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PAGE 4 — The Southern Cross, September 19, 1985
A Sermon In Stone
Distant Reflections On The Cathedral
South Carolina is not Oz and Savannah is not Emerald Ci
ty, but certainly one of the best places to view the city from
a distance is across the river, from the north, over the ex
panse of marshland that marks the confines of our
neighboring state. I have often been struck by that view, by
the grandeur of the city and the Southern civilization it
represents, which seems literally to rise from out of the
marsh as one rounds the last great bend on 17-A. Whether
with buildings glistening in the haze by day or sparkling
under the stars by night, the scene is always evocative and
probably much more so after a prolonged absence. Savan
nah is home, and I always feel that profoundly when at the
end of a long drive the city comes into view on the northern
approaches to the bridge.
Central to the skyline of our great city and sharing in all
its charm and all its history is the outline of an imposing
church with towering spires, the Cathedral of Saint John
the Baptist. My eyes search the horizon instinctively for
this very tangible witness of Catholicism in Savannah,
because it is not only my cathedral; it is also my parish
church with all the moments of grace that calls to mind and
Fr. John Cuddy
S(. Joseph’s-Macon
Father Cuddy writes a regular column for the Macon
Telegraph. The following is reprinted from that publica
tion.
Do you like what you’re doing? What we do often in
dicates who we are and what we feel about ourselves and
others. So many people do what other people expect them to
do, but they themselves dislike, sometimes intensely, what
they’re doing. If they were really free, they would stop what
they’re doing and do something quite different.
I had a pleasant chat in July on the soul-stirring West
Coast of County Donegal in Ireland with a young grounds
keeper. He was an auburn-haired, bearded Ulsterman who
accepted proudly my compliments on how beautiful the
grounds were. His whole day involved mowing grass on the
golf-course and the lawns around the Great Northern Hotel.
There was so much grass that I couldn’t grasp how he could
keep it all so trim and smooth. But that was his job and he
performed it with pride. I’m glad I took time to tell him how
well he did his job. But he helped me understand that what
you do is not nearly so important as how you feel about what
you do. If you feel good about it, invariably you will do it
well. Isn’t it curious how what you like and do well makes
you feel good, not only about what you’re doing but about
yourself, too?
I have met many people who do not like what they are do
ing. Some do what they do just to make more money. Some
of them need more money to pay their bills and survive. But
If I recall the story correctly, Father Damien had spent a
number of years ministering to the lepers of Molokai. He
had been moderately successful until one day at Mass he
began his homily with the words, “we lepers”.
It seems that from that time on his ministry was much
more effective. There were, undoubtedly, many reasons for
this but I wonder if part of the reason was that the lepers
now saw Father Damien not so much as someone working
for them, or even among them, but-as someone working
with them. They saw him this way because he was now
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all the hopes it symbolizes. More than a parish church,
however, the Cathedral is also a diocesan church, a visible
reminder of a Catholic presence that hearkens back to the
founding of Georgia and the establishment of the city by
Oglethorpe, It is a constant symbol of the long heritage of
Catholicism from Spanish and English colonial times to the
present, a sermon proclaimed in stone.
The church is much concerned today—and rightfully
so—not merely about its past but about its future, about its
duty and privilege to evangelize, to spread the Gospel to the
unchurched. To that end, we are all encouraged to use
every means at our disposal to communicate the Gospel, in
cluding mass media and advertising. For generations, the
Cathedral has been a standing Savannah advertisement for
Christ’s Gospel and Catholicism. As we moderns might
prefer to say, “it makes a statement.” When I was growing
up around the Cathedral and Monsignor T. James
McNamara was Rector, he used to highlight the
Cathedral’s public architectural witness as “the barometer
of Catholic prestige.” In the ecumenically harmonious
climate of Savannah, many beyond the visible borders of
others just want to make more money and more money and
more money. And they have no time to do the things they
really enjoy doing—like going to church every Sunday to
praise God with their fellow-believers or going to an in
teresting movie or reading a stimulating book or just doing
nothing and not feeling guilty about it. No wonder the Lord
Jesus warned us “What does it profit a man (or a woman) if
he (or she) gains the whole world, but loses his (or her)
soul!” (Matthew 16:26.) The word “soul” there means
one’s very self, one’s sense of being someone important, so
meone real.
I have met some people who hate what they do because
they know it is wrong. Their lives are not in order. They feel
helpless. They cannot stop. Some drink too much. And they
resent the fact. Some are drug addicts who despise the in
jections or the costs they subject themselves to. Some are
sexually promiscuous and resent their craving for accep
tance that they know is superficial. Some are involved in af
fairs that are adulterous and they admit their relationship
is headed nowhere and could cause them to lose all they
really cherish. These people, who are basically loving and
loveable, enjoy what they are doing when they are doing it,
but hate what they have done afterwards. They sense self-
destruction, and are afraid. Are they really helpless?
