would simply give them what we would have paid for their healthcare and tell them they have to look for coverage elsewhere. For the first time in my adult life, I foresee the possibility of some form of civil disobedience and I am extremely uncomfortable at even the hint of such a thing.

            We just celebrated the national feast day of Thanksgiving. The Puritans and Pilgrims of Massachusetts and the Catholics of Rhode Island and Maryland came to these shores precisely to found and build a nation which would respect and honor religious belief. The First Amendment’s guarantee of freedom of religion reflects those foundational principles. Our founding mothers and fathers fled and escaped precisely what my Church and other denominations are coming to see now as assaults on their freedom of religious exercise and conscience protection. As difficult as it is for me to understand the reluctance of Christian Scientists to seek medical assistance, it is at the heart of their creed, their faith, their belief and I would fight to protect their rights in conscience. I hope others will see what we find at stake in this moment in history. One federal judge in California has said that the guarantee of “religious freedom” and lack of interference from the government pertains only to what we do on Sunday in our Churches and Friday nights in our Synagogues. All else is subject to government regulation. Dear sisters and brothers, we need the Holy Spirit badly.

            You heard the Gospel of Matthew a short while ago and its retelling of the call of the apostles. There is a different account to be found in the Fourth Gospel of John. There Andrew sees Jesus and asks, “Rabbi, where are you staying?” Jesus responds, “come and see.” After spending a few hours with Jesus, in John’s Gospel Andrew then quickly seeks out his brother Simon and says, “we have found the Lord.” Today we pray that the work of the Lord can be found in our system of laws and their administration, in the women and men of the bar, rooted in justice and desirous of proclaiming liberty to all. Come, Holy Spirit, Come!

Pray for your country and its leaders. It is not too late to fix what needs to be fixed.

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Below is my homily from the Funeral Mass for Father George Rozycki at St. Joseph parish in Zephyrhills on Friday, July 1, 2011.

I wish to begin by saying up front that I am deeply honored to have been asked by Father George to both celebrate and preach his funeral Mass. I am also somewhat more intimidated than usual because if you just happened to be listening a few weeks ago to the discussion on the forthcoming document on preaching to be issued by our national conference of bishops at our recent Seattle meeting, the present bishop of Oakland took the floor to say that he had heard many funeral eulogies but no real funeral homilies. I hope this effort might please both the bishop and our dear Father George.

“Bishop, I have no fear of death but I so wish I could have some time to rest and enjoy my life after retirement.” Those words were Father Rozycki’s to me in the hospital barely three weeks ago. How he looked forward to his retirement in two years! “I wish I could have some time to rest. . .”

Father George’s prayer was answered though neither in the exact time nor manner in which he hoped. But he did indeed get his wish, deeper and richer than any of us can imagine. “Rest” is at the heart of life with God in eternity. George Rozycki as everyone in this Church knows was a just man, a kind man, and a gentle servant. He was exactly the person about whom the writer of the Book of Wisdom had in mind when it was written, “the just man, though he die early, shall be at rest.”[Wisdom 4:7-15]. How incredibly fitting and consoling are the additional words of Wisdom, “He who pleased God was loved; he who lived among sinners was transported. . . .he reached the fullness of a long career; for his soul was pleasing to the Lord, therefore he sped him out of the midst of wickedness.” Wickedness can come in life from a variety of sources and living and dying with pancreatic cancer certainly qualifies as a form of that from which God in his goodness can spare us.

In a final gesture of love, the Father called his priest George to forego more suffering and come more quickly than he or we might have liked to rest, eternal rest. Since Monday afternoon, I understand more clearly Wisdom’s closing words: “But the people saw and did not understand, nor did they take this into account.” Left with simply the hollowness of human measurement, this death was untimely, unjust and unfair, and to some in their attempt to measure God’s love, even unkind to Father George. But to people of faith, Father was simply “snatched away” to receive his reward of rest.

How can we be sure that in this case death was a precious gift? We listened a few moments ago to Peter in the Acts of the Apostles remind us of the duty of the baptized in general and the ordained priest or deacon in particular. Peter says, The Lord “commissioned us to preach to the people and to testify that [Christ] is the one appointed by God as the judge of the living and the dead.” [Acts 10:34-36, 42-43]. For this reason alone I firmly believed that Father George was “dead-on” in professing to have no fear of death; he understood that God showed no partiality, even to Jesus His Son, in sparing the final moment of transition and our Father George knew that in his life as priest, he had always tried to act uprightly and therefore be found acceptable to Him. So Jesus came on Monday last and received George’s soul to present him to the Father Most High.

Biblically then the case can be made that in calling George Rozycki to Himself, the reason was that in his life Father preached Jesus Christ as the judge of the living and the dead and the manner was in harmony with how we all should wish a loving Lord to snatch us away when the time is right for Him, though not necessarily for us. But how about us? How do we deal with this sudden sense of loss?

