Archbishop Lucas- The Installation Part II

"All creatures of our God and King, Lift up your voice and with us sing: Alleluia!"

St. Cecilia Cathedral's eloquence in stone as well as the silvery words of Archbishop Lucas instilled in me (and surely all those assembled Wednesday) a renewed conviction of evangelical enthusiasm. This is not the intellectually bankrupt and trite excitement that characterizes some of the crazier Fundamentalist denominations but the broadest, richest, and most universal sense that is unique to Catholicism. The homily text may be found here: Lucas Homily. For the moment, one may watch the ceremony on-demand here: Lucas Installation.

St. Paul, the first Apostle to the Gentiles, seems a good place to start. Accordingly Archbishop Lucas began his homily reflecting upon the Epistle from 1 Corinthians 12:

St. Paul tells us very clearly that there will be different spiritual gifts, different charisms in the Church. Each gift is truly a manifestation of the One Holy Spirit. The gifts are ordered in their diversity to serve the one Lord Jesus Christ. We give thanks to God that these God-given gifts are so evident as we gather here in this Sacred Liturgy. We are the proof that St. Paul was right about the nature of the Church.

And evident they were! The very ambo from which he preached is carved of South American mahogany and flanked with sculptures of doctors of the church (Peter, Paul, Jerome, Ambrose, Augustine, Gregory the Great). The pulpit itself anticipates the richness of the Word. Czech-born sculptor Albin Polasek created this stunning piece of liturgical furniture as well as the moving crucifix and Stations of the Cross.

Continuing the theme of creativity: Brother William Woeger FSC, Archdiocesan Worship Director designed a Missal specifically for the Installation Mass, never to be used again. The Missal nearly covered the upper torso of the acolyte- it is about two feet tall. Constructed of heavy stock, it was stitched by the Art Department at the University of Nebraska Omaha. The cover is striking: white with a large variant of the Patriarchal Cross in gold with flecks of forest green emblazoned upon it. This is a symbol of the Byzantine Church in the East but also represents the office of Archbishop in the West. I created a horrible replica to give a sense of it. One may catch glimpses of it in the broadcast.

Archbishop Lucas expanded on this concept of diverse gifts as he worked his way through the homily, giving credit to the many people who contributed and attended. He departed from the script a little when he spoke of Music:

I'm just overwhelmed as I think we all are with the gifts of our choir and musicians. You help us long for the heavenly Liturgy as we lift our minds, hearts, and voices to God. You bring honor to St. Cecilia herself and to her Lord and our Lord.

Amen! Countless things about that space proclaim Music as a gateway to heaven. Need I mention the patroness, St. Cecilia in the rose window? First, the building itself sings. When empty the Cathedral has a superb undistorted reverberation of seven seconds which surprisingly helps song blossom and the organ to sing. Sound dances as much as light in this harmonious space. The post-renovation ceiling is full of warm, Mediterranean gold, deep red, and rich star-studded blue. The sun splashes its light as alive as the voice of the Church singing there.

Secondly, the windows. Designed by Charles Connick of Boston, the clerestory windows literally depict the great hymns of the Church: the Magnificat, Te Deum, Gloria, Stabat Mater, Victimae Paschali, Veni Sancte Spiritus, Dies Irae, and Pange Lingua. Thus, the very light which illuminates our worship passes through song!

Thirdly, literally. Text from the Antiphons for the feast of St. Cecilia scroll around the nave high in the entablature at the base of the barrel vaults. Translated it reads:

Alleluia, Alleluia! As dawn was breaking into day, Cecilia cried out saying, "courage, soldiers of Christ. Cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light!" While the instruments were playing, Cecilia sang unto the Lord saying, "Let my heart be undefiled that I be not ashamed." Alleluia, Alleluia!

I thought about this as I listened to the choir sing "Greater Love Hath No Man" at the Offertory. Archbishop Lucas emphasized that we did not come here today from nowhere- we come from the labors of those before us. People have been using their gifts since St. Paul. According to tradition, St. Cecilia sang to God as she died. Walking through subterranean Roman tombs in May, I could viscerally contemplate Cecilia and the early martyrs with their pioneer spirit.

These things are so far away in space and time yet they persist in one remarkable continuum. We unite our voices and sing: "Lord, hear our prayer. Deus exaudi nos. Señor escucha nos." When one comes together with a thousand and supplicates these words in song it puts identity and purpose in perspective. It brings us into awareness of the Communion of Saints, the Universal Church. Archbishop Lucas summarized:

Do we need any further evidence then that St. Paul is right? All of these different people whom I have mentioned manifest the actions of the One Holy Spirit. We don't form separate constituencies; We are not partisans. We are members of the body of Christ. It is the living Lord that is present in this Sacred Liturgy...Drinking freely of the One Spirit we come now to offer fitting praise, honor, and glory to our One Father.

Echoing his words from high above the organ, flanking the gallery, John Dryden's (1687) "Song for Saint Cecilia's Day" exclaims:

From Harmony, From Heav'nly Harmony
This Universal Frame Began:
From Harmony to Harmony,
Through all the Compass of Notes it Ran.
The Diapason Closing Full in Man.

