THE TABLET
March 29, 2008

Bishop Addresses Brother-Priests

Following is the text of the homily delivered by Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio at the Holy Thursday Chrism Mass celebrated at St. James Cathedral Basilica.

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

Recently, I read an article entitled, “The Shot at the Summit:  The Forgotten Mass on Iwo Jima.”  The Battle of Iwo Jima, one of the bloodiest on the Pacific front, claimed the lives of 6,800 American soldiers, with another 19,000 wounded.  Just to give you an idea of how bloody this one battle was, consider that the present war in Iraq, now just over five years old, has claimed the lives of 4,000 American servicemen and another 26,000 wounded. 

The article was about the Mass celebrated by Father Charles Suver, a Jesuit Navy Chaplain, who attended to the Marines as they scaled Mount Suribachi. 

The author of the article wanted to research this historic event since a picture of the Mass was taken by the famous World War II correspondent, Joe Rosenthal, who was responsible for perhaps the most celebrated picture of the Pacific front, namely, the raising of the flag on Iwo Jima.  What Joe Rosenthal, a Jew who later converted to Catholicism, also captured was the celebration of the Mass in the midst of the chaos of war. 

The author of the article, Steve O’Brien, does not offer a very positive assessment of our Church today.  Let me quote a sentence from the article which reveals his own prejudice.  He says:  “Those of us who are born into the Church are faced with a particular problem when we consider the structure’s advanced state of decay.”

I sometimes find myself sharing such a negative view of our situation today.  The decline in Mass attendance and religious practice throughout our country and in our Diocese is a major preoccupation. The corresponding consolidation and closure of our parishes and schools often weighs heavy on my mind.

Nevertheless, I am optimistic about the future of our Church.  Each parish I visit seems to be experiencing a springtime.  Most recently, in celebrating Mass at St. John Vianney, with a new burgeoning Chinese community, or the privilege to hear confessions at St. Elizabeth’s with St. Thomas the Apostle Parish, the humility and holiness of our people remind me why I am a priest.  Structural decay may be perceived by some, but the Body of Christ remains alive and well.  Whatever infection afflicts us will be healed through the healing power that comes from the Eucharist.  It is the Eucharist whose institution we celebrate tonight at the Mass of the Lord’s Supper.

The last line of his article is what prompted me to use it today in speaking to you.  He says: “What matters is that we Catholics once had priests who were heroes.  Let’s pray for the return of the titans.”

My brothers and sisters in the faith, I could not disagree more, for today we perhaps have more heroes than ever among our priests, who work in difficult circumstances and celebrate the Eucharist, just as Father Suver did for those Marines.  

I am inspired by the heroism of our men, such as Father Jim Krische, who recently has returned from Iraq, having served our troops there.  He certainly qualifies as one of our heroes.  I ask him to please stand so we can acknowledge him.  Also, we acknowledge Father Tim Hirten, who currently serves as an Air Force Chaplain who is also back in the United States having just returned from Iraq.  But being a military chaplain is not the only way priests becomes heroes.  Our priests who struggle with health problems and do not give up, such as Tom Brady and John Brogan, deserve our prayers and admiration.

How can we define heroism, and what does it have to do with priesthood today?  In a book entitled Hidden Holiness, The Voices of Priests, by Thomas McCabe, a resigned priest of our Diocese, we can find recorded interviews with some of our priest heroes like the late Jack Peyton and Bryan Karvelis.  There are others who may be here today who honestly explained their journeys in the priesthood.  They are John Gildea, Joe Nugent, Bob Vitaglione and Frank Shannon. 

Although I do not agree with all the opinions expressed in McCabe’s book, I recognize that the hidden holiness that is strived for is exactly the heroism that is present today.  These men and all priests in some way imitate the Messiah described by Isaiah in the First Reading and personified in Jesus of Nazareth as He preached His first sermon of His public ministry heard in today’s Gospel.  You are the heroes of the Gospel who bring glad tidings to the poor and set the oppressed free.  You all need to know that I am proud to be your Bishop and I am grateful for the gift of each and every one of you.

What would lead anyone today to think that we no longer have holy priests who are still heroes?  Those who stand above the crowd, who are committed to priestly service, making the sacrifice and witness of celibacy in a culture that seems not to understand it at all.

 Together, we must continue to make every effort to encourage one another to strive to be more like Christ the Great High Priest. My prayer is that we will encourage one another to say with one voice “Because zeal for your house consumes me” (Psalm 69).  The only acceptable sacrifice is our life.  Are we willing to make that sacrifice once more?   