Jesus wept at the news of the death of his friend Lazarus. It is one of only two times in the Gospels when Jesus shows the emotion that may have swelled in us with the news of Father’s death. Prior to that incident and early in his ministry he showed His remarkable compassion and understanding in confronting grief – the raising back to life of the son of the widow of Nain. In a foreshadowing of how countless centuries of his followers would react to death, he was first “moved with pity” and spoke with both compassion and empathy to the yound man’s mother “do not weep.” He raised the dead man back to life, foreshadowing that resurrection, which will follow all human death when we will be raised again to new life. When the Lord comes for the just man or woman, it can be said truly “God has visited his people.”[Luke 7:11-17].

Today Jesus is saying to you George and Wanda Rozycki, Father’s parents, do not weep. He has visited George and taken him to Himself. He affirms to you, his brothers, nieces and nephews, that after forty-one years of priestly service, the High Priest Himself has taken ownership of your brother and uncle and given to him the rest he sought. He has said to you the people of St. Joseph parish, your pastor’s body may have been full of cancer but there is no cancer to be found on this community of faith, this parish which he has sustained for the past twelve years. God has visited his people. On Monday in a manner we cannot fully comprehend, he said to your shepherd, “young man, I tell you arise.” Dear brother priests and deacons, we too know not the time or the place but with George’s faith in the Lord, we must echo his testimony, “I do not fear death.” His example of service, his sense of humor and emotional stability, his love and support for many priests who have passed through this parish give me both example and hope that whenever my moment comes, I too might be ready as I believe he was.

Thank you Fathers Theo and Matthew for lovingly guiding this parish while your pastor was away and unable, thank you Theresa for caring for him and St. Joseph’s so competently and lovingly and thank you Almighty God for sharing Father George with us and taking him when and how you did. In his death we proclaim with new meaning: thy kingdom come, thy will be done.

And as for you, dear George, REST, REST IN PEACE. AMEN.

Stained glass window at Our Lady of Guadalupe parish, Waimauma. Photo courtesy of John Christian

This day before Pentecost was quite a day for me. The morning began with a large confirmation at Our Lady of Guadalupe parish in Wimauma where I confirmed 64 young people, almost all of whom were Mexican. Readers who are unaware of local geography in the Diocese of St. Petersburg need to know that southeastern Hillsborough county is home to many migrant workers who live in the camps or low cost housing. This part of what is too often thought of as “Tampa” is agricultural and thus the presence of our largely Mexican brothers and sisters. Most of the confirmation was done in Spanish although the generation I confirmed was clearly more comfortable in English than Spanish. However, the sponsors with their hands on the confirmands’ shoulders seemed very grateful to hear the words spoken in Spanish. Over the fifteen years I think my spoken Spanish has improved even if it remains a challenge to extemporize.

Our Lady of Guadalupe is probably our second largest concentration of Hispanics in the diocese, following only St. Lawrence parish in Tampa which has the highest concentration of Hispanics per square mile than anywhere else in our five counties. Father Demetrio Lorden, a native Spaniard, has been the pastor in Wimauma for slightly longer than a decade and he spends himself for his people. Any ceremony there must leave the Anglo propensity for good order at the vestibule door but I love celebrating the liturgy and confirmation before this very lively and grateful community of people. The music was good, the children were all over the place which was also fine, and the young people well prepared to receive the sacrament.

Where serendipity or Divine Providence comes into play is that by some application of the unexplained, at four o’clock this afternoon I said Mass at Old St. Mary’s parish in downtown St. Petersburg for the Vigil of Pentecost and then I officially blessed and inaugurated a lovely new shrine to Our Lady of Guadalupe. Here the congregation was totally Anglo. It seemed to me appropriate, however accidental, to dedicate a shrine to Our Lady of Guadalupe on the Vigil of Pentecost. While Scripture is silent on whether or not Mary or any other women were present at the Last Supper, the same scriptures are very clear that she was present with the apostles in the Upper Room for the coming of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. Having given birth to Jesus at the moment of the Incarnation, she was present for the birth of the new body of Christ which came about on Pentecost in the form of the Church. The Church is the new body of Christ. I think I was able to meld the Pentecost reality with the presence of Mary both on that occasion and in our new Shrine to her under the patronage of Our Lady of Guadalupe in my homily which I will share with you below. You can form your own opinions about my success or failure.

The shrine was a gift of Federal Judge Elizabeth Kovachevich in honor of the late Monsignor John McNulty who was diocesan director of Pro-Life Activity for years and her parents, one of whom was an active parishioner of St. Mary’s while the other, her mother was loyal and dedicated to St. Paul’s. The judge’s desire was to place the shrine in such a manner on Church property that it could easily be seen from the adjacent and huge ALL CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL just to the west. A parent worried about the birth of a child or the health of a child could go to the windows facing east and toward the Church, see the Shrine to the patroness of pro-life causes and seek her intercession with Jesus on behalf of their child. It works. I wish to thank Father Cletus Watson and the Third Order Franciscan Friars who staff St. Mary’s for their toleration of this project in their property. For myself, in addition to the Judge’s pro-life concept, I wanted a place in Pinellas county (St. Petersburg and Clearwater among many communities) where anyone could come at any hour of the day or night and pray to Our Lady of Guadalupe. I hope and pray that it will be a place of short pilgrimage for all who seek her assistance.