But Oh! What Art Can Teach,
What Human Voice Can Reach
The Sacred Organ's Praise?
Notes Inspiring Holy Love,
Notes that Wing Their Heav'nly Ways
to Mend the Choirs Above.

But Bright Cecilia Rais'd the Wonder Higher:
When to Her Organ Vocal Breath Was Given,
An Angel Heard, and Straight Appear'd-
Mistaking Earth for Heaven.

And heavenly it was.

Ecclesiastical Phishing

School controls most of my life at the moment. However, they can't keep me down forever- it's time to write.

Last week an official from the University Credit Union came to give a talk to my Fraternity about financial scamming. We learned we shouldn't write our pin-number on the back of the credit card. He also informed us that it is dangerous to approve large withdrawals from our accounts when initiated by people in Singapore whom we have never heard of. Overall, I enjoyed that good old-fashioned thread of common sense which ran through most of the talk. It lent a nice sense of continuity.

More than anything, however, I loved the talk about phishing. When I was 10 some paternal relatives and I hiked for an afternoon up into the Absaroka Range. At some little glacial lake near the convergence of Wyoming, Montana, and the sky we caught foot-long brook trout on every cast. It was marvelous...as is robbing people through cleverness. Indeed, the unethical and immoral homonym of my summer vacation activities captured my curiosity as we discussed last Monday evening.

We know that natural selection is hard at work when we encounter something like this- oh, the brilliance of it! I like Wikipedia's key phrase: "masquerading as a trustworthy entity." I can imagine the email now: "Hello John Doe, My name is Dave. I am with your bank. We want to send you a quarterly statement but for some reason we lost your name, Social Security Number, and account number. Please give us that crap so we can get our work done. Love, Dave." And people will supply!

But then a thought entered my head: "What if this trick was taken to a whole new level? What is people outside of cyberspace started exploiting the ignorance of the sincerely curious? What if it happened...in the Church?" And then I realized it does- all the time!

Intelligent people, no matter where they lie on the ideological spectrum, know that the one who controls the education and flow of information has immense power- perhaps more than anyone. There will always be a noble, even enthusiastic, few who are willing to step up to bat and be that underpaid teacher. But outside the classroom, where no degree is required (and likewise no accountability) and the wages altogether non-existent (but immense social renumeration waiting in the grab bag) it is very much the opposite of that Gospel parable- the harvest is small and laborers many. Yes, idiots and ideologues abound and everyone swears they've got the "real" story.

The little angel pictured above is named "Kitschy." He puts all human concepts of reproduction to shame for he has approximately 18,687 identical twins in parishes across the USA. No insane amount of fertility drugs could ever reproduce this reproduction. No, this takes the good old fashioned zeal of ethnic piety. (My gr-gr grandmother Anna Petrzelkova Egrova funded one of the twins). Anyway, Kitschy has a message for you: "I am the model for Catholic Art." Of course, there are many people sincerely asking that question. "What art is appropriate for Church?" "What music can go in the liturgy?" etc. And Kitschy and his confrères seem altogether too happy to play the prof and supply the definitive answers.

Take this to the next level. Take a bunch of truth, mix in a little crap, and...voila- heresy! It is terribly effective because people who ask questions are generally open to answers (to varying degrees depending on the place and time). When most Catholics can't name the 10 Commandments, much less the 7 Sacraments we know it can only be disastrous when folks pose questions like: "What language should the Mass be?" "How powerful is Mary?" "You mean my sister's ordination wasn't valid?" etc. Pick your extreme and there is, at worst, a heretic eager to answer- with devastatingly misleading poppycock. In most cases you'll probably just get some really confident, yet hopelessly unbalanced, apostle of (fill in the blank with fringe devotion of choice). I always have loved the Roman Church because there is something for everyone. It is a vast space in which to swim around (though it is still finite) and occasionally hang out in a little corner (for we all have gifts and talents, unique ways to be stewards). That's alright until I think everyone else should be clustered right where I am (read: checking Mary's message at Medjugorje like clockwork).

It seems that we should pick our battles. There are a few core teachings and if we 'cry wolf' every day we will run out of steam and be dead in the water when the real battle comes. Yeah, Kitschy will do, but he is hardly a well thought artistic contribution to Church decoration. He's still not the model and if anyone claims this I will dig my heels in. That kind of talk takes things to a whole new level. Likewise, when the SSPX priest tells you Vatican II was a farce and John XXIII was an anti-pope, they've hopped out of the pool. When someone says you should pray your daily Rosary because such-and-such Saint said it is 'the gold coin by which we buy our way into heaven' certainly don't let any Protestants hear. When another says, "Hi, I'm with the Catholic Church and Mary is co-Redemptrix," just be wary. (When even JPII didn't approve that I get suspicious. And he was as devoted to Mary as anyone. Heck, he had his Marian crest branded on his coffin!)

And don't give them your credit card number either.