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PAGE 5 — The Georgia Bulletin, October 22, 1987
Father Richard Lopez
My Dear Children. . .
Sermon for the Children's Mass for Archbishop Don-
nellan - October 19, 1987
I bet if I asked some of you if you had gone to the same
school from first grade to the grade you are in now many of
you would have to say “no.” And if you had said “no,” that
means that you have moved from one place to another, and
you had to say “goodbye” to old friends and perhaps even to
relatives. You know that sometimes that saying goodbye
was very sad, because you were not sure if you would see
those special friends again.
Today we are saying goodbye to a very special friend, our
archbishop. But this is not a sad goodbye it is a joyful good
bye. You see last week our archbishop closed his eyes in
death to pain and problems and opened his eyes to see his
mother and father, whom he had not seen in so many years,
and now he will never have to say goodbye to them again.
Last week he closed his eyes to all the stress and difficulties
of his life and opened his eyes to see the Jesus whom he had
served so well on earth. Last week he closed his eyes and
said goodbye to the restrictions and pain his terrible stroke
had caused him in the past five months and opened his eyes
to see the loveliness of the Holy Mother of God whose in
tercession he had treasured in this life.
You all know how special a friend the archbishop was to
all of us. You know that at every Mass we prayed for him by
his baptismal name at the same time that we prayed for our
Holy Father John Paul, so important was he to us. For
many of you there is a very special occasion you can
remember when you — perhaps with a little fear and ap
prehension — knelt at his feet and received from him
reassurance in his kindness and strength, and the power of
God the Holy Spirit in the sacrament of confirmation. He
gave you a gift that will last forever, he gave you the gift of
the fire, power and love of God within you!
And for some of us who were especially honored to have
known him well we could not have loved him more if he
were our own flesh and blood. But for all of us he was, for 19
years our dear and good shepherd, pastor and friend. There
are some wonderful things about him, dear young people,
that would be important for you to think of and remember
in the years ahead. Archbishop Donnellan was once a young
student like you are today.
Sometimes I think it is hard for you to think that we who
are so old, or look so old to you, were once young too. If you
are from Lilburn’s school you have to know that Sister
Dawn was once in the fourth grade, playing tag, maybe
even Sister Dawn got in trouble once and awhile too. If you
are from Christ the King can you imagine Sister Jean
Liston in the third grade, but I bet she was always a good
girl! And if you are from IHM school or Saint John’s in
Hapeville can’t you see Father Woods and Father Kane on
the soccer field, I bet they were in trouble all the time!
Well the archbishop was a young kid like you guys, too. I
know for a fact that he loved his family very much. I believe
that one of the reasons he picked his motto as a bishop “To
Serve, Not To Be Served” was because of the kind of love he
received from his dear parents and from his beloved sister,
it was a love that always sought to sacrifice and give to the
other.
When he was young he was a good athlete like so many of
you, too. He loved baseball and basketball and he played
those sports well. He was also an excellent student. In fact,
he was a scholarship student all through high school and
college. You know our archbishop could have been just
about anything he wanted to be, he could have been a doc
tor, a lawyer, a business executive, even a general in the ar
my, but he knew, as some of you are beginning to know now,
that God was calling him to something very special. God
was calling him to be a priest of His son Jesus Christ. Our
archbishop said “yes” to God and became a priest, and
because he was so good and gifted as a priest, our Holy
Father, the pope, made him a bishop. He became just like
the apostles! He was our apostle, he was our shepherd!
You have to understand something very important. When
Jesus called himself the “good Shepherd” in today’s gospel,
and when we call our pope and bishops our shepherds it
means something very powerful and awesome. The
shepherds we are speaking about are not like little “Bo-
Peep,” who walks behind the sheep and sort of shoos them
along. When Our Lord spoke of a shepherd he understood
that to mean the sort of shepherd that he was accustomed to
see in the Holy Land. Those shepherds were brave men,
who walked ahead of the sheep over rough and rocky
ground to find safe paths and good pasture for their sheep,
and the sheep would follow them, not because the shepherd
shouted and pushed them, but because he called them gent
ly and kindly by name, and they recognized his voice and
followed him because of his strong example and his gentle
voice.
I guess I would like very much for you in the years ahead
when you think of the archbishop and you pray for him, that
you think of those two descriptions because they fit him so
well. He was a man of gentle voice and strong example. Let
me tell you how in three ways he was for me that man of
gentle voice and strong example. First of all he was a man
of great patience. I make some really big mistakes, sort of
frequently, perhaps some of you do too. Once we were com
ing back from a confirmation very late one night from
Gainesville. I was driving the archbishop down 1-85. All of a
sudden I looked into the rear view mirror and there was a
spinning blue light...and we were not in K-Mart! I knew I
was in big trouble. What do you say to the archbishop of
Atlanta, as you pull off the side of the road and await the
policeman! I thought to myself I wonder if there are high
schools in Siberia that I can teach at! As we awaited the of
ficer.. I looked over at the archbishop and with a twinkle in
his eye he said to me: “I am going to tell the police I am be
ing kidnapped!” and then I knew I was forgiven!
Another time I went to the wrong church for a confirma
tion ... We were an hour and a half late for the right church! I
said to the archbishop: “Tell them you had a goober driver,
that’s why you are so late,” he looked at me and said
“Richard, I could never say that!” You see he had a way
through his kindness and patience of somehow turning all
one’s mistakes to one’s benefit and not to our disgrace.
And as this man of the gentle voice and strong example
was patient and kind so was he brave! Boys and girls you
have to know that being a bishop is one of the hardest jobs in
this world. You see a bishop must stand on the bridge be
tween heaven and earth and proclaim the Word of God and
the Catholic faith to a world that does not want to hear it. I
never ever saw him afraid, not even when the world raised
a stink, or people got tough...he got tougher and braver! His
example of courage was so strong for me, that I have
prayed our Lord Jesus everyday to make me a brave priest
in the face of life’s challenges and the Devil’s lies!
And as he was patient and brave so was he a man of great
love. I have to warn you boys and girls of something very
serious. There are lots of definitions of love floating around
today, but they are all inaccurate and incomplete. Do not
look for what love means on “MTV,” do pot search for the
meaning of love on the soap operas or the movies that come
out of Hollywood today. If you want to see the real definition
of real love, look at the crucifix. Jesus is the definition of
perfect love and his definition says “forget yourself and
sacrifice for others." I saw that living and loving in our
archbishop for all the years I knew him. I saw him in such
physical pain that he could barely stand up. I saw him
forget himself and serve you, forget his pain so as to bring
you Christ in the sacraments and in his loving presence.
My dear children if our bishop was so patient, if our
bishop was so brave, if our bishop was so loving, how brave,
how patient and how loving must be the Saviour Jesus he
served so well on earth!
We have to give a joyful goodbye to our beloved arch
bishop, but we also must honor him in the future for his love
to us in the past. I challenge you children of this arch
diocese to honor your archbishop by loving Jesus the way
he did, by honoring the Holy Mother of God the way he did,
by obeying and cherishing our Catholic Faith the way he
did, by living and loving unselfishly and sacrificially the
way he did...so that you might have in this life what he had,
power and peace, so that you might have in the future what
he has now, joy and the vision of God forever!
Children Present Roses At Their Mass For The Archbishop On Monday.