The Prayer of Blessing of a Shrine Photo Courtesy of Vivi Iglesias

So today was devoted to the Mother of the Redeemer under the banner of the Patroness of the Americas, Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe. All in all, a high gear run up to tomorrow’s Solemnity of Pentecost. Happy Birthday to we Catholics who have for millenia acknowledged that the Church was born when the Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles and they began their missionary effort.

The Shrine in the rear of Old St. Mary's, downtown St. Petersurg - Photo courtesy of Vivi Iglesias

THE VIGIL OF PENTECOST AND THE BLESSING OF THE SHRINE TO OUR LADY OF GUADALUPE
St. Mary’s, St. Petersburg June 11, 2011

This evening the Church gathers in Vigil before the celebration of the solemnity of Pentecost, the birthday of our Church, the day on which all lethargy and lifelessness was cast aside with the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the followers of Christ. In some ways it is a shame that this most important moment in the life of the Church does not usually get the attention accorded Christmas or Easter. In other places, families are not gathering to celebrate this Feast and the limited confines of space in our Churches is not challenged by overflow crowds who stand twice a year but not tonight or tomorrow.  Pentecost, the moment of making for the Church will this year come and go with only limited attention paid to it. It is a shame because it is indeed the birthday of the Church.

Among the apostles, the waiting game is over with the coming of the Spirit. From the Ascension to the moment of coming of the Spirit, Acts and the Gospels infer that they remained together in prayer, waiting for the next shoe to drop. When they signed up to follow Jesus, they surely did not expect Him to die an ignominious death. But then, despite his predictions, they did not expect him to rise from the dead either. In those precious days between Easter and the Ascension, he several times told them that he would send the Spirit, the Paraclete, who would mission them to spread the Gospel throughout the world. He told them that He would need first to ascend to the Father before the Spirit would come. They listened but they were never quite sure.

Then with the roar of the wind and with the symbol of fire God visited the earth once again, this time in the form the Spirit, the third person of the Trinity and in a few short moments, they had both the gifts needed for and the mission to preach Christ to all. There was among them, however, one person who never doubted, who waited with equanimity and patience, because she had already been gifted with the Spirit. Her name, Mary. Luke in Acts tell us that prior to the day of Pentecost, “persevering with one mind in prayer and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren” the apostles were graced by her presence.  She who had given life and breath to Jesus prayed for the coming of the same Spirit so that the Church, the remaining body of her Son on earth, might be born.

Integral and essential in God’s plan for the birth of His Son on earth, Mary remained integral and essential to God’s plan for the birth of his Church. Amazingly all this took place in the same room in which Jesus Himself gave birth to the Eucharist. Thus in this place she was to give birth to the new evangelization and through her presence and prayers bless its beginnings.

This afternoon here in this Church which carries Mary’s name, we shall shortly dedicate and bless a new shrine to her under the title of Our Lady of Guadalupe. She is the patroness of the Americas, two vast continents which none of the Apostles could have even dreamt about much less visited. Here on the premises of St. Mary’s her image from the tiny village of Tepeyac, outside of present Mexico City, will welcome all who come to do precisely what she was doing at the moment of Pentecost – praying. They will come to pray to Mary to ask her Son for help in their sorrows and sufferings. They will come to pray to Mary to ask her Son to help our generation and those who follow to have the same respect for human life which God had in choosing to send his only begotten Son to live among us not as a person of wealth and privilege, but the simple son of a carpenter and his wife.

The image that this afternoon we dedicate to the glory of God and the memory of his earthly mother is that which appeared on Juan Diego’s cloak, an image and appearance originally rejected as a hoax by his bishop, but which in the succeeding centuries and decades has rallied the faithful to greater hope in the Lord.

This morning I confirmed 65 young women and men at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in Waimauma. They were all Mexicans, many from the camps of southeastern Hillsborough county. At least ten took the name of Nuestra Senora de la Guadalupe and another ten the name of Saint Juan Diego. The hope of our Hispanic brothers and sisters is that the same Gospel which the apostles preached post Pentecost will continue not to be just preached but lived out in this moment in history, at this moment of need. I have no idea how many of them were documented or undocumented. It would not have mattered to Mary or to the Apostles and it should not matter to us. They trust her even when at times they distrust us. They know she will ask her Son to watch over them, protect them, nourish and encourage them and from her place in heaven she prays that the Church born today will do the same.

Our Lady of Guadalupe is also the “patroness of human life” and especially that life which is carried in a mother’s womb.  I am very proud that her image faces the massive All Children’s Hospital and those disposed to do so who worry for their children there can look down and ask her intercession on behalf of the young lives being treated there.

