05/26/02

Pentecost: The ordination of priests and the ministry of lay people

The Saturday before Pentecost Sunday, I ordained priests for the Archdiocese in Holy Name Cathedral; on Pentecost itself, I called lay men and women to lay ministry in the Archdiocese. The new priests had spent years in the seminary; the newly called lay men and women had spent years ministering in parishes as pastoral associates and directors of catechesis and religious education. These calls were the Church’s recognition that the Lord had given each of them a vocation to a specific state of life and a specialized work in building up the body of Christ.

Ministry, a work in the Church, flows from a sacrament, a relationship to Christ. Ecclesial lay ministry flows from the sacrament of baptism; priestly ministry is shaped by the sacrament of Holy Orders. Baptism makes Christ, Son of God and Savior of the world, visible from generation to generation; Holy Orders makes Christ, Head of his Body the Church and servant of his people, visible and available until he returns in glory. There is a complementarity between people and priests in their lives as well as in their ministries in the Church and their service in the world. In the Church, priests govern as Christ would, in a way that invites participation in pastoring; in the world outside the Church, lay people govern in a way that permits the virtues of charity and justice to shape political, economic and social life according to the mind of Christ.

The Gospel proclaimed at the ordination Mass was from Matthew, chapter 20, where Jesus tells the apostles, the future foundation stones of the Church, that they are to serve in humility. During the homily, I drew a contrast between how the priest, as an icon of the risen and glorious Christ, celebrates the liturgy in great splendor and beauty, and how the same priest, as a disciple of a Lord who embraced suffering and humiliation, lives personally in simplicity and lowliness. Meditating on that contrast before the Mass, I decided that, in calling the newly ordained to a personal life of discipleship in humility, I would announce my personal desire to sell the Cardinal’s residence and move to simpler quarters in greater proximity to the poor. I realize that I have no right to impose my personal preferences on the office of archbishop, but I also believe that the ordained priesthood is at a new moment in the life of the Church.

An archbishop is not a lone ranger. He is to be a center of unity, and therefore the Church gives him councils to be sure that his decisions do not weaken the unity he is supposed to strengthen. Selling an asset of the archdiocese therefore involves decision making by at least four advisory groups. As a pastoral decision, the desire to sell the archbishop’s residence has to be reviewed by the two major policymaking councils: the Archdiocesan Pastoral Council, composed of lay people, and the Presbyteral Council, composed of priests. As a financial decision, the proposal to sell an asset worth more than $500,000 needs the approbation of the Archdiocesan Finance Council, composed mostly of lay people, and the College of Consultors, composed of priests. These are the Councils given me in Church law to help me govern the Archdiocese.

What are they looking at when considering the Cardinal’s residence? They are looking at a piece of property bought by the first Bishop of Chicago in 1843. Bishop William Quarter came from New York City to a town only recently incorporated. The entire state of Illinois was his diocese. There was one parish in Chicago: Old St. Mary’s, which will soon dedicate a new parish Church on the sixth site the parish has occupied since its establishment in 1833. The new bishop bought some property, probably with money he brought with him from New York, on the northern edge of the town, next to a cemetery; and he used the property as collateral to obtain bank loans to build churches as the number of parishes grew. In 1880, Chicago became an archdiocese. The city was expanding rapidly after the Civil War and the Great Fire. The new archbishop, Patrick Feehan, built a combination home and chancery office on what was left of that original property bought by Bishop Quarter. It is a red brick building with wood interiors, more curious than beautiful architecturally, but now situated in a part of town called the Gold Coast, because wealthy Chicagoans moved into the area after the fire and built splendid residences there. When the third archbishop of Chicago, George Mundelein, also from New York, came in 1915, he moved the offices downtown; and the building constructed by Archbishop Feehan served only as a residence. It is that today. It is a good place to live, with Lincoln Park to the immediate north and friendly neighbors on three sides.

The Residence belongs to our history, and I am sure that all my advisors will consider that seriously; the Residence also belongs to an image of office that is arguably no longer supportive of an archbishop’s ministry. This is a town cynical about “clout”, whether accurately or not, and the Church must be transparent. The Church points only to Christ, and anything that gets in the way of that proclamation weakens her mission. The newly ordained priests understand that and have promised their lives to the Church’s mission; the newly called but much experienced ecclesial lay ministers understand that and have given their lives to the Church’s mission. The archbishop should do the same, visibly and clearly.

People have already begun asking what the money gained from a sale might be used for. I would like to build up our school fund so that I never have to close another Catholic school. Poverty closes schools, and money from the sale of the Residence would be well spent in keeping them open. The Associated Press reporter, no stranger to cynicism himself, asked me if I was going to sell the residence because I figured the Archdiocese would lose it anyway in making payments for sexual abuse cases. I don’t believe that will happen, but selling the Residence and using money that is clearly not given by any living donor in order to help contemporary victims of sexual misconduct by priests isn’t a bad idea.

This is the beginning of a discussion, perhaps long and complex, which will come to decisions that strengthen the mission of the Church. In this Archdiocese, that mission has been captured in the phrase: “sharing Christ’s gifts”. When it comes to sharing Christ’s gifts, everything is on the table. God bless you.

Sincerely yours in Christ,

Archbishop of Chicago

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