The Book of Bishops - The Maida Era (Retirement)

 Retirement!

That time of life was drawing ever closer. Social Security checks were already a monthly regularity. The parish which I was serving at the time was now fiscally solvent and spiritually and socially vigorous. It was easy now to consider that the time was coming to take that big step back.

As if to provide some frosting for that cake, we were engaged in something called "Together in Faith" or some such. A general meeting of a number of regional parishes with several archdiocesan officials made it very clear that the times, they were changing. The priest shortage was now become very real and increasing. A number of parishes were running into increasing fiscal difficulties. The overall impact on the archdiocese was beginning to show, big time.

And so I made a phone call.

To downtown.

With a question - can one retiree when one is turning seven or must one wait until actually turning seven.

The answer was a joyful relief.

Even if only still a youthful sixty-nine, if that would be the year of turning seventy, you can submit for retirement.

Nice to have a birthday in November.

And so the process began. 

One critical step, an early step in the process involved a one on one meeting with the Archbishop to formally submit the retirement request and to discuss retirement plans and possibilities.

Proving truw to form (mine) I asked where this meeting would take place.

Downtown in the Office of he Archbishop, I was informed.

To which I responded - "Nope!"

Can't be there!

Over all so many years I had so very many one on one meetings with the various Archbishops of Detroit in their private study in their residences. I wanted to go out with one more meeting in that familiar territory.

And my request was granted.

I would meet to submit my retirement request to Adam Cardinal Maida at his home and in his study. At that time he had also reached retirement age for bishops and had submitted his intent to the Holy Father in Rome. He was now awaiting a response to his retirement request.

We met. We discussed many of the usual and predictable matters. He asked about my plans, living arrangements, intentions for keeping busy and active as possible. We talked about the years gone by. We made the promises of praying for each other and remembering each other. Words of gratitude were also spoken.

And the time came to say, "Goodbye."

We stood together at the door.

And then Adam Cardinal Maida looked right at me and declared, "I think I should suggest to Rome that you now be named to take my place as Detroit's Archbishop. Then I could retire and you could stay busy for a few more years!"

Nice thought!

But not my thought, certainly and definitely not in my playbook.

And so it was that I said my Goodbye.

And began the countdown to July 1, 2008.

And there is still the Vigneron Era!

The Book of Bishops - The Maida Era (Don't Cry for Me . . . and bells!)

 Remember that Broadway musical, later a movie - Evita?

Many great songs within the telling of a great story but presently one of those songs stands out in my mind.

Don't Cry for Me, Argentina.

Evita sings that, reflecting on the many life sacrifices" she has made for love of her country.

Anyhow, the melody and especially the words, "Don't Cry for Me" are ringing in my mind as I begin this writing. My last blog installment relayed my producing a researched paper regarding the Sacrament of Confirmation at a time when the hierarchy was debating and discussing the proper age for the Sacrament. End result was that the paper was never acknowledged.

That prompted some messages to me expressing support and sympathy for hard work ignored. While I appreciate all those kind words, I have survived and now, in retrospect, can declare, "No regrets."

That research and resulting paper were never solicited by any authorities. I choose to do it feely on my own. Call it a work of love for the Church. Nothing was due me for it. And for those who asked if a copy might still be available, unfortunately this goes back to a time before storage disks and such. So, lost in time. But if anyone really wanted to do a study of Confirmation and its disintegration in the Western Church, other, even more thorough and technical studies have been done and can be found. (Not, I would suspect, in most bishops' libraries!)

But let's get back to those tales about Detroit's bishops and some of my dealings with them.

Like this little episode.

This one takes place in my days as pastor of St. Margaret of Scotland Parish in St. Clair Shores.

Let  me suggest that this parish was something of a scavenger!

We had stained glass windows in certain areas, retrieved from a closed parish and restored. We had bells from Immaculate Conception Church in Poletown, retrieved when GM managed to gain land rights.

And in my time we retrieved the majestic pipe organ from the recently closed St. David's Parish in Detroit. Having rescued this beauty, we hired professionals to completely rebuild it and modernize it into a state of the art instrument. The project lasted a number of years and at various times needed review by the Archdiocesan Board of Consulters, headed, of course, by our very own Archbishop, Adam Maida.

He was in on the project from almost day one and so,  when finally the instrument was installed and deemed ready to go, it was only proper to invite the Archbishop to preside at Mass and do the actual blessing of the restored, refurbished instrument.