Pinellas county now has a place with easy access where all of those who love and respect this woman of Pentecost came come and pray. It was God’s will that we bless and dedicate this shrine on the eve of Pentecost. She was there then and she is here now. Nuestra Senora de la Guadalupe, oye nos.

Elizabeth Kovachevich, Donor of the Shrine in the memory of her Parents and Monsignor John McNulty, former pastor of Old St. Mary's - Photo courtesy of Vivi Iglesias

Saint Juan Diego to whom Mary appeared on December 9, 1591 at Tepeyak in a stained glass window at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, Waimauma, Photo Courtesy of John Christian

A crowd of about 600 people begin to arrive for the Memorial Day 2011 Mass in 87 degree heat and our patented humidity.

This morning I offered Mass at Calvary Cemetery which is located in Pinellas County or on the St. Petersburg side of Tampa Bay. It is the only diocesan cemetery of any size and therefore it is the “gathering spot” for Masses on All Souls’ Day and Memorial Day. When I am in the diocese, I am always the celebrant and homilist for both Masses. They are known for the dispatch in which they are offered and for the intense heat and humidity of a late May and early November central Florida Day. This morning they set 500 chairs out and almost all were taken and at least a hundred more chose to stand elsewhere, usually under a shade tree if they could find one. Memorial Day is an important day for Catholics to gather to remember generally the dead but especially those who gave their lives in service to their country or were wounded in the line of duty or were Veterans of the armed services. About fifteen priests joined me this morning in concelebrating the Mass and three seminarians were also present. I wish to share with you my very brief homiletic reflection on this occasion, hoping that perhaps you will find time to offer a prayer for the repose of the souls of those whom you love.

MEMORIAL DAY MASS 2011

Calvary Cemetery

I know that each year I come to celebrate this Mass with mixed feelings. There is the desire to recall in thanksgiving, at Mass, the sacrifices others have made so that we might live in a land of the free and a home of the brave. This is always coupled with the knowledge that it is going to be hot, uncomfortably hot. But you and I come each year, recalling the lives of those who are buried here and especially on this day those who have given their lives in service to our nation and to its people. I am painfully aware that in the last decade another 6000 young women and men have died serving in our armed forces around the world, especially in Iraq and Afghanistan. They are our fallen heroes, worthy of our prayers and remembrance.

We need not dwell at length this morning on our Catholic and Christian understanding of death. It is a release into the life for which we all await – a life where every tear will be wiped away and we shall see God as God really is. It is a life where we will be in communion with the woman soldier, Joan of Arc, and Martin of Tours. But they are names only to us; names of those whom we can be safely assured are at rest with the Lord. There are the others, known only to us for whom we pray this day.

Fallen, wounded, returned – those whom we memorialize this morning are in the hands of God because they lived a life of justice. We know that none of the torments, which can accompany us on our earthly pilgrimage, can any longer touch them. For some their life journey on earth ended far too quickly and in what Jesus said was the greatest act of the love, they laid down their lives for their friends. They are now at peace, having made the greatest sacrifice in imitation of that of Jesus. They have served – their country, their branch of service, their families with honor and distinction.

In return they have been led by He who promised that He was the “way, the truth and the life” and no one who truly believed in Him would ever die but instead would live. We cannot hear these words or recall these images often enough and when we begin to own them as our own then the sting of death and the pain of our loss is lessened.

That is precisely why we gather in the heat of the day each year to recall in prayer the heroic virtues of service, to thank God for the presence of our heroes and loved ones in our lives, to receive the body and blood of He who made the ultimate sacrifice so that the enlistment center for eternal life could be opened for all of us.

Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual life shine upon them.

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This morning (Saturday) at Sacred Heart Church in downtown Tampa, just hours before the Tampa Bay Lightning annihilated (for the moment) the Boston Bruins in the race to Lord Stanley’s Cup and within blocks of that arena, I ordained C. Timothy Corcoran III a transitional deacon for our Church. Tim is a former federal judge/magistrate and asked if he could be ordained in his parish Church and the place to which he would sometimes retire midday for Mass during the recess in his courtroom. Three weeks ago a second seminarian (Deacon Victor Amarose) for the diocese was similarly ordained a transitional deacon at St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary in Boynton Beach with six of his classmates. Tim is an older vocation after spending all of his life as a lawyer and some as a bankruptcy judge in the Middle District Federal Court of Florida. Originally choosing to join first our Lay Pastoral Ministry Program to learn more about his Catholic faith, he first thought about the permanent deacon program which is open to married men (he is single) and then discerned a call to priesthood. He has been studying at my alma mater, Blessed Pope John XXIII National Seminary in Weston, Massachusetts for the past three years. Both men will be ordained to the priesthood, God willing and their own sense of call still strong, one year from today for our diocese.

God's people implore the intercessions of the saints for the man who is to be ordained

Many of our seminarians were present today and from my vantage point I can see them intensely watch and ponder the beautiful ordination rite. Tim’s parents are both deceased and there were only one cousin and spouse present but there were friends from his judicial days among the several hundred in attendance. There is something about ordinations that make them special and today’s congregation joined heartily in participating in the ceremony, from singing loudly to responding in voice and applause at all the appropriate times. There was one moment when the applause went on so long that the former judge in Tim came out and he seemed to be signaling “order in the court, order!” Below is my homily for the occasion.

