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!
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