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The Southern Cross, Page 4 Thursday, December 07, 2000
“A faith journey filled with hope and love”
Bishop J. Kevin Boland made the following re
marks at the beginning of the Dedication Mass:
he diocesan family is today celebrating 150
years of pilgrimage. We are invited into
worship and prayer. In the waning weeks of the
Jubilee Year, we call to mind once again that
2000 years ago our loving God gave us the gift
of Jesus—the Son of God and the Son of Mary.
God became one of us in the person of Jesus
Christ,
Our sesquicentennial is a small segment of the
two millennia, but it is a segment of time that is
dear to our hearts. Our gratitude is expressed by
accepting the invitation that Jesus extended at
the Last Supper: “Do this in memory of me”
Today, we do it with pomp and pageantry, with
solemnity and grace, but it remains the same
sacrificial gift—the perfect gift—the giving of
Jesus to our loving God in the power of the Holy
Spirit. In giving back the gift of Jesus, we
become part of the giving insofar as we are his
disciples.
The Rite of Dedication of a church treats the
building as if it were a person being initiated
into Christianity by baptism (sprinkling of walls
and people), confirmation (anointing of the altar)
and then celebrating the Eucharist for the first
time at the newly dedicated altar.
God does not need this beautifully refurbished
Cathedral, but we need it as an expression of our
faith—a temple made beautiful by the work of
human hands. The real treasures of this House of
God are the persons who have occupied and will
occupy the pews and sanctuary, day after day,
week after week, until the end of time. Today
Jesus is among us to lead us across the threshold
into a new millennium that leads to the door of
life, the Jubilee “Holy Door” which is Christ
himself.
I unite myself this day with the representatives
from the parishes and missions of the Diocese in
welcoming all and thanking all who made this
day a truly splendid occasion to be remembered
Bishop Boland receives the key to the
restored Cathedral
for days to come. It is in our parishes and mis
sions from Bainbridge to Augusta, from Pine
Mountain to St. Simons Island and back up the
Atlantic Coast to our See City that people first
encounter Christ and his Church. For this rea
son, you are truly the hosts of this sesquicenten
nial celebration. You represent the uniqueness of
who we are as a local Church.
And so we welcome a symphony of people:
architects, builders, artisans, skilled crafts peo
ple, state, city and county representatives, inter
faith representatives, media specialists, diocesan
institutions of all shapes and sizes, liturgical
ministers, Knights and Ladies of various ecclesi
astical organizations, sesquicentennial commit
tees and subcommittees, consecrated religious,
priests, bishops and cardinals. The list goes on
and it is perhaps best expressed by Chesterton’s
definition of Church, “here comes everybody.” If
your category was missed, please include your
self as one of the hosts.
As hosts, we recognize in a special way the
representatives of other faiths and the bishops
and abbots of local churches and monastic com
munities.
You honor us with your presence and for this,
we are deeply grateful. You give our “day in the
sun” a special significance and a tangible remin
der of our universal search for God.
We are honored by the presence of Cardinal
Keeler, Archbishop of Baltimore, our distin
guished homilist for this occasion. Baltimore is
the Premier See in the U.S., our ecclesiastical
birthright. The Savannah Diocese was part of the
Diocese and Archdiocese of Baltimore from its
founding in 1789 until 1820, when the Diocese
of Charleston was founded, and of the Baltimore
Province until 1962, when the Archdiocese of
Atlanta was canonically erected.
We are also blessed with the presence of
Cardinal Bevilacqua, the Archbishop of Phila
delphia. His presence reminds us of the many
distinguished bishops, priests and laity who
came from Philadelphia and ministered in our
diocese.
Up to three weeks ago, the Pope’s representa
tive in the U.S., Archbishop Montalvo, intended
to grace us with his presence, but because of a
special request from the Vatican, he had to
change his plans. Cardinal Bevilacqua has kind
ly consented to bring greetings from our Holy
Father, Pope John Paul II and good wishes from
the City of Brotherly Love.
Mindful of the beauty that surrounds us, we
are conscious of the loving God, “whose beauty
is past change” (Gerard Manley Hopkins, “Pied
Beauty”). Today let us celebrate a moment of
thanksgiving for 150 years of pilgrimage—a
faith journey filled with hope and love.
“Do you not know that you are the
temple of God?”
The following are excerpts from the
homily given by Cardinal William
H. Keeler of Baltimore at the De
dication:
even of the first eight bishops
of Savannah were ordained
bishops by Archbishops of
Baltimore, four of them at the his
toric mother cathedral of our coun
try, now known as the Basilica of
the Assumption.
Today, as three times in the past,
the Diocese of Savannah dedicates
its central place of worship, the
mother church of 79 parishes and
missions across Georgia. In 1853,
Bishop Francis Xavier Gartland cel
ebrated the expansion of the parish
church of St. John the Baptist into
the first cathedral of the infant dio
cese. In 1876. at the invitation of
Bishop William H. Gross. Arch
bishop James Roosevelt Bayley
came from Baltimore to bless the
new cathedral. Bishop Augustin
Verot, who had been
bishop here through the
1860s, returned from
Saint Augustine to cele
brate the Dedication
Mass and Bishop Pat
rick Lynch of Charleston
preached the sermon.
Twenty-two years
later, a devastating fire
reduced most of the Ca
thedral to ashes. Bishop
Thomas A. Becker cal
led forth every effort to speed its
restoration, but he died the follow
ing year, in 1899. His successor,
Bishop Benjamin Keiley, selected
October 28, 1900, one century, one
month and one day ago, for the ded
ication of the rebuilt edifice by the
Apostolic Delegate, Archbishop
Sebastian Martinelli. On that Sun
day morning, the congregation must
have felt themselves in the ante
chamber of heaven.
Once again, the
Church of Savannah cel
ebrates its Cathedral of
Saint John the Baptist.
From foundation to new
roof, the venerable
building stands renewed,
with plaster and paint
giving a fresh glory to
the ulterior, and new
systems in place to illu
mine the church and fill
it with the sounds of
prayer and preaching and God’s
praises sung with power. Through
the remounted stained glass win
dows pours sunlight, a reminder of
the love of God that surrounds and
sustains us on our pilgrim way.
The Apostle Paul moves us from
celebrating the completion of a phy
sical building to reflecting on the
dynamic reality of the spiritual buil
ding of the Church, the Body of
Christ. It rests on the one foundation
of Jesus Christ and individuals can
build upon that foundation with vari
ous kinds of motives, energy and
commitment. The Apostle writes of
those who build with “gold, silver,
precious stones,” the unselfish, faith-
motivated and generous movement
through life of people whose sereni
ty and kindness reflect the Gospel
values taught by Jesus. There are
others who build with “wood, hay or
straw,” fashioning in a half-hearted,
distracted way a less worthy struc
ture but still one related to the Lord.
The Apostle reminds us of our
dignity, the dignity of every bap
tized person: “Do you not know
that you are the temple of God, and
that the Spirit of God dwells in
you?” With that dignity, the liturgy
today recalls for us is a destiny, a
destiny that is eternal and one in
which those who worship God
“must worship in Spirit and truth.”
Cardinal Keeler
in Savannah