Homily at the Ordination of Deacon C. Timothy Corcoran III to the Order of Deacon

Sacred Heart Catholic Church, Tampa, FL, Saturday, May 21, 2011

Most Reverend Robert N. Lynch, Bishop of St. Petersburg

Mark Twain, the great American humorist of the 19^th and early 20^th century once said that “clothes make the man,. Naked people have little or no influence on society.”  Often we hear the reverse of what Twain actually wrote, “clothes DO NOT make the man.” Society certainly does acknowledge what one wears and in some instances, the sight of certain clothes be they uniforms, robes, or vestments can bring a sense of peace, a sense of justice, a sense of service.

I think of Twain’s cryptic comment this morning as our local Church prepares to ordain and receive Tim Corcoran as a deacon.  I remember well the first time I met Tim. It was here, at Sacred Heart, some thirteen years ago. On that occasion he and I both entered this sacred space vested according to our state and vocation.  It was the first Red Mass for me in the diocese and Judge Corcoran processed with his legal colleagues of the bench into Mass. On that occasion he was vested with a robe which signifies to we Americans, “justice is present, fairness and equality before the law will be observed, rich and poor mean nothing before the bar of justice.”

Soon Tim will be vested in another sign or symbol – the dalmatic of the deacon. It too conveys a meaning rich in both history and current praxis. In assuming the office, and its vestiture, the candidate for ordination as a deacon accepts a three fold responsibility before God and God’s people: to proclaim and preach the Word, to celebrate two sacraments and assist at the others, and to practice the works of charity. Judge Corcoran when soon ordained and vested once again in this Church which he loves and where so many wonderful moments of his life have transpired will set aside the examples of Thomas More, Thomas Jefferson, or Justice Clarence Thomas and put on Stephen the first martyr for the faith, Lawrence, and appropriately enough here in this place, Deacon Francis of Assisi. The poor should immediately see in the deacon a friend, a source of consolation and assistance, a helper and guide.

Old Testament prophets were understandably not deacons of the New Covenant but they were precursors. As we have so often heard it said, and may it never become a “throw away line”, the task of the prophet is to afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted.  The first reading this morning recalls Jeremiah’s call and commission. He was an unlikely candidate for office of prophet and while God may have waited a number of years before approaching him for the prophetic role and task, God makes it abundantly clear in the reading that God had God’s mind made up even before the prophet was born. We are pieces in the divine puzzle, put in place sometimes early in life and sometimes later.

Peter graphically sketches out in the second reading the perils of pastoring. The first Pope’s words would not make great print for vocation recruitment material as they spell out the challenges of ministry but they are a source of consolation for the minister. When you now preach justice from the sanctuary, Tim, instead of dispensing it as you did so well in a court of law, have the courage of the early Church, of Peter who has finally discovered his backbone, and be prepared for the predictable pushback if your preaching begins to cut close to the bone. In this moment in time, even the Ten Commandments can be a source of controversy but like Stephen, Lawrence and Francis, soon you will dispense on behalf of God true mercy and forgiveness. Use this time of transition to prepare yourself for the ministry to come.

Deacons Timothy Corcoran and Victor Amorose to be ordained priests in 2012

Thank you for responding affirmatively to the call of the Lord of the Harvest and today responding present. Preach well, celebrate with dignity as the presence of Christ in the sacraments deserves, and serve those whom the Lord sends to you in their moments of need. Your pastor for this past year, Father Frank Silva of the Archdiocese of Boston, wrote these words to me this week when responding to my blog on “priestly anniversaries”: “You and the Church of St. Petersburg will be blessed to have Tim as a priest when he is ordained in 2012. I believe he is ready now to embrace a life of service to God’s people given the extraordinary manner in which he involved himself in our parish community this past year.”

For my part I need hear no more. It is time to robe you in the mantle of deacon which is also the mantle of justice, confident that it is God who has called you to this moment and grateful for your response.

The Imposition of Hands - the moment of the conferral of the Sacrament of Holy Orders

Photos courtesy of Bill Peek

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One of my unfulfilled hopes is to some day before meeting the Lord preach the “seven last words” on Good Friday someplace. It will probably await my retirement if it ever happens at all. It would require abundant research, prayerful thought and a discipline which is not usually found in my preaching. Part of the reason which I would like to do this is because I have long been fascinated by the words and phrases attributed to the Lord in his final hours. I know they mean far more than their simple literal meaning. This year, again with the help of Pope Benedict XVI’s superb book on Holy Week, things which I have often played with in my mind take on a richer and deeper meaning and at least today have given me the springboard to reflect on one example of those last words, “I Thirst.” What follows is my homily for Good Friday 2011 at the Cathedral of St. Jude the Apostle. Lent comes to an end at the conclusion of the liturgy today. I hope it was a truly blessed journey for you.

