Called to humble service
Archbishop George Niederauer delivered this homily at the episcopal ordination of Bishop Robert McElroy, the 17th auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of San Francisco, at St. Mary’s Cathedral on Sept. 7.
On June 20th of this year Our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, ordained fourteen new priests for his Diocese of Rome. In his homily on that occasion the Pope reminded those present that ordination, for a priest or a bishop, is not a “career move.” He said that a priest who seeks status rather than the will of God will be a slave to himself and to public opinion, and will not discover how God wants to use his gifts and talents for the good of the Church and the world around him. If he seeks status the priest will have to flatter, say things to please people, follow fads, and deprive himself of what the Pope describes as “a life-giving relationship with the truth.”
As we gather here in the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption this afternoon for this joyful moment of the ordination of a new bishop, Auxiliary Bishop Robert McElroy of San Francisco, the Pope’s words present a healthy challenge to all the ordained–bishops, priests and deacons alike –and a welcome assurance to all the Christian faithful as well. When we consider the words of Jesus Christ to his first apostles at the Last Supper, recorded in our Gospel reading from St. John, we recognize the origin of Pope Benedict’s teaching: “It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you.”
We Catholics believe that a priestly vocation is a call to follow Christ in the service of his people in the Church, not a job opportunity with a chance for advancement. The call to serve the Church as a bishop charges a priest with the duty to serve by leading, teaching and sacrificing in new ways. It is not a promotion, a reward or a distinction as the world around us understands such matters.
In his June 20 homily Pope Benedict went on to say that ordination requires the courage to say “yes” to the will of another, rather than the satisfaction of doing one’s own will. The one ordained knows that the Church will not erase his own individuality, but rather will help him to actualize the gifts God has given him for the life of the Kingdom. Thus is the promise of Jesus fulfilled: the one who “loses” or gives away his life for the King and for the Kingdom, will find or “save” his life, now and forever.
Our first reading, the famous call of the prophet Jeremiah, is a powerful instance of how unique, intimate and loving is God’s call to each of us. Listen to this call: “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, dedicated you, appointed you .... You shall go wherever I send you, speak what I command. Have no fear! I place my words in your mouth.”
The cherishing intensity of that call of the Old Testament prophet prepares us to appreciate the same quality in the words of Jesus to the apostles at the Last Supper: “As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments you will remain in my love. This is my commandment: love one another as I have loved you. I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain.”
As we consider these readings we have heard, and as we listen to the words of the Rite of Ordination of a Bishop, we need to hear them as the call of Jesus Christ in His Church to Bishop-elect McElroy to respond in loving service to his sisters and brothers in Christ.
Following an ancient custom, in today’s rite, before the people of God, I will ask Bishop-elect McElroy certain questions. It is called the “Examination of the Candidate.” These questions teach us and the new bishop some powerful lessons about the office and the life to which Jesus Christ has called him in the Holy Spirit. So right now we will have one last review for his examination.
The Church will ask Bishop-elect McElroy whether he is resolved by the grace of the Holy Spirit to exercise to the end of his life the office of apostle that is passed on to him by the laying on of hands. An apostle is, literally, one whom Jesus sends.
In our Gospel reading, Jesus says “greater love one has than to lay down his life for his friends.” Certainly Jesus is referring to his death on the cross for us on Good Friday, the following day, but he is also describing the minister’s laying down of his life, day by day, until the end, in humble service to his sisters and brothers.
As St. Paul teaches us in our second reading, apostles, pastors, teachers, and other ministers are given to the church to build up the Body of Christ. Just how does a bishop in the Church carry out this ministry as an apostle in Christ? Primarily he does so by proclaiming the good news of the Gospel, by conferring the sacraments, the mysteries of faith, by overseeing the life and growth of the Church, and by guiding its earthly pilgrimage, its life together as the People of God. Then the Church will ask our bishop-elect whether he is resolved to be faithful and constant in proclaiming the Gospel of Christ.
The Church goes on to ask our bishop-elect whether he is resolved to be faithful and constant in proclaiming the Gospel of Christ. We pray for Bishop McElroy today and always, that today and always, he will teach as Jesus taught in season and out.
