Bishops & Priests of the Province of New Orleans Convocation

New Orleans, Louisiana

Wilton D. Gregory,Archbishop of Atlanta

The Alpha & Omega of Our Lives

My Dear Brothers,

I am deeply flattered to have been invited

to be with you if only for a brief part at

the beginning of your time together as

Priests and Bishops of the Province of

New Orleans. I deemed it a great joy to

have been asked to share these remarks

with you regarding the importance of our

Church’s past in our mission as a commu-

nity of faith and as a vitally significant

component of our ministry as Ordained

Ministers of the Gospel. I apologize that

my time with you must be so brief – but

my own Presbyteral Council meets to-

morrow morning and I don’t want them

to sell the ranch – at least – not without

me!

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In light of this current Year of Faith,

which Pope-Emeritus Benedict XVI intro-

duced, to commemorate the 50th Anniver-

sary of the opening of the Second Vatican

Council, I believe that 2013 has provided

all of us with abundant possibilities to

ponder some of the numerous significant

world events that have occurred within

that half-century time frame. I opted to

use the word ponder since it’s the word

that we most frequently hear used when

describing Mary’s reflective stance dur-

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ing those events surrounding Jesus’ birth

and the finding of the adolescent Christ

in the Temple when He spoke to His par-

ents about His mission. She thought

carefully about what these events and

predictions would mean both for Him and

for Her. To ponder something implies

that we believe that God may be at work

in the events and moments of our past

and for our future.

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Many of our perspectives regarding the

issues that we currently wrestle with to-

day would then have been vastly different

50 years ago and directly impacted by

the Second Vatican Council, which was

still in its very early stages. At that mo-

ment in time whenever Catholic Bishops

and Priests might have managed to meet

together as we are today now more than

50 years later, there would probably

have been a noticeable mood of euphoria,

felt throughout the Church, of excite-

ment, curiosity, and perhaps even jubila-

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tion. We would then undoubtedly have

been much more formally attired than we

may be today and probably we would not

have mingled so easily or casually to-

gether. Moreover, this new informality is

indeed a very welcome change as it now

draws priests and bishops together in a

treasured friendship and important rela-

tionship that enriches all of us.

The world itself would have been mas-

sively different fifty years ago. The his-

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toric American Civil Rights Movement

was also then in high gear at that time

and the races were still routinely and in

some places formally separated from

each other. Most of us might not have

been very attentive to the mobility needs

of those people among us with disabili-

ties; the long-lasting International Cold

War was then heating up. For the most

part there would not have been any femi-

nist movement to speak of and few peo-

ple would have been so concerned about

public safety at that moment as we obvi-

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ously are today because of the seemingly

endless occasions of vicious public vio-

lence that erupt and have claimed far too

many innocent lives. World events

would not have been as omnipresent in

all of our lives as they are today thanks

to cyberspace and the Internet.

Fifty years ago, unlike today, we would

have received most of our information on

the evening news or with the morning

newspaper. The price of gas was very

cheap especially by current standards,

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media entertainment was generally PG,

and Catholic priests as indeed religious

leaders in general were almost univer-

sally admired and widely respected. We

each probably have cherished memories

of priests from our youth who now loom

large as our idols if not the instruments

of our own vocations. They remain as a

treasured part of our heart’s history and

their good examples continue to give an

idyllic character to that past that remains

a spiritual and personal treasure from

our youth. As Archie and Edith would

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eventually croon together – “those were

the days!”

Within the past month, our nation has ob-

served the 50th Anniversary of the March

on Washington and the exquisite sermon

that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. preached

to the people of this nation on that epic

occasion. In recalling that momentous

event from a half-century ago, many com-

mentators invited us to reflect on how

life has changed for our nation and our

world. Some observers have chosen to

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see the glass as half-empty while others

have seen it as half-full. It all depends

upon one’s perspective on history. Much

of that perspective depends upon where

one might reside on the racial divide of

our nation. Certainly, the oppressive

structures that kept all of us – Black and

White People – either enslaved in our

privileged state or in our social condition

have changed. Yet we also must confess

that more must still be done since op-

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pressive tyranny and unbridled privilege

always make for a noxious twosome.

