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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