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HOMILY FOR GOOD FRIDAY 2011

I THIRST

“I thirst” Christ cries from the cross before breathing his last. The torture and terror of the day has drained his body of almost all of its strength, his breath is badly labored, blood and water are flowing from the wounds of his hands and side, the pain must have been excruciating and many of us have had the personal experience either of dehydration or an unquenchable thirst.  Christ’s cry for something to help him in his final moments is so very human, so very understandable, and seemingly so very simple.

Pope Benedict XVI in his new book Jesus of Nazareth: Holy Week (pages 217-219) opens up a meaning of these two words far beyond their simplicity. The Romans were beastly cruel but even they offered to those who were to be crucified prior to standing them upright a drink which would reduce the pain and suffering somewhat, an anesthetic of sorts. Jesus had refused, wishing no compromise with the plan of the Father, which through his death would redeem all of humankind of its sins and failings. He sought no relief for Himself to bring relief to others.

In the heat of the midday sun, the response of those near him, perhaps even his executioners, was to offer him a “poor man’s wine”, almost vinegar. The Holy Father points out in his book that in making this request Christ and in recording it John are recalling the text of Psalm 69 “for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.”

The Pope adds that there is to be found in those two words, “I Thirst” also a reference to the great prophet Isaiah’s parable of the vine which envisions Israel as a vast vineyard planted lovingly, given a special place where its product might produce the finest of wine and over which loving care has been taken. “He looked for it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes.” [Is 5:2] From his summit on the altar of the cross, Jesus looked out at the vineyard he had planted for three years and found no harvest, no wine but vinegar, no justice and no apparent love beyond that which hung on the cross.

Pope Benedict once again for a final time on these last words; “…God’s suffering over his people in a way that far transcends the historical moment, so too the scene at the cross far transcends the hour of Jesus’ death. It is not only Israel, but the Church, it is we ourselves who repeatedly respond to God’s bountiful love with vinegar – with a sour heart that is unable to perceive God’s love. “I thirst”: this cry of Jesus is directed to every one of us.” [p.218-219].

So my dear brothers and sisters, today as then Jesus is crying out to us to quench his thirst for souls, his desire for believers who embrace him and his message, who wish to live a life of love and sacrifice. He would have died in vain and even today his suffering might be denied relevancy if all we can offer him is vinegar, not our best but our cheapest or easiest,

It is not the Roman centurions sent to guard him and assure and record his death that he gazes at this afternoon; it is not his loving, heart pierced mother or his beloved friend John that he sees, it is us. He thirsts for us, for our hearts, for our love, for our fidelity, for our willingness to make sacrifices for our love of him and our neighbor.

In so many ways Israel failed him. How about us? Is it all about us and little about Him?

There is much that he would see good in our life as Church today. We do care for the poor, we do act justly and love constantly as the prophet Micah suggests, but do we walk humbly before the Lord? Or perhaps more apropos to this moment are we sitting here, listening indeed but not internalizing the events, which for far too many are merely historical, and not of importance to this moment. He thirsts for you and I and we are unable to satisfy that thirst by simply recalling history. We must make the most of every moment given us in this life to spread and share his love – with joy. The parents who sacrifice for the education of their children give him more than vinegar to quench his thirst. The parish or people who work for justice in our world and community give him more than vinegar to quench his thirst. The couple that despite the occasional challenges of married life together renew their love for each other daily and remain faithful give him more than vinegar. The priest or religious who carry some of the crosses of always being on call to serve God’s people quench his thirst and give him more than vinegar. The teenager who says no to drugs, sex outside of marriage, use of alcohol quench his thirst and give him more than vinegar,

So those words, so seemingly simple, cry out to each of us today to examine our lives and check our response to Christ’s thirst born of his incredible suffering on the cross. They make his passion real once again in our lives. They make us more than bystanders who have gathered to hear once again a good story, reverence a cross, approach the Body of Christ automatically without thinking of the consequences, for Him and for us, of his sacrifice.

If Good Friday is truly to be “good” then we offer him a response to His thirst, which says, “I get it, Jesus.” I am yours and you are mine.

The oil which will be consecrated as the Sacred Chrism before Mass.

For fifteen years now I have both feared and loved the annual Chrism Mass which in this diocese occurs on Tuesday of Holy Week. I fear it because each year I have to preach before almost 200 of my brother priests using the same readings and the same themes each year. I love it precisely because I am with my brothers who animate this Church and make it great. In the end they are a loving and affirming group and I promise myself I will stop worrying about it.  Hope you enjoy it!