Very few of us however would honestly

ever seriously choose to return to those

bygone days in spite of the fact that we

all do seem to like to reminisce about

them and the retrospective carefree cli-

mate that we might imagine that they

characterized. There is something quite

charming and intriguing about recalling

things from the past. We all have the

very human tendency to embellish the

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good things from yesteryear and rou-

tinely to diminish the unpleasant things

that were also present. We might all

tend to imagine some past era as some-

thing of a golden age – whether one such

a time ever actually existed or not. How-

ever, we are men who are essentially di-

rected toward tomorrow even as we must

honestly understand, embrace, and value

the gifts of yesterday.

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One of my very favorite liturgical prayers

is the one that we now offer in English

during the blessing of the Easter candle

at the Vigil Mass where we pray: Christ

yesterday and today, the beginning and

the end, the alpha and the omega, to Him

belong all times and the seasons. This

blessing prayer references a title from

the Book of Revelation the Church pro-

claims as we begin the great paschal cer-

emony that assures us of Christ’s domin-

ion over all times – times from the past,

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our own times with all of their many

problems, and the times that are yet to

come with their still unknown challenges.

There are no moments when Jesus Christ

is not in control of creation and over

which He does not have ultimate author-

ity.

Even in our darkest hours – and there

have been more than a few of them in re-

cent years, the Lord Jesus never loses

His control over His Church or abandons

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us. Great saints whose witness and fi-

delity never languished have also accom-

panied every era of suffering that the

Church has endured or conflicts in which

she might have been engaged.

The great and life-giving paschal mystery

of the Lord has mastered every moment

in our history and managed to overcome

every adversity and every human blunder

– including those for which we are re-

sponsible in our own times. Further-

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more, our futures are all secure in Him

who is Lord of every moment and season.

This is constantly a very important

prayer for our entire Church but perhaps

especially for those of us as priests and

bishops as in today’s environment where

we might easily be given over to believ-

ing that the best times for the Catholic

Priesthood may have already occurred

for us and for the ministry that we share.

This is perhaps the unarticulated sugges-

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tion of those who believe that if we could

just turn back the clock to another mo-

ment in time when life seemed to have

been more secure and certain, more pre-

dictable and controllable that such an ad-

justment would solve all of our problems

and concerns today. There is no turning

back in search of a past sanctuary – for

those of us who believe in Christ Jesus

there is only preparing to live today with

courage and to look forward in hope to

tomorrow – even as we praise God for the

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past that in fact has prepared us for to-

day and for tomorrow.

Several months ago I received a stinging

retort to one of my bi-weekly columns in

our Archdiocesan newspaper in which I

had extolled the work of the Second Vati-

can Council. The writer took harsh ex-

ception to my very positive comments

about the Council and suggested that the

problems that we now face within the

Church are directly related to the council

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and its ecclesial reforms. The author in-

sinuated in the text that if the Second

Vatican Council had not taken place and

initiated so many sweeping and destruc-

tive changes in the Church that the diffi-

culties that we currently face might well

not have occurred. The letter suggested

that the Second Vatican Council itself

was the specific cause of our ecclesial

unrest as though all the rest of the world

would simply have stood still – save for

the Second Vatican Council. Viewing and

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judging the past in light of the present is

always a very risky undertaking.

Imagine with me for a moment what our

ecclesial life might be like today had the

Second Vatican Council and its sanc-

tioned reforms not have taken place. The

Church’s liturgical life would be as it was

in the 1950’s, our ecumenical and inter-

faith encounters and dialogues with peo-

ple of other religious traditions would

have to be reset, our penitential prac-

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tices would be reestablished as they were

a generation ago. What impact would

that now have on our lives and the life of

the world around us? Would it even be

possible to revert to such customs and

practices that once identified and classi-

fied us? Would it not be more similar to

those often popularly staged reenact-

ments of famous moments in history that

do help to remind all of us of a past that

is clearly important to remember but that

does no longer quite fit the world in

which we live today? Even those folks

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who enjoy recreating historic moments

from the past must eventually take off

the replica costumes, set aside the props,

and return to the world of today.

While I did not respond to the author of

that critical letter presuming that what

was sent to me was more of a cathartic

exercise rather than a sincere desire for

amenable dialogue – we have all received

many such communications before – I am

certain. Nevertheless, the letter did

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prompt me to think seriously and quite

often since receiving it, about what our

Church would be like today if the Second

Vatican Council in fact had never oc-

curred. Rather than maintaining its once

perceived secure and steadfast equilib-

rium, I believe that our Church would

now be hopelessly anachronistic – even

more so than many people consider us to

be already. The world simply would not

have paused in its development simply

because the Second Vatican Council

would not have taken place. The soci-

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etal, moral, political, and technological

changes would not have been shelved if

the Second Vatican Council were not to

have occurred. The Second Vatican

Council in fact was intended to help to

prepare us to face and to respond to the

challenges that were just around the cor-

ner and that have now come to ultimate

fruition.

