Sunday, June 20 - XIII Sunday Ord Time
And so I am off, from this beloved Cathedral to Saint Cecilia’s in Leominster, what some call “The Cathedral of the North.” And I will embrace my tenth flock with the same joy that has filled my heart with every new assignment.
Admittedly, especially when I look at you, there is also a deep sadness in saying goodbye to this Cathedral community for the second time. In a way, it is not really goodbye, however, for this Cathedral Church will always be my home, as it is yours. But I will leave a piece of my heart with you, whom I have come to love and admire. Thank you for all the ways in which you have inspired me to be a better priest. And remember, when a priest does something to lead you closer to Christ, it is only because he got out of the way and let the Lord work his grace.
And for whatever ways I may not have been successful in that task, I ask for your forgiveness. I am so very proud of what God has accomplished through us in this holy place, for we are worthy of the great heritage with which God has endowed us.
When Father John J. Power founded this Church in 1866, Worcester had been a city for only eighteen years. President Lincoln had been killed by an assassin’s bullet just a year before and Saint John’s Church was celebrating its thirtieth anniversary. The “new immigrants” were predominantly from Ireland and Sweden, including my great-grandparents, Honorah Lynch and Stephen Loughlin, who would be married in the Cathedral eighteen years later.
You and I have become a part of that history. And beginning next week, a good and holy priest, Father Hugo Cano will join with Father Diego Buriticá in helping you to write the next chapter.
For we are so very different today than we were in Fr Power’s say, but in a remarkable way, we are very much the same. Our “new immigrants” are now predominantly from Latin America and West Africa and their energy, spirit and faith help us to evangelize an increasingly secularized American culture. While 38% of our city self-identifies as Catholic, close to 50% describe themselves as having no religion at all.
Of all the places that my almost forty years of priesthood had led me, this Cathedral Church has always been the center. I’ve lived and worked in Rome, in Washington and in Boston for protracted periods of time, but Saint Paul’s on High Street is the place I always come back to. Maybe it has something to do with a line from W.C. Fields: “Home, is where they always have to take you back.”
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When Father John J. Power laid the corner stone of this great Church, 152 years ago this week, Worcester had been a city for only eighteen years. President Lincoln had been killed by an assassin’s bullet just a year before and Saint John’s Church was celebrating its thirtieth anniversary.
As Worcester’s young sons went off to die in the First World War, Father Goggin offered the Perfect Sacrifice in this place for their safety and safe return.
As we suffered the devastation of the Great Depression, the rich and the poor alike ascended Chatham street to beg God to show them a way to get through it all, as Father McGann received them, and led the people in feeding and clothing them in their need.
As the Second World War sent our sons to fight in Germany, Japan, Italy and the South pacific, Father Slattery and Monsignor Kavanagh inspired the people to light candles for them and offer endless prayers for the defeat of Evil and the triumph of the Good.
As Father Elwood and the same Monsignor Kavanaugh before him, welcomed a new Diocese and a new Bishop Wright, who like his successors, Bishops Flanagan and Harrington, Riley and McManus, would gather the people of Worcester to the Cathedra in this Church and weave their voices into one holy Catholic and Apostolic Faith, a song whose strains perdure to this very day.
As on the day President Kennedy was assassinated, and Monsignor Daley welcomed the overflowing masses to enter these doors, weeping in sorrow at the death of the young President in whom they had placed such hope.
Then through the chaotic 60’s and the Vietnam War, Father Burke and his associates tried to help people to make sense of it all and to beg God to give us some peace.
And then came Father Kelleher and Father Manahan and his Monsignor Mongelluzzo. And Father Reidy, Monsignor Johnson and me. And now Father Hugo Cano takes up the reigns as the Rector of the Cathedral Church of Saint Paul.
God bless him, and you. For what God has begun so well in you, he will, most assuredly, bring to a glorious conclusion.
God bless you!
