Week
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September 12, 2001
Inside the Register
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Cardinal honored for inter-religious work
Nearly 600 attend first Imago Dei award dinner to benefit seminaries
By Alwen Bledsoe
Sept. 6, the last evening of Cardinal J. Francis Stafford's recent stay in Denver, the cardinal celebrated Mass at Holy Ghost Church in downtown Denver and received the first-ever Imago Dei award at a benefit dinner.
The
award, presented by Archbishop Charles Chaput, O.F.M. Cap., on behalf
of the archdiocese, celebrated his 25th jubilee as bishop and honored
him for the inter-religious and ecumenical work that has been a hallmark
of his career as priest, as archbishop of Denver, and most recently, as
cardinal and president of the Pontifical Council for the Laity at the
Vatican.
The Mass, concelebrated by Archbishop Chaput, Bishop José H. Gomez, Bishop Samuel J. Aquila of Fargo, N.D., and Bishop David L. Ricken of Cheyenne, Wyo., was a Votive Mass of the Mysteries of the Holy Cross chosen by the cardinal to honor the Virgin Mary, who he called, "the Mother of the Church, the patroness of each of the U.S. dioceses I've served."
The cardinal began his homily with an image from "The Silver Jubilee," by Victorian poet and Jesuit priest Gerard Manley Hopkins to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the episcopal ordination of James Brown, Bishop of Shrewsbury, England.
"The British poet lamented the absence of festival bells pealing in the `velvet vales' of Wales for the occasion. ... Tonight the bells are interior," Cardinal Stafford said. "They ring in my heart in adoration, silence, and joy for these 25 years."
Adeptly fusing poetry, philosophy and theology into an eloquent homily, the cardinal reminisced over his 25 years as bishop and reflected on a bishop's role in a world increasingly hostile to Christianity. Returning often to the motif of bells, the poetic sermon called the Church to remain faithful to the exclusive claims of Christ and to the love of Christ.
"Along the roads from the Chesapeake Bay, across the upper Mississippi Delta to the Rocky Mountains and then to the banks of the Tiber, I have heard the beautiful bells of cathedrals, basilicas, abbeys, parishes and seminaries," said Cardinal Stafford, alluding to his ministries in Baltimore, Memphis, Denver, and now Rome. "Like the tolling of the Angelus bells, they become insistent. They ring out the challenge of the Incarnate Lord to all generations, `He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters.'"
While Christ's claim that salvation is found only in him may seem to many "too sharp in a divided world," he continued, in fact it is ultimately the voice of love. Modeling the sacrificial obedience and love bishops and all faithful are called to, he said, Christ became human and died for love of humanity.
"His pierced hands and outstretched arms revealed an infinitely passionate love for us," he said.
The cross, he later added, "truly is a revolutionary turn-around. After Golgotha, man has never perceived God in the same way. God is never perceived after Golgotha as absolute power, but as absolute love."
The cardinal concluded his sermon, saying: "The provocation of Jesus is transformed because his embrace has revealed the new understanding of all reality: God is love. Only crucified love makes the provocation of Jesus credible. The harmony of the many diverse bells of my episcopal ministry is found here."
Following the Mass, Catholics and Jews alike attended a benefit dinner for the archdiocesan seminaries at the John R. Sewell Grand Ballroom at the Center for the Performing Arts in Denver. Featuring a video narrated by Channel 7 News anchor John Ferrugia, emcee for the evening, on the cardinal's life and ministry, the dinner also included a mini-auction and entertainment by the Redemptoris Mater choir. It concluded with Archbishop Chaput's presentation of the Imago Dei — the Image of God — award to Cardinal Stafford.
"Throughout his career Cardinal Stafford has carried a commitment to the dignity of the human person into every aspect of his life as a man and priest," he said. "His 25 years as a bishop have been distinguished not just by a love for the Church, but equally by a love for building friendships with those of other religious traditions who sincerely seek to serve human needs."
Those friendships, continued the archbishop, "laid the foundation for the warm relations Denver's Catholics and Jews continue to build today." Cardinal Stafford received the award as the crowd of 558 rose to its feet in a standing ovation.
"The archbishop has already indicated my deep meditation upon the Imago Dei, which is part of the heritage that we as Jews and Christians have together," the cardinal said. "It is one of the great inheritances that we as Christians have received from the Jewish people. They have told us for over 3,000 years, they are proclaiming not only to their own people, but to the people of the Middle East, and to the people of the world that each of us is made in the image and likeness of God — male and female."
He told the story of a Jewish woman he met in Rome whose family moved from apartment to apartment in 1943 and 1944 to avoid the Nazis. She told the cardinal that her ancestors during the Renaissance were medical doctors for the popes.
"How beautiful," he said. "There was sadness, yes, and perhaps there was a certain reserve as she was dealing with me as a cardinal of the Church, but at the same time her sharing at the end that coda communicated that there was a bond between us that transcended some of those terrible memories of hers and her family.
"I wanted to share that with my Jewish friends here tonight and also with my Catholic and other Christian friends because it is important for us to be aware of what our communities have suffered, unbeknownst in some ways to the other component, and also what perhaps members of our own communities have done that we are not aware of."