Next the Church asks the new bishop whether he is resolved to maintain the deposit of faith, entire and incorrupt, as handed down by the apostles and professed by the Church. Beware: there’s much here that is counter-cultural. The world around us urges us, above all, to be successful and popular. Success and popularity are nice enough, but they are not Gospel values. Courage and faithfulness are Gospel values. A bishop, a successor of the apostles, must preach the entirety of what the Church teaches, whether the message is welcome or unwelcome. We are called to correct error, patiently and humbly, but clearly and faithfully.
After all this, the Church asks the bishop-elect whether he is resolved to build up the Church, the Body of Christ, and to remain united with it within the order of bishops under the authority of the Pope, the successor of St. Peter, to whom he will remain faithful and obedient. The great value here is unity, the unity among his followers that Jesus Christ prayed for at the Last Supper. In our second reading, from the Letter to the Ephesians, we hear about the essential value of unity in the Church: one Lord, one faith, on baptism. The bishop, the overseer of the Church, as shepherd must gather all the faithful together into one flock.
In these fractious and polarizing times, that is an enormous challenge, but it is not merely local in its scope. A bishop is ordained into the body of bishops, and his concern must be for the entire Church, in this region, in this country, and around the world. We are Catholics, not congregationalists, and that must be true in our parishes, in our dioceses, in our country, and around the world.
The Church then asks the new bishop whether, as a devoted father, he will cooperate with the priests and deacons who share his ministry in sustaining the people of God and guiding them on the way to salvation, and whether he will show special compassion toward the poor, the stranger, and the needy, and seek out especially the sheep who stray from the fold of the Lord. In carrying out his office, the bishop needs to see deacons and priests as brothers and collaborators, and to treat them as such.
The Church instructs us that the title of bishop is not one of honor but of function, hence the bishop must strive to serve, not to rule, just as Jesus Christ came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for the many. Among those many, the neediest have the strongest claim on us. St. Francis of Assisi, Patron of the Archdiocese, is our special model and intercessor in responding to those needs.
Finally the Church asks Bishop-elect McElroy whether he is resolved to pray for the people of God unceasingly, and to carry out his duties in a way that gives no grounds for reproach. He will respond that he is so resolved, and then will add, “with the help of God.” It is the unceasing prayer, the attempt to be one with God’s loving will, day by day, hour by hour, that will bring that powerful help of God. For our new bishop, it will be the Lord Jesus Christ who will shepherd the shepherd.
In our second reading we heard a list of some of the virtues that will help Bishop McElroy keep his resolve: humility, gentleness, patience, and bearing with much out of love. We cannot follow the call of Christ unless we try to walk and behave in the way of Christ. This is especially important in the way we talk to and talk about our neighbors, and the way we focus on their welfare, not mainly on our own. In prayer, Jesus strengthens our bond with him, and helps us to follow more closely in his way.
Bishop Robert McElroy has chosen as his motto for his coat of arms, “Dignitatis Personae,” the title (the first two words in Latin) of the Declaration of the Second Vatican Council on Religious Liberty. In the 45 years since the Council ended, the Catholic Church has met many challenges to her teaching about the priceless dignity, value and rights of each human person, of each human life. This teaching, this belief is rooted in our faith in Jesus Christ, Savior and Lord. We are called to deal with each person as if he or she were Jesus Christ, because they are. Indeed, we are called to deal with them as Jesus Christ dealt with everyone in the Gospel.
There’s an old legend about a wandering scholar during the middle ages whose name was Mauretus. He was shabbily dressed when he fell ill in a town where he was not known or recognized. Mauretus was taken to a hospital. Some doctors gathered around his bed and, speaking to each other in Latin (the language of the educated), they speculated that, since this was obviously a worthless person, they could perform certain experiments on his corpse after he had died. Mauretus startled them when he said aloud, in perfect Latin, “Call no one worthless for whom Christ died.” An important lesson then; an important lesson now.
Christian life and ministry, including a bishop’s, are not matters of rank and station, but of reverence and respect for, and humble service to, the members of the body of Christ.
By Archbishop George Niederauer
From September 24, 2010 issue of Catholic San Francisco.