Dear brother priests, deacons, religious, seminarians and good people of faith gathered here on this day traditionally devoted to the ordained priesthood,

Approaching these holiest of days, one might easily find oneself preoccupied about many important things. Priests and deacons are busy about final preparations for the Triduum and all of us are looking forward to recall again the passion, death and resurrection of our Lord, Jesus Christ. It is a day for celebrating and strengthening the bond between the bishop and his priests. In one major archdiocese in our own country, there is talk of a boycott by the priests of this Mass this year. It will not happen because the priesthood is too important1in their lives to use this day to send a message. In Australia, ten percent of the diocesan priests in the country have expressed “no confidence” in their bishops yet I know they love their priesthood too much to use this day to send a message. In Ireland, of all places, doubts and concerns have caused one fourth of that nation’s priests to call for an indefinite postponement of the “dewfall” of the new translation of the Roman Missal but the Irish priests will be present this week for the blessing and consecration of sacred healing and anointing oils. Today, I stand before you, my brothers and sisters, look at you, and count my blessings.

Deacons and Priests at the Chrism Mass

Over the past three years I have had the opportunity of gathering with and carefully listening to almost all of the priests involved in active ministry. I can safely say that generally they feel fulfilled in their ministry, consider themselves privileged to be of service to God’s people, and are happy in their priestly ministry to which they will recommit again later at this Chrism Mass.

However, during these days of sharing and reflection some concerns were also expressed by our priests, more pastoral than personal, and always spoken in love, not in anger. At several of the sessions one or more of the fathers stated that “they did not know what was happening to the Church for which they were ordained” and by that they generally meant that there seemed to be a withdrawal from commitment to liturgical renewal, from active pursuit of social justice, from the sense of the Church as being relevant to the people to whom they were ministering, from real concerns about declining membership and declining faith practice. Additionally, concerns about a growing feeling of alienation of many of the faithful which can be occasioned when we bishops choose to draw lines in the sand of who is a good Catholic or a bad Catholic, an uneasiness stemming from deep questions and real concerns about the need for the new translation of the Roman Missal concomitant with the perception caused by the seeming support in certain sectors of the extraordinary form or Tridentine Rite, the priests of this diocese see steps backward from the headier days of ecumenical enthusiasm and lament the lack of timely responsiveness to requests by the diocesan pastoral center, from the growing sense of our inability to reach the youth of our parishes and diocese, fewer priests but greater expectations placed on those presently serving, uncertainty about retirement and the future, dramatically fewer Catholic marriages, fewer funerals, fewer confirmations and the list could go on and on.

Again, I wish to be clear, our time together was far from being that of a gripe session but more an opportunity to speak to me and to one another about where that same spirit of the Lord first spoken by Isaiah and later embraced by Jesus Himself is taking us. What does “anointed in the Spirit” mean for the near future of the Church? What kind of Church can these twenty-nine seminarians with us this morning look forward to and, God willing, the seven who may join them this summer?

My response after thinking about the matters my brothers brought to the table may surprise some and perhaps even disappoint others but in my very deepest being I think that the dreams and decisions that drove our personal commitments to this holy ministry will survive us, and will survive this particular moment in the Church. I say this because I know that Christ is with His Church today and tomorrow and promised to be with His Church until the end of time. Isaiah could rhapsodize about the Spirit of the Lord present in a very tough time because for this prophet the future was to be found in faith in the future and not in the terra firma of the lived faith experience of his moment. Jesus could reaffirm from day one in his public ministry that he was willing to proclaim the good news to an audience that was known for being stiff-necked, intransigent, judgmental and argumentative, and dismissive at the least and bellicose at its worst. For both Jesus and Isaiah, it was neither the best of times nor the worst of times.

What is happening in the Church at this moment in history is also happening in the secular world. Narcissism flourishes while love of neighbor languishes. A decade of war and financial shenanigans leaves little left for the poor and vulnerable. Do unto others has diminished limits and a more muted call except for the catastrophic like the earthquake in Haiti and the tsunamis in Indonesia and Japan. The focus of our personal charity is more determined by media interest than Gospel imperatives. And no one, in the Church or in our nation wants to admit that by 2025 Catholic Hispanics will equal Catholic Anglos even in this diocese, a sure and certain moment for which we are poorly preparing.

Dear brothers, yours and my priestly pulse perks up when we proclaim the Gospel as counter-cultural to the world in which we live. For those of us who anguish about the direction of the Church today, we still most often feel at our best when preaching about what ought to be than necessarily what is. If the Church is to be ever more relevant to our people today, it gains the greatest credibility from what you say, how you act, than from the actions of a conference of bishops or even the Holy See and you have no idea how painful it is for me to say that. It is the Spirit of the Lord, which is upon you Sunday after Sunday as you bring good news to the poor, as you proclaim liberty to those who are captives of so many things. And when it comes to the sacred liturgy over which we preside, the true “clear voice” is not a commission of bishops meeting in Rome, but the parish priest and his deacon proclaiming and unpacking the Scripture withs clarity, applicability, passion, dignity and love Sunday after Sunday and celebrating the Eucharist and the other sacraments with reverence, wonderment, awe and beauty. Do that and God’s people will not care that the Lord is with our Spirit once again or that we will find the place under our roof unworthy as it may be for the Lord to come but we will believe that He only need to speak the Word and we can be made worthy. The relevancy of what we say, of what we teach, of how we act is a shared responsibility of priests and bishops. It is we who can and will renew the Church and the face of the earth with the help of the Holy Spirit. It is we and none other who can make the Spirit of the Lord take root in our five counties. And while it is to be expected that we might have concerns about the future, we can and should never despair of the future for it will be then as it is now presided over by none other than Jesus Himself.