The post-conciliar Church truthfully has

faced lots of serious difficulties many of

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which still do need to be addressed. Our

catechetical efforts have genuinely fal-

tered to the point where we now find our-

selves confronting a second – if not ap-

proaching a third generation of Catholics

who may know little or nothing about

their own faith heritage. We must also do

a better job at helping our people under-

stand the connection that must exist be-

tween the doctrines of the Church to our

social teaching. These indispensable and

symbiotic dimensions of Church life are

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not “either/or” propositions for Catholics

– although they are sometimes described

as such.

One of the first consequences of the Civil

Rights Movement was the enthusiastic

proliferation of serious studies of the his-

tory and the heritage of people of Color

in this nation. Where did we come from?

What are the gifts that we brought with

us and now have to share with others?

We African-Americans were all quite ea-

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ger to discover the uniqueness of our

backgrounds as this knowledge and his-

tory had been denied to us and to our an-

cestors as a result of the oppressive con-

sequence of slavery and its aftermath.

There quickly developed many television

programs like Black in America, and

books like Before the Mayflower and

Roots, and myriad college and university

courses that delved into African history.

African-Americans and others were very

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excited to recapture our history as a first

step toward restoring our dignity and fur-

thering our place in this multi-cultured

nation of ours. This interest in the past

was an important step toward securing a

more hopeful and informed future.

Many Catholics today unfortunately sim-

ply know far too little about the legacy of

our Church and the teachings of the faith

that we now share. Although cyberspace

continues to make universal experts of

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any one with a computer, we have not al-

ways found thorough and clear presenta-

tions on the Internet that detail our his-

tory – with all of its obvious difficulties

and its triumphs. Recently some efforts

at presenting that history and heritage of

Catholicism have been made available

and seemingly attracted a great deal of

positive feedback – Father Robert Bar-

ron’s Catholicism and Tom Peterson’s

Catholics Come Home are but two exam-

ples. Both of these apologetic sources

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present a balanced and positive perspec-

tive on the faith and the heritage of the

Catholic Church. They are professionally

done, attractively made, and intended to

introduce or re-introduce people to the

Catholic Church. What adds to their suc-

cess is that they encounter people using

a medium that is appealing and effec-

tively used in other venues – televised

productions readily available in cy-

berspace. We have become a society

that receives most of its information elec-

tronically and with visual display and not

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through books. Whether you like that de-

velopment or not, the Church must make

much more effective use of these vehicles

of social communication.

Society in general has developed a keen

interest in genealogy. We can find all

types of resources on the Internet that

claim to be able to trace our personal ori-

gins. Ethnic groups have long celebrated

their heritage with festivals and celebra-

tions that trumpet where a particular

people originated and how these cultures

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and traditions have enriched our world.

People want to log onto sites that will

help them discover where great-great-

grandfather came from, how our family

name is related to other names, what

personal legacy we can bring forth that

will link us to others from our cultural or

ethnic community. These searches are

intended to discover our pasts so that we

can situate ourselves more accurately in

the present moment. Occasionally these

searches are intended to help us better

understand our physical and medical

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make-up with the practical implications

such knowledge brings.

We priests and bishops must also become

much more engaging in the presentation

of the faith of the Church. One of my

close priest friends started a study group

in his parish a couple of years ago – that

has now developed into two different

groups – that reads and reflects on The

Catechism of the Catholic Church – not

the abridged version that was published

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by the USCCB – but the full text of the

catechism. He told me that many of the

people in his parish are fascinated to

read and to reflect with him on the artic-

ulated faith issues that are contained in

the catechism. Folks do want to know

about our faith heritage – not in a sugar-

coated or fabricated fashion, but with the

real honest truth – not just the highly

publicized historic or contemporary scan-

dals, but also with the glory and the

splendor of our Church that belongs to

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yesterday. But why is the past important

for us? The past is essential for us be-

cause it will help us to live faithfully to-

day and to prepare for tomorrow.