No! The Lord Jesus gives us all the strength and the will
and the means to get our lives in order. He became
human—He is the Son of God—to show us how to get our
"We Lepers"
clearly like them—a leper.
One of the things that seems to make Alcoholics
Anonymous and the other assistance programs modeled
upon it so successful is that they draw together people who
recognize that they have a similar problem. This helps
them to break down certain barriers. It helps them to work
together as partners.
Now it is certainly true that much good is being done for
needy people by those who work for them and especially by
those who work among them. Might we not argue, however,
that if we are to be truly Christian this is not enough? We
must see ourselves, and help those we seek to help to see us,
as working WITH them.
This seems to be indicated in what the Second Vatican
Council teaches: “The joy and hope, the grief and anguish
of the people of our time, especially those who are poor or
afflicted in any way, are the joy and hope, the grief and
anguish of the followers of Christ.”
No, we don’t have to be hungry, thirsty, naked,
undereducated, jobless, underemployed or needy in
countless other ways to work with those who are. We will,
however, have to be able to identify with them. As Catholics
it really should not be that difficult in view of what Jesus
teaches us. He tells us that God is our Father, we are all His
children; therefore, brothers and sisters. Even more than
that, He tells us that whatever we do for those judged by the
world as the least of His brothers we do unto Him. Dare we
say, “WITH Him”?
Yes, there are times when we might be tempted to say:
“God, we have found someone you can’t love. We know so
the Roman Catholic tradition look to the Cathedral as a
symbol of God’s presence in our city and have joined their
Catholic neighbors in contributing generously to its restora
tion. As an ecumenical focal point for Savannah, the
Cathedral is not only a barometer of Catholic prestige b
also a statement of religious commitment and civic pride.
The Church, however, is much more than the architec
tural shell of a building, even a beautiful one, just as a city
has to be more than a string of developments. It takes
believers to bring a church building to life; free men and
women to animate a city. One of the most striking features
of restored Savannah is precisely that it is a functioning ci
ty, not a museum. Its signature-piece of religious architec
ture, now restored, should be no less alive, no less func
tional in service. The sight of the restored Cathedral’s
spires, dominating the skyline of Georgia’s oldest city, will
always remind me of the wisdom of Henry David Thoreau’
words: “If you have built castles in the air, your work need
not be lost; that is where they should be...now put the foun
dations under them.”
-Father Christopher J. Schreck
lives in order. All we have to do is imitate Him, to do op-
best to be like Him. He is the Way.
It seems so simple. If what we are doing draws us closer
to Him, then it is good. If it builds up a wall between Him
and us, it is bad. If we would not like to have Him beside us
as we do what we do, then we should not be doing it!
And that’s what makes our way of life not so simple. I’m
amazed at the number of people who do what they want to
do even if it is wrong. They discover eventually that what
they’re doing is self-destructive. Do they sense this even
while they are doing it? I don’t really know. But, eventual
ly, they face what they would prefer not to face. And they
are devastated. Why do they wait so long to face the truth
The Lord Jesus said once “I am the Truth.” (John 14:6)
Many more people are involved with jobs that are not
wrong. They are doing what they just do not like. But it’s
not wrong. It might be boring. (Students often tell me this)
or annoying (especially if supervisors are unreasonable
and hypercritical.) Or emotionally draining, like checking
regularly on senile, angry parents in nursing homes.
Some of our jobs are unpleasant challenges we cannot
avoid or reject. No one will or can do what we are doing, but
it must be done by someone. St. Paul gave us the secret to
happiness when he urged us to “do all in the Name of our
Lord Jesus.” (Col. 3:17) Whatever we do in His Holy Name
is never wasted. It is a prayer. It gives glory to God!
Remember that!
meone you want us to cage up for life or even to kill.” We
know better, or we should. He says, loud and clear, love
those who sin against you.
But it is not enough that we recognize the bond that
motivates us to try not only to work for or among, but with,
the needy. We must help them recognize this bond. They
have to see us not only as people who care for them but they
have to see us as their brothers and sisters. This might be
difficult sometimes; however, it can be done, just as it can
be done with others to whom we reach out in love.
It can be particularly difficult for those who are poor and
needy to understand that someone really loves them. They
are often afraid to trust. Once some Sisters working with
the poor were told, only after several years: Now we knov^
you mean it, because you did not leave after a few months
or a few years.
There is so much emphasis on the things that actually
make us different like race, nationality, sex, social and
economic status, to name only a few. This too can make it
difficult for needy people to see others as capable, much
less as willing, to work with them. While we might not be
able to say, “we lepers”, as Father Damien did that day at
Mass in Molokai, we can say, as he must have said on many
other occasions, “we, God’s children”, “we, sisters and
brothers”. This is the truth that will make it possible for u^
to work together. This is the truth that will help us live as
Christians.
-Reprinted from the Catholic Banner, Charleston, S.C.
Do You Like What You Are Doing?