By Archbishop Thomas Wenski - The Archdiocese of Miami
This month, we celebrated 65 years since Pope Pius XII created the Diocese of Miami on Oct. 7, the feast of the Holy Rosary, and sent us our first shepherd, Bishop Coleman Carroll. In a Church that is almost 2,000 years old, 65 years is not a big deal. But in South Florida, where everything seems to have been built the day before yesterday, 65 years is certainly worth celebrating.
The history of this local Church, like any history forged by fallen men and women, has both its lights and it shadows. And, as Pope Benedict said once, “when the world reminds us of our sins, the proper response is not denial but repentance.”
So we beg God’s forgiveness for those shadows, our sins of commission and omission. But at the same time, we cannot deny that, during these past 65 years, God’s grace has shone more brightly than any disgrace on our part. As a people of faith, we look back on the past with humility but also with great gratitude.
How can we feel anything less than gratitude in remembering the great Church men and Church women who with great love for Jesus Christ and zeal for souls spent themselves in the service of this vineyard of the Lord? We gratefully remember prelates of great vision and courage like Archbishop Carroll, Archbishop Edward McCarthy, and Bishop Agustin Roman, and exemplary priests like Mgrs. Bryan O. Walsh, Noel Fogarty, Jimmy Walsh, Emilio Vallina, Bill McKeever, Jose Paz and Gerard Darbouze.
We remember also members of the faithful like Mary Lou Maytag McCahill, Joseph Fitzgerald, Edwin Tucker, Judge Clyde Atkins, Dr. Ben Sheppard, and Mrs. Athalie Range, and religious sisters like Sister Lucia Ceccotti of the Marian Center, Sister Jeanne O’Laughlin of Barry University, and Sister Marie Schramko of Cardinal Gibbons High School.
Each one of you could add to the list of those who, faithful to their baptism, contributed to the growth of this local Church. So we remember the past with gratitude but also with great humility, for God always treats us better than we deserve.
At the same time, we embrace the present with enthusiasm. How can we feel anything but enthusiasm as we dedicate new churches, like St. Agnes in Key Biscayne and St. Ann’s Mission in Naranja, and as we welcome more than 1,000 new students this year into our Catholic schools, along with initiatives like the Cristo Rey High School or the reopening of St. Malachy School in Tamarac and of the high school in Key West?
We can take some holy pride in what the archdiocese does today, what you, Christ’s faithful are doing – through our schools, through our Catholic Charities, our Catholic Health Services, and our outreach to newcomers through our Catholic Legal Services.
We also can look forward to the future with confidence because at St. John Vianney College Seminary in Westchester, at Redemptoris Mater Missionary Seminary in Hialeah and at St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary, we have almost 60 young men studying for the priesthood for this archdiocese.
We see reasons for confidence because in our parishes and schools we continue to preach Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today and forever. We look to the future with confidence because of the renewal of religious life in our archdiocese, as exemplified by the Servants of the Pierced Hearts, a thriving community of both women and men religious founded here in Miami, and the cloistered Carmelite nuns who have recently moved into their new monastery in Homestead.
But in order to make that future as bright as our past, we must commit ourselves to be missionary disciples. In a world of fragile peace and broken promises, we must witness to hope, the hope that does not disappoint and has a human face, Jesus Christ. We must commit ourselves to be a reconciled and reconciling community of faith, hope and love; to live our lives so that we may indeed spread and proclaim the Good News of God, his truth and love, through our everyday actions and example.
Happy birthday, Archdiocese of Miami! Here’s to the next 65!