It is clearer to me as I approach the final quarter of my time among you that the Church which you and I will leave to those who follow will be quite different than what we have experienced. It will be financially poorer but most likely spiritually richer. It will be more demanding but yet more rewarding. The new evangelization may well almost replace the traditional classroom as the engine of religious education. The role of the laity will be even more significant. The pendulum will once again swing from the current focus on the past to the genuine needs of the present and the future and, though not in my lifetime, to perhaps another Spirit-filled ecumenical council to restate, review, and renew the vision for Church articulated fifty years ago. The Church’s message to the world will cease being less “no” to more “yes” even while traditional values, morals and teaching remain in place as they must. Guiding the world in how to live in the midst of reality in a relevant way will bring back some of those whom we have lost along the way. Until that movement from the current global ecclesial inertia begins, progress from the present will come from you my brothers, for you have been anointed, chosen, assigned and empowered to make Christ present to the world and the world open to Christ.

The hope then for the present of our beloved Church rests with all of us here today who renew again our commitment to the priesthood we sought however long ago, received on the day of our ordination and day after day practiced. We make Christ present to the world when we act like Christ in the world. God’s people hear the words of Christ when we speak with compassion, understanding of human failure, with love and patience. Those words endure while others fade. You, my brothers, make Christ real, Christ present, Christ for today and tomorrow. If from time to time in the last 2000 years the Church of Christ has confronted its own weaknesses and failures, it is, as St. Paul said, Christ who has made it strong. You are to your people both the witnesses to hope and the bearers of the truth.

Finally in this context, I think of our four senior priests who this year are retiring from active ministry. Two are sons of Ireland and two are sons of Spain. Imagine the uncertainty that was theirs when they left to come to serve on the Florida peninsula. They left a majority Church in Spain and Ireland to preach to the minority of Catholics. For almost five decades they proclaimed the Good News, set people captive to all kinds of bad things free, and made Christ present day after day in so many ways. They began their ministry during the pontificate of Blessed John XXIII and lived much of it during the time, of soon-to-be Blessed John Paul II. Through an ecumenical council and its implementation, five popes, five bishops and God knows how many letters from the Chancery, they have served God’s people with fidelity to mission and message, with joy and sorrow, with grace and good will. They leave believing that the rest of us will strive hard to keep the flame of faith alive, and like they we shall succeed because our beloved Church belongs to Christ and to none other and we are servant shepherds, serving God’s people and proud of it! No person or scandal can remove from the face of God’s earth, the good we priests do in His name. We are like those courageous men who stormed Normandy’s beaches, often unknown to one another, united by a single commission to take the highest ground for virtue and charity whatever the cost for Christ Himself. We are indeed a band of brothers. Blessed be God forever!

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In one of the Gospel accounts of the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem for the final time, Jesus tells his disciples to go into Jerusalem, secure a room and prepare for the Passover Meal. His instructions are quite specific, as specific as today’s Gospel account of the securing of donkeys for the triumphal entry. I like the other account because it helps us understand the context and content of this very special week, which we are beginning today. Jesus specifies the place, the Upper Room, the occasion or context which is the remembrance of the Passover, and the reason, “celebrate.”

As we begin this Holy Week, the Lord invites us to enter into the context and content of what might arguable be called the most important week in human history – the week he bought with his own suffering and death our ransom from sin and our ticket, as it were, into eternal life. To do this properly and to experience it most deeply, we too must journey to Jerusalem, prepare a place in our hearts to recall these moments of our salvation, and celebrate even the most tragic of deaths, albeit with a great ending.

Jesus calls us to gather here, in our parish, on Thursday night to recall the moment of the twin institutions of Eucharist and Priesthood. He calls us to gather here, in this Cathedral on Good Friday to listen once again to the price he paid to redeem us and how he loved us to death, and to return on Easter to hear the angel’s news that he has risen from the dead, just as he said he would and that by that fact alone, if we live our life according to the commandments we shall reap the benefits of both his death and rising.

To me it is difficult to envision spiritually experiencing the joy of Easter without in some way experiencing the moments which led up to it. If you have time only for Good Friday, come and listen again to the passion account of the Evangelist John, reverence the cross on which hung the salvation of the world, and receive the bread of life which your Church does not wish to be long without. He is begging us to prepare a room for him in our lives this week, to recall, reenact, renew the three most important moments of Christianity. There can be no Easter without Good Friday preceding it.

This Cathedral or your parish Church is the place to which He is sending you to prepare to celebrate the true Passover from death into life, from evil into virtue, from failure into the greatest success in history. Don’t leave here this morning without planning to return, for part or all is the three most important occasions of our life.

+RNL