It is precisely the violation of the promises we made on the day of our ordination that has led so many to misunderstand the holiness and heroism of priests today.  Failures in terms of priestly celibacy, and most especially, the unfortunate and lamentable situation of priests who have abused children and young adults, call the Church, but especially we who are bishops and priests, to penance and reparation. 

While unfortunately some have tarnished the image of the priesthood by using their authority to inflict pain in others, so many more priests use that same priesthood to heal and cure ills that we find in our world today.

Now I would like to address you, the people of Brooklyn and Queens represented here today, those watching on the Prayer Channel and all of the people of God.  Your priests are men of God who must speak to you about the things of God.  They try to reflect God’s love for you in all they do.  Love them, pray for them, support them in every way so they can attain the holiness to which they are called and to which they assist you to attain.  And if they disappoint you, forgive them.  We, together, heal the wounded healers, as has been said so often, by our prayers and sacrifices.

Today, we come to bless the oil of the sick, that of catechumens and of chrism.  The healing balms represent the sacramental ministry of priests and bishops who bring Christ’s healing touch to the sick, to those seeking union with Christ through Baptism, to those confirmed and those ordained.  These holy oils today are our pledge to seek holiness so that in all that we do we act in the person of Christ in the Church today.

We, priests and bishops, need to seek holiness and become heroes in faith because only in this way can we invite others to consider the priesthood and religious life.  There is nothing that attracts young people to a vocation like witnesses who live heroic lives. My brothers, take seriously the responsibility to invite others to consider vocations.  I have asked for parish vocation committees to be established.  Father Kevin Sweeney will send materials and offer workshops on how to begin these circles of prayer and recruitments for vocations.  Support the new John Paul II House of Discernment for men considering a vocation to the priesthood. Refer potential candidates to it as well.

What have we lost and what needs to be regained?  Perhaps in the Church today we have lost an appreciation of the true priestly character.  The priestly character is one which reaches man in the depths of his being; it changes a person, irrevocably building on his baptism to make him one who acts directly in the person of Christ in the Church.  It is no mere function that a priest performs, but rather the life-changing event of ordination directs his future life in ministry for the good of God’s people to bring them to holiness.  For the minister himself, although his actions in Christ are not diminished by his own lack of personal holiness, is called to strive for holiness as Jesus taught us, “therefore be perfect just as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Mt. 5:48).

We are not happy today to be called to perfection.   In this broken and complicated world we judge few things to be perfect, much less ourselves.  It is exactly to this state of life, the priesthood, that Jesus calls us “to be perfect as His heavenly Father is perfect.  In what that does perfection consist?  If God is love, then that means to be perfect in our love, to image God’s love for all people as best we can as human beings.  The priest, above all, must be a lover of persons and a lover of God.  The heart of the priest is one that is capable of bringing joy to others because in that heart, like the heart of Jesus Himself, is a burning sense of mission and purpose.  There is a zeal for souls and a lack of concern for self that enables the priest to rise above his own human imperfections, to strive to be perfect as the heavenly Father is perfect, in holiness and love.

My brother priests, there is no substitute for holiness in our lives.  To demonstrate the kind of striving that there has to be in the pursuit of holiness, St. Bernard of Clairvaux tells us that there has to be no plateau.  He would suggest that we are either moving ahead or moving back. St. Bernard would argue that the moment in which we stop trying to be better, we have stopped being good, as Father Peter Vaccari presented during our recent curial retreat.

Yes, we must try to be better, never satisfied with the present, but always looking to the future, to a Church renewed and that is directed to the New Evangelization.  The Church that is always human is also one that strives to reflect the divine in all of its human aspects.

On this Holy Thursday as we celebrate this Mass of Chrism, again I plead with you my brothers not to give up the quest for holiness.  Live an ordered life in which the means, proven by the ages, enables us to find holiness of life.  Daily prayer, especially Liturgy of the Hours, the regular celebration of the Eucharist, times of personal prayer, including Lectio Divina, and the Rosary.  May I remind you of the request I made last Holy Thursday of a ten-minute period of prayer before the Blessed Sacrament.  These pillars of priestly life support our quest for holiness. 

So today, as we celebrate the institution of the Eucharist as you will tonight with your people, renew your commitment today to a life of priestly service and all it entails, the promise of chaste celibacy and obedience and respect for God’s Will as it is reflected in the humble service I offer to you as father and brother.  You are my heroes, and as the song goes, you are the wind beneath my wings.  You must fly as high as the eagles.