The Book of Bishops - The Szoka Era (Meeting)

 I would like to schedule a meeting with Archbishop Szoka.

My simple, straight-forward request was submitted.

And the naturally expected responses followed.

Why do you need this meeting?

Can't you just plan and allow the Archbishop to take his role?

But my most clear-cut reasoning finally broke through all of the questions and objections.

We wanted our meetings and planning sessions to be productive and presently were being stymied by trying to guess the mind and potential responses of the Archbishop.

There would, indeed, be a meeting!

Szoka and I would sit down together in his office downtown in the Chancery building.

And that day and that meeting finally arrived.

I walked into the office; we shook hands and were seated.

The Archbishop opened the conversation.

"So, what do you want me to do?" he asked.

"Sorry, Archbishop," I responded, "But you do not work that way. The better question would be - What are you planning to do?"

He smiled and began to describe how he envisioned his role in the Convocation liturgies. His vision was exactly what I had been expecting. He intended, not to preside at them. Our preliminary working drafts had already set out our plans. We wanted to allow the Convocation participants to get a glimpse of the richness of the presbyteriate of the Archdiocese of Detroit. Our plan was to have an elder clergy preside and homilize one day, a fairly newly ordained at still another, a religious order priest and somewhere-in-the-middle priests on remaining days.

But what about the Archbishop?

His initial response was to embrace the planned presiders. He, however, would take a solemn archbishop's role, vested in alb, stole and cope, located in a position of honor, taking some of the prayers to himself and visually overseeing the whole time.

He would clearly be the one in control, so to speak.

Which was exactly what we were trying to avoid.

Those working on the Convocation plans were hoping to present a more human side to this all to often feared and even disliked Archbishop. We wanted to give him the chance to invite us to actually like him and see him as truly a brother.

And the role he envisioned for himself liturgically, while ritually correct, would also muddy the waters.

But I had come to that meeting prepared.

I responded to the Archbishop by acknowledging that he would certainly be in line assuming the role he was describing. However, there were other possibilities.

And then I produced the Vatican document outlining the possibilities for a setting such as the one we would be in.

I handed a copy of the document to the Archbishop and explained that four varying possibilities did exist and were all possible.

He looked at the document, somewhat surprised that I had such. However, even more surprising to him was the fact that he next acknowledged.

"This thing is all in Latin!" the Archbishop exclaimed.

"Yes, Archbishop," I responded. "I thought it best if we discuss this in the Latin so that you do not in any way suggest that I am misreading or mistranslating."

And he smiled!

And we looked at the four possibilities from the first and most solemn, which was the one he was embracing, to a less formal, to a rather passive but still vested presence to the fourth possibility.

He read and then reread that one.  

"Well, this one puts me in civilian (read that casual, non-clerical) clothes and just one among the rest of you!"

"Exactly!" I replied. "But it is allowed!"

And within seconds he was bringing the meeting to its ending.

"I cannot do that." He was declaring. "Let me think about this and get back to you."

And our meeting was over.

It was about a week later that I got the phone call from the Archbishop's Office.

The Archbishop would accept the fourth option for his role in the Convocation liturgies!

However, a couple of conditions were attached to that seismic decision.

The Archbishop would preside as Archbishop and homilist at the closing Mass (already planned anyhow and so an easy concession) and I would write a letter to all of the priests of the Archdiocese telling them to bring albs and stoles to wear for the closing Mass.

I explained that I would write the letter but could not guaranteed that all would comply.

Understood.

Write the letter and the Archbishop will take his place all week long, seated among his brother priests and wearing his stylish sweater.

And so went my first real one-on-one with Edmund Szoka. That was the first but definitely not the last!

More is certainly to come!

The Book of Bishops - The Szoka Era (Convocation)

 Before launching into this new episode of Book, let me address that other item.

Yes, it has been a bit since the last installment. Honestly speaking, I have been a bit busy and also distracted by some other items. I have been in the process of uprooting my life - yes, even at my age! - and actually, physically moving. I am now in a new location. I have left behind Senior Clergy Village on the campus of Madonna University where I made my home for the last eight years and I have relocated to The Reserve at Red Run in Madison Heights, now my new home. A ministerial possibility opened here and I felt called to consider it. So now here I am in a new location and starting a new chapter in my ministry.

Having said that, let's get on with the bishops' saga as we continue into the Szoka Era.

It was some years after the "Kosnik Episode" that I was to have any further dealings with Edmund Szoka. For me, things remained quiet and some might suggest that, especially in that Era, quiet was a very good thing. Those who had dealings with the Archbishop seemed often to find themselves frustrated, angry, disappointed, and a whole lot of other very negative descriptives.

Edmund Szoka was not, especially in his years as Detroit's Archbishop, a very likable person. 

However, in 1985 I found myself in a position of once again having to deal with the Archbishop and this time it would be up close and personal.

Early in the year it was announced that in the fall of that year there would be a convocation of the priests of the Archdiocese of Detroit. The convocation idea was new but also beginning to catch on as a means of furthering and fostering a spirit of unity and supportiveness in ministry.

However, such an undertaking would also require a lot of effort, planning and organizing. For such an event to be successful, ,amu heads would have to be put together to shape the event.

This convocation would take place in the northern part of Michigan's lower peninsula, in the resort of Boyne Mountain. The resort was just far enough away geographically so that the participants would not be tempted to head home after hours. It was large enough to accomodate the expected number of participants and it had rooms sizable enough for planned group activities.

And I was called on to lead the committee in charge of liturgies and prayer experiences.

Each day would include Mass, common morning and evening prayer, a night prayer to conclude the day, opportunity for quiet time before the Eucharistic Lord and, of course, the Sacrament of Penance.

And we were assigned the locker room as our "chapel" for the week.

My first task was gathering a committee to work together. This could not be all the effort of one or even just a few. It would take a number of individuals with a variety of skills, including competency in music, art and environment. After all, a locker room had to be transformed into a chapel, suitable to being a prayerful surrounding.

I had no trouble finding and recruiting very able bodies.

And the meetings began and the planning got underway.

Early on in this project the various committee heads were flown, at the direct insistence of the Archbishop, by private plane to Boyne to actually spend the day on site getting a hands on feel for what was available to us.

At that day's end we were flown back, given time to freshen up and then we met with the Archbishop for dinner (on him, of course) at the Detroit Athletic Club! Not too shabby! There we gacvve him our reports on the findings of the day's journey.

That was my first face-to-face with Edmund Szoka and it certainly did not leave me shaking in my boots. It was pleasant, productive, enjoyable as was he. (And maybe, just maybe, that glass of fine scotch added a little assist as well.)

But the actual working sessions of the committee began to produce quite a different experience.

A constant question began to emerge as we discussed prayer and liturgical experience possibilities for the convocation.

"Will he (read that as The Archbishop) allow that?"

That question began to take still another sound.

"He won't go for that" or "He won't tolerate that" or "He won't allow that."

Edmund Szoka became the phantom presence in our meetings.

And that presence became increasingly paralyzing.

We were actually trying to read his mind, guess his reactions, and this was preventing us from really creatively planning.

Finally I reached a breaking point.

"Enough!" I declared.

I am going to meet with him directly and ask face to face. We needed to stop guessing and start dealing with actual answers and so I would meet with The Archbishop and ask the questions.

And the committee responded.

It will not happen. He will not meet with you. He doesn't do things like that.

And I replied back, "Just wait and see!"

Watch for more in the weeks to come.