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—-The Southern Cross, August 17, 1967
ARCHBISHOP HALLINAN’S INSTALLATION MASS SERMON
“More In The Midst Than At The Top”
Archbishop Paul J. Hallinan, Archbishop of Atlanta, delivers homily at Installation Mass, August 10th k
There is going on in the
Church today a radical, far
flung reformation. To reform
means to reshape - to consider
the past, and present (not
simply as dreams or visions)
but as the working materials
of the future. Out of the ideas,
the dialogue and the inter
action that make up our daily
fare, out of the guidelines of
Vatican II and the theological
studies and sociological sur
veys which have followed it,
a new Catholicism is taking
shape. The substance re
mains. it is the shape that is
changed.
Christ is the Head, our bro-
ter; we are the members,
sons like Him of our Father.
We guard that same deposit
He gave us, but we hope with
Augustine, Aquinas and New
man that we will deepen our
understanding of it. The God-
given code of right and wrong
is still our way of life, and it
is conditioned not by popular
vote or polls, but by a fresher,
more relevant grasp of God’s
will. We still pray and praise
God in our worship, but we
have made the remarkable
discovery that God under
stands English, French and
Bantu as well as Latin.
What is the shape of things
to come? A great deal more
freedom, much flexibility. And
lest these two conditions might
destroy the skeleton and flesh
of our faith, we need a growing
fidelity to Christ and to those
he chooses to carry out His
Will - laymen, religious,
priests and bishops. They as in
the parable of the Sower hear
the word of God, understand
it, keep it and bear its rich
harvest.
For centuries, the Church
has been pictured as a Py
ramid - the Pope at the peak,
and the laity at the bottom;
the bishops, priests, deacons
and religious in between. It
was symmetrical, pleasing to
look at, easy to understand.
But it was closed, and tight,
a little too smug, a little too
secure. It failed to catch the
high spirits and daring of fire
cast upon the earth, a light
burning on a mountain, a
fishing boat setting out from
shore, a net cast into the sea.
The shape of the pyramid
satisfied the eye, but not the
mind and certainly not the
heart of man.
Every page of the record of
Vatican II points to a totally
different shape. The lay-
clerical distinction is quali
fied by the striking concept
“priesthood of the faithful”,
the levels of priest - bishop -
pope are now conditioned by
a sharing of service and
authority that is called “colle-
giality”. We might find many
figures of speech to describe
the new shape of the Church, to
replace the pyramid. Perhaps
the phrase Open Circle de
fines it best.
Remember the engravings
in the old catechism? There
was a hint of the open circle
on the very first page. God
the Father, arms extended,
gazing at the new creation -
plants, animals and the happy
man and wife before him. They
were all God’s own - and he
found them good.
In the Last Supper painted
by Da Vinci, the open circle
is indicated by the central
figure. The high priest,
Christ, turns on either side to
His apostles, speaking with
them in every day dialogue,
feeding them with the
sacrament of His Body and
Blood, climaxing the eucha-
ristic sacrifice. There is
nothing closed or tight or
pyramidical in this scene, in
fact it has been observed that
for centuries, priests turned
their backs on their people at
Mass in sharp and ironic con
trast to our High Priest Christ
who stood in their midst,
sharing His presence, words
and even Himself with them. I ~
recall no artist who ever
painted a Last Supper that had
Our Lord facing the wall.
The open circle received its
final sanction the day after the
Last Supper. The God-man
hung from the cross facing
His enemies in the majority,
those who loved him in a pitiful
minority. He sees them all,
the faithful, the separated
brothers, Christians and Jews
and pagans. The arms are ex
tended wide in a full embrace
of mankind. Saints and sin
ners, His mother and the
thieves - all are caught up
in those weary arms. His
blood mixed with our sweat
and sins and tears. This was
no pyramid; this was the open
circle of Redemption: (2 Tim.
2,4) “God our Savior wishes
all men to be saved and to come
to a knowledge of the truth.”
This new form of the Church
is heither novelty nor in
vention. It is a correction.
It is a rediscovery of the
gospels - what God wants His
Church to be. In other times,
other shapes may have been
effective. But in a world grown
used to self-reliance, dialo
gue, involvement and the de
mocratic way of life, the
pyramid just will not do. The
open-circle is scripturally
authentic and historically ap
propriate.
Bishop Frey, we people,
priests and bishops of the
Province of Atlanta welcome
you with an open heart to this
diocese of Savannah, rich in
faith, broad in its concerns,
colorful in its history.
Savannah has never feared to
relate the Church to its given
century, its immediate locale,
its present generation.