The invitation was accepted and date and time were set for the blessing of the organ. Excitement was high because so much time, effort, and yes, even cash had gone into this work.

Pipes, gleaming like new now graced the wall above the choir as well as the wall behind the loge. The old electronic instrument was out and seriously outclassed.

Ministers were vested and ready in line to process in beginning this grand event.

At the end of the procession was the Archbishop with me, as pastor, at his side.

All was set to begin when the Archbishop leaned over to me as, just to be certain he was on the right page, asked me, "I will be blessing the bells, right? I'm here to bless your new bells!"

Several folk nearby must have heard that because there were several very audible gasps.

I believe that I found myself straining to hold back some serious laughter.

Remembering, I thing that laughter is still eager to burst loose!

Infallible - maybe not this time!

Maybe a bit more from The Maida Era

The Book of Bishops - The Maida Era (That topic again!)

Sometime early on, as I recall it, during the Maida Era, the bishops of the United States began examining yet again the proper age for administering the Sacrament of Confirmation. Over the years in many places various customs and practices had emerged.

While the general practice seems  to be Confirmation sometime around grade four, five or six, some parishes were being given permission to request Confirmation prior to First Communion. That had been in many places up to the early years of the Twentieth Century the common practice. Of course, in the Easter Catholic traditions that has always and still remains the practice. In fact in many of these traditions Confirmation is administered immediately after Baptism. And yes, that means to infants.

In the Roman Tradition according to the directives of the RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults) or as it is coming to be known these days, the OCIA (Order of Christian Initiation of Adults) Confirmation is administered immediately after Baptism and prior to First Communion. The thinking behind this practice is that one is admitted to Eucharistic Communion as fully initiated, which means Baptized and Confirmed. Matter of fact in the directives for the RCIA (ok - the OCIA) it is stated that the practices of this Rite set the norm and standard for our practices with our infants and youth.

Add to all of this the fact that back in the days of that What Age debate there were also places, whole dioceses in fact, where Confirmation was being delayed until young adulthood, around ages 18, 19.

Many different views, approaches, manners of handling this thing called Confirmation. All of which makes me recall that sit down discussion I had so many years earlier with our then Archbishop, John Dearden.

And now Adam Maida was in the thick of the matter - not with me directly as of yet but as a part of the group of American Bishops, discussing and debating what to do with this thing called Confirmation.

And let us add to this mix still another factor. And this is one that usually makes me less than popular with this group, but, hey, I have to say what I have to say.

This group would be the very dedicated, very noble ministers involved in the field of Religious Education. While Liturgy and Liturgical Theology may not be their forte, concern for our youth and for their faith certainly is. And that is a force coming into play in the Confirmation Age debate.

In this field Confirmation coming too early, like say before First Communion, just might mean we loose too many right after First Communion. Making the age for Confirmation some years later means these youngsters need to stick with the program at least for a few more years, longer to work with them in the faith. Much experience has taught us all that a good number of parents stop "fighting" with their young about religious education just as soon as Communion has been received and those Confirming Oils have dried. Our liturgical rites are seen as a sort of Religiion Graduation. So, the longer the delay, the more time we have to teach.

And the question continued - when should we Confirm? At what age?

That is when I decided to enter the debate, uninvited of course, but eager and willing nevertheless.

I wrote and researched a paper on the very question. Citing history, historical and liturgical practices, theological and scriptural sources and all of that good stuff which you have just read plus more, I produced a paper that maintained that asking when to Confirm was really the wrong question. What was needed was to ask why we Confirm.

When we ask the "Why," we develop the theology of Confirmation. However, when we ask the "When," we are tempted to create all sorts of "theologies" for this sacrament. Like, for example, teaching that Confirmation is affirming those Baptismal promises made by godparent and parents for an infant, or Confirmation is entering Christian Adulthood. None of these are historically, theologically or scripturally justified!

So I produced my paper.

And presented it to gatherings of clergy and theology minded folk for response, reaction and review, all affirming and acclaiming the work.

And then I sent it off to Archbishop Maida, hopefully, to provide him with some solid material to take into the discussions, debates and decisions on the subject taking place at that time.

And, sort of disappointingly, I never heard a word  back!

Not even a simple acknowledgement that the document had been received let alone actually read.

I simply say that I did try to serve with a little theological insight.

But a lot of years have passed now, a whole lot of years.

And still I wait to hear something.

While around me the Confirmation Graduation Dance into Adulthood (and out of Religious Education) continues.

Of Course: The Maida Era continues