‘Forever Hail and Farewell’

Details: 12 October 2012

Long Ago

When I was a high school student, I recall being challenged once in Latin class to memorize some of the famous sayings of the ancient Roman philosophers and sages. As I now finish more than twenty years of writing this column in the Southern Nebraska Register, which I entitled from its beginning "An Ordinary Viewpoint", for some reason the dying words of the Roman author Catullus (who lived from 87 BC to 54 BC) came to my mind for the title of this last column: "Forever hail and farewell" (in Latin "In perpetuum ave atque vale"). Another ancient Roman sage, Cicero, wrote: "The beautiful harvest of old age is the recollection of the abundance of blessings previously obtained." I leave off this weekly chore of writing, which, however, despite its occasional inconvenience, I never found to be anything but one of my many blessings, with no regrets, but with a sense of contentment and satisfaction, although I am personally happy to foresee that perhaps I shall find more time in my scheduled retirement for prayer, reading, and several dozen other things I have promised myself to do if God were to grant me some golden years. In a certain sense, writing the column also satisfied my sense of duty, since it enabled me to carry out, albeit in a partial and imperfect way, the duty of preaching and catechizing which Lord entrusted to me, as He does to all diocesan Bishops when He calls us to the priesthood and even more to the episcopacy.

The kindness of many readers, who are sometimes occasional and sometimes steady, and who are also sometimes from beyond the borders of Nebraska, has always amazed me. With no illusions about any large numbers of readers, about the effectiveness of my efforts, or about the extent of the column’s influence, nevertheless it has always been flattering to me to receive "feed-back" and reactions to my efforts, even when this might have sometimes involved disagreements. Now that the governance of our Diocese is soon to pass to the extraordinarily fine Bishop whom the Holy Father has appointed to succeed me, I think it is time for me to start to remove myself from the pages of our diocesan newspaper in order to make room for what I am sure will be the wonderful elements of our promising future. It is hard to imagine a more suitable time for my farewell from these pages as the present days, when we are celebrating a Year of Faith and the Hundred and Twenty-fifth Anniversary of our diocesan existence, and preparing to welcome a fresh, new Shepherd for our diocesan family. It should be remarked, however, that we Catholics also are facing some current and unprecedented challenges, such as modern governmental attacks upon our cherished American religious freedom, relentlessly encroaching secularism, and the corrosive materialism, pan-sexualism, and hedonism that marks our deteriorating culture and characterizes much of the social media. Our new Bishop needs our prayers and support as our Diocese confronts these challenges.

Stealing Words

In order to express adequately my true thoughts and feelings in writing this last column, I find that I really have to use the words of others such as Saint Paul and Saint Augustine. I hope they will not mind my plagiarizing their words and expressions for this occasion. "I give thanks to my God in all my remembrances of you, dearly beloved. You are always in my prayers by my making supplications for you with all joy because of your association with me in spreading the Gospel of Christ." (Saint Paul to the Philippians). "I must distinguish carefully between two aspects of the role the Lord has given me, a role that demands a rigorous accountability, a role based on the Lord’s greatness rather than on my own merit. The first aspect is that I am a Christian, the second is that I am a Bishop. I am a Christian for my own sake, whereas I am a Bishop for your sake. The fact that I am a Christian is to my own advantage, but I am a Bishop for your advantage. Many persons come to God as Christians, but not as Bishops. Perhaps they (the non-Bishops) travel by an easier road and are less hindered since they bear a lighter burden. In addition to the fact that I am a Christian and must give to God an account of my life, I as a Bishop must give Him an account of my stewardship as well" (Saint Augustine "On Pastors").

Blessed John Paul

It was Blessed Pope John Paul II who named me the eighth Bishop of Lincoln on March 24, 1992, and who signed the document to that effect which had me consecrated a Bishop on May 13, 1992, in the Cathedral of the Risen Christ. He and I had been friends for some years before, since, as the Cardinal-Archbishop of Cracow, he had served on the Congregation for Catholic Education in Rome, where I had been assigned as a staff member from 1969 to 1980. His were the words and example that moved me to the regular weekly work of writing this newspaper column over the past decades:

"The call to become a Bishop is certainly a great honor. This does not mean, however, that he is chosen for having distinguished himself among many others as an outstanding person and Christian. This honor comes from his mission to stand at the heart of the Church as the first in faith, first in love, first in fidelity, and first in service. If someone seeks in the episcopal office honor for its own sake, he will not be able to fulfill the episcopal mission well. The first and most important aspect of the honor due to a Bishop lies in the responsibility associated with his ministry. Sometimes you hear people defending the idea that a Bishop’s authority should be understood as precedence. They say the sheep are to follow behind the shepherd, not the shepherd behind the sheep. One can agree with this, but only in the sense that the shepherd leads by giving his life for his sheep. He must be first in sacrifice and in dedication. The Bishop’s precedence takes the form of a generous love for the faithful and for the Church, in imitation of Saint Paul (Colossians 1:24). A certain balance is needed. If a Bishop says, ‘I’m in charge here!’ or ‘I’m only here to serve!", then something is missing. He must serve by ruling and rule by serving. We have an eloquent model of this dual approach in Christ Himself. He served unceasingly, but in the spirit of serving God, He was also able to expel the money changers from the Temple, when this was needed!"

Good-Bye

And so, dear readers, this is good-bye for now. Although I will still be around in Lincoln, you henceforth will be relieved of my weekly "episcopal comment", I am sure to the happiness of some, to the sadness of a few, to the indifference of most! Auf Wiedersehen, au revoir, adieu, na shledanou, do widzenia, arriverderci, adios!