It was not quite four years after Iron John Dearden arrived in Detroit than he was off in 1962 to Rome for the first session of the Second Vatican Council. Sessions of that Council lasted until its conclusion in 1965, reshaping so much of the Catholic worldview.
And somewhere, somehow within that very process good, old Iron John also began to melt.
I can find no other way to describe it.
By the end of the workings of Vatican II Iron John was no more.
Instead we found ourselves dealing with a man who had, somehow (call it the working of the Spirit,) been radically transformed.
Instead of iron cold, steely, hard and inflexible, John Dearden was now warm, approachable, engaging and, well, downright pastoral.
He was actually a joy to speak with, to listen to, to learn from, to be with.
So amazing was the transformation in this man that he was the one whom his peer bishops from all of the United States elected as their first president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops! His hand would guide the Church of the United States through the often unfamiliar waters of the post-Vatican II Era.
It was this John Dearden that I finally had aa chance to meet, greet, sit and speak with and even get to know somewhat personally. Until this time my dealings with him were what might best be called remote - singing or assisting in other ministerial ways at services.
And the really up close but still frankly impersonal moment - my ordination to the priesthood. His hands anointed me. His hands rested on my head. His hands clasped mine as I was commissioned to set Word and Eucharist before God's People.
But my up close and personal meeting with John Dearden did not come until a few years later.
By this time I was in my second assignment, a parish on Detroit's Eastside. I also had a couple of years of graduate studies in liturgical theology at the University of Notre Dame under my belt. I was becoming a liturgical resource for the Archdiocese of Detroit.
And that is when my first one on one came with John Dearden.
Until that time we had never met up close. Never spoken other than, perhaps, a word or phrase of courteous greeting. To John Dearden I was just one more face in that crowd of so many who constituted a part of the Church of Detroit.
One more nameless face!
Or so I thought!
He had come to our parish for Confirmations and, as was expected, there was dinner beforehand with the clergy of the parish. (Remember, this was back in those ancient times when parishes actually had more than one priest! We had four at that time plus weekend help!)
Anyhow, after the obviously elegant dinner and courteous but general table conversation, and before the Confirmation ceremony, much to my surprise, John Dearden took my arm and pulled me aside and said, "Let's have a chat!"
He led into a sitting room away from the gathered crowd. We sat down.
And that is when his next statement blew me away.
"I understand," John Dearden, Archbishop of Detroit, said to me,, "That you disagree with my theology of Confirmation!"
Now how could he possibly know that?
He had definitely done some serious homework before coming to the parish. And we were definitely not strangers, faces in the crowd to him - at least I certainly was not! John Dearden knew me and whatever his sources, they were good! Very good!
He knew my theological position on Confirmation!
He saw me!
And, yes indeed, I did disagree with his position. I had actually never said so in public, announced it from the rooftops or anything like that but my studies had been leading to some research and conclusions that put us sort of at odds with each other. In a word, our starting points were different and as a result, our conclusions were different.
Really, I am not sure if I should even describe this whole moment as being at odds. Maybe if I were dealing with Iron John that would have been the case but this was no longer Iron John.
And it showed.
"Let's talk about your conclusions," he invited.
And we began a discussion on the theology of Confirmation!
And he listened to and showed respect for the sources I was citing and, when appropriate, he countered with his views tempered by candid admissions of not really having explored the actual subject in all that depth!
That evening so long ago I truly met John Dearden.
And we had a decent, respectful conversation. At its ending he concluded by saying (and I still deeply treasure this comment) "I cannot, at this time, agree with your conclusions but I will always respect your stand and if ever a guest in your parish, I will respect your theological conclusions!"
John Dearden was a pastor of the finest class!
Watch for more in the weeks to come.
Wow!
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