Once its leader was John
England, Bishop of Charles
ton, probably the most
venturesome and democratic
this country ever had. Another
was the stormy Augustin Verot
who marked his first speech at
Vatican I with the stirring
words; “I come from
America”. He defended in-
tellectural honesty and the
rights of" science. He said
they should be busy defending
the rights of the negro in
stead of blasting obscure Ger
man philpsophers with ana
themas. He wanted the Church
to rehabilate Galileo, get rid
of pious fictions in the Bre
viary, and not to alienate Pro
testant Americans by an in
opportune definition of papal
infallibility. England was Irish
and Verot was French, but
they spoke in a voice as truly
American as it was Catholic.
Out of Savannah have come
priests like Monsignor T. J.
McNamara and the late Mon
signor Joseph Moylan. And be
sides the clergy, thousands of
sisters and laymen have en
riched the Kingdom. The
Georgia Laymen’s Associa
tion, in the 20’s, 30’sand40’s,
is perhaps the most out
standing Catholic lay group in
United States history, giving
our Protestant citizens an
image of the Church they found
far more credible than the
biased picture that cynical
politicians used for personal
gain.
Nor has Savannah ever held
its great men to herself. With
a truly Catholic heart
she obeyed the Holy See when
Verot went to Florida, Gross
to Oregon and that genuine
spiritual leader, a man of true
conciliar renewal, Archbishop
Thomas McDonough went to
Louisville. He is present here
today to witness his suc
cessor’s installation.
Other Savannah men have
given their service to the
Universal Church. As England
represented the pope in the
troubled areas in Haiti and
West Indies so did Archbishop
Gerald P. O’Hara in Roumania
after World War II, going on as
apostolic nuncio to Ireland and
later to Great Britain. The
episcopal mentality of this
area has never been to “stay
at home”, because Christ His-
self continually went about
doing good. One Savannah
Bishop, Ignatius, Persico,
even became a cardinal, but he
had to leave Savannah and re
turn to Rome to do so.
A bishop can be located at
the top of a pyramid, but an
open circle caUs for a dif
ferent position. The Vatican
Fathers gave a full picture of
this new role for the bishop:
“he gathers God’s people to
gether through the gospel and
the Eucharist... he teaches
them the faith, and the rea
lities of freedom, of family,
of education, civil society,
the arts and science, the just
distribution of goods, peace
and war, and especially the
poverty of those whom Christ
loved the most. In the liturgy
of the Mass in the Cathedral,
the bishop takes his encircl
ing role, in a single prayer,
at one altar with the fuU
active participation of all
God’s holy people, surrounded
by his college of priests and
other ministers.”
In this open circle, the
Council itself defines the posi-"
tion of the bishop - not at the
top, but “in th midst of his
people as one who serves”.
Around him are his faithful,
“living and working in a com
munion of love”. He welcomes
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and loves his priests, listen
ing to thelm and trusting them.
And his arms, like Christ,
stretch out to all the brothers
baptized and part of the
Church, as well as the non-
baptized everywhere - be
cause like Christ he loves
them.
The view is better from the
center than the top. The bishop
does not take, as the military
do, the high ground. They
walk and live among their
people. The pyramid is gone;
the Church is now the open
circle, and the bishop is in
its midst as one who serves
his people.
Savannah’s new bishop,
Gerard L. Frey, will not find
this position awkward or in
effective. As priest, teacher
and pastor he has been truly
at the center since his or
dination in 1938. His ordinary,
Archbishop Philip Hannan,
spoke Tuesday of his work as
teacher - especially in the
vigorous catechetical pro
gram of the Archdiocese of
New Orleans, and his direction
of seminary pastoral training.
With others, Tuesday I stood
in the Church he designed and
built, (now the scene of his
consecration) and marvelled
at its liturgical spirit and
precision, and its breath
taking design. Its beauty
pointed to his imagination, just
as the joyous responses and
singing of the people pointed
to his hard work as chief
liturgist of his parish.
Administrator and organizer,
archbishop’s delegate to
southwestern Louisiana, anc
one of four American con-
suitors on pastoral problems
at Vatican II, - recognized
and honored for his dynamism
for priestly vocations, founder
of new parishes, and a com-
passiohate pioneer in the
innercity apostolate, most of
all, a real pastor. Bishop Frey
comes to Savannah, the right
man, at the right time, in thd‘ '
right place.
Since his motto is terse and
eloquent, “I shall serve”, it
wiU never be difficult for his
priests and people to find him.
He will be in the center of the
open circle, “in the midst of
his people as one who serves”.
He wiU be listening, visiting,
with a heart open for those
who need, and an eye keen for
those who would work with
him for Christ.
In Archbishop McDonough, 4
Savannah had a conciliar
leader who returned from
Vatican II to build here a firm
foundation.
In Bishop Frey, it has a
post-conciliar leader to raise
up a new Catholic generation
of Georgians, - in Saint
Peter’s words, “living stones
built into a spiritual house,
a holy .priesthood .... a
chosen race, a holy nation, a
redeemed people”.
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We salute you as our new
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