It might seem surprising to some people,

but there is an authentic interest on the

part of lots of our folks to understand and

appreciate our Catholic faith more per-

fectly. We just need to develop better de-

livery systems to quench that desire. My

dear brothers, the 12-minute Sunday

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homily is usually not the moment for

such necessary catechesis. The homily is

our weekly opportunity for spiritual inspi-

ration – certainly not devoid of informa-

tion – but a resource for our people for

living out the faith that the Liturgy

makes sacramental. The liturgical

homily is the occasion when we must

bring together in a harmonious unity the

Word of God, the ordinary lives of our

people, and their hopes for living out

their faith in the week that lies ahead.

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Our Catholic people, no less than all of

us, come together each Sunday to plan

their lives for the next week. They un-

derstand that the future – even the rela-

tively immediate future of the next seven

days – needs preparation so as not to

catch them or any of us unprepared. The

Sunday assembly is filled with folks who

intend to do better next week than they

may have done last week. It is an assem-

bly of believers who really wants to take

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their faith seriously into the week that

lies just ahead. We homilists are com-

missioned to become their spiritual

coaches to whom they regularly turn to

with reasonable expectations and high

hopes that we can indeed prepare them

to perform better in the game of life.

Sunday worship is filled with folks who

believe in tomorrow and they ask us to

help them to get there. One sure way

that we can help, them prepare for to-

morrow is to help them gain a healthy

and a balanced understanding of the yes-

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terdays of the Church. Like good

coaches, we help them remember where

they came from even as we challenge

them to see the road that lies ahead for

them and for us. If we are to become

successful faith coaches, we need to find

a chalkboard that will allow us to exam-

ine the plays and the strategies that will

bring success to our players.

We Catholics believe that God’s Revela-

tion arrives for us through a dual but al-

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ways unified source of Scripture and

Apostolic Tradition. Dei Verbum the

Dogmatic Constitution of the Second Vat-

ican Council on Divine Revelation is the

shortest of all of the four dogmatic con-

stitutions from the Second Vatican Coun-

cil and yet one of the most significant of

the council documents as it explains how

the faith is dependent upon our sacred

heritage and the very Word of God. This

council document enshrines our Apos-

tolic Tradition always combined with Sa-

cred Scripture as the vehicle through

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which God reveals Himself to us. God’s

Voice echoes throughout our Tradition.

Our history and heritage are not insignifi-

cant nor can any of us afford to neglect

this sacred legacy. We find God Himself

in our traditions and in our yesterdays.

However, the Church Universal places in

a unique position of faith the Apostolic

Tradition the gift of heritage that belongs

to the ages. The tradition that the

Church enshrines is far more than the

mere customs and practices of a culture

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or people – as important and cherished as

they may be. When the Church holds up

Tradition as a source of God’s Revelation

of Self, she refers to that Tradition which

links us to the Apostolic age and contin-

ues throughout each generation and era.

It is that meaning of Tradition that is

most sacred and timeless.

Nevertheless, we are not limited to our

yesterdays and in our heart of hearts, we

must always anticipate that the best is

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yet to come – certainly, this will be found

in the fullness of God’s Kingdom, but

even in the immediate tomorrows that lie

ahead for all of us. It is that hope that

has been so manifest in the election of

Pope Francis whose simplicity and humil-

ity have already won the hearts of people

throughout the world. Even our cynics –

of which there is no shortage – seem to

take heart in the witness of this gentle

and approachable man. Francis dares to

challenge those of us who are priests and

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bishops to raise our eyes and see the

promise of tomorrow. He also demands

that we lift up the poor and the neglected

in our midst above all because they are

our sisters and brothers made so in

Christ.

The Holy Father has invited all of us to

risk hoping in a tomorrow that is

grounded in the realities of today and

yesterday but always open to God’s

grace-filled tomorrow. His emphasis on

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the poor is also a reminder that they are

never to be treated as collateral damage

in the wake of economic progress. His

unassuming character is a very important

reminder to all of us as pastors that we

can be most effective when we station

ourselves in the very midst of our people.

We priests must be willing to be spiritual

anchors for the communities that we

serve – constantly helping our people to

be rooted adequately in our Catholic faith

heritage, but always open to tomorrow

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with its many graces and the obvious

challenges that will inevitably confront

us. We do this not by merely focusing on

things from yesterday and pretending

that former times were perfect; neither

can we simply neglect or deny our her-

itage and faith legacy and disengage our-

selves from the treasures and triumphs

of our inheritance. We must each be-

come the consummate realists in the

world of today who always remind our

folks of our hope for tomorrow and as-

sure them that the future is already se-

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cure in Christ. Christ yesterday and to-

day, the beginning and the end, the al-

pha and the omega, to Him belong all

times and the seasons. Amen.

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