ARCHDIOCESE OF PHILADELPHIA

Praised be Jesus Christ!

How lovely is your dwelling-place, Lord, mighty God!

With great joy I have accepted the invitation of the Pastor of this local Church of Altoona-Johnstown, my dear friend Bishop Joseph Adamec, to be the principal celebrant and homilist on this special occasion: the 75th anniversary of the dedication of this Altoona Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament.

It is an honor for me as Archbishop of Philadelphia to be spiritually united with all of you today, as was my predecessor Cardinal Dennis Dougherty three-quarters of a century ago when he dedicated this great Cathedral church.

In the peace and love of our Lord Jesus Christ I greet you all: Bishop Adamec, priests, deacons, religious and lay faithful of the Diocese, civic dignitaries and guests. In particular, I cordially acknowledge the presence of Bishop Viliam Judak of Nitra in Slovakia and Archabbot Douglas Nowicki of Saint Vincent Archabbey, as well as Metropolitan Nicholas of the Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese.

The history of this Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament and of this Diocese is linked to the Archdiocese of Philadelphia in different ways. Bishop John McCort, your second Bishop who came to you from Philadelphia, was the first person to envision this majestic structure. Bishop Carroll McCormick, once Auxiliary of Philadelphia, was privileged to see the completed Cathedral opened for public worship in 1960. Twenty-five years ago, in 1981, my predecessor Cardinal John Krol presided at the solemn consecration of this sacred edifice. And just last year, as Metropolitan Archbishop of Philadelphia I was honored to preside at the funeral liturgy of Bishop James J. Hogan.

What unites us so deeply, however, dear friends, is the mystery—the divine reality—of the Church of Jesus Christ. We belong to one Church; we are members of the one Body of Christ. The Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown is linked with the Metropolitan See of Philadelphia, but all of us are linked in organic unity with the one, holy, Catholic and apostolic Church spread throughout the world under the spiritual leadership of our Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI, but above all under the Supreme and Eternal Shepherd, our Lord Jesus Christ.

In preparation for this day, your own Bishop Adamec has rightly spoken about the celebration of the Cathedral as "the celebration of the life of the Diocese and its unity as a Church."

The word of God that we proclaim today helps us to understand what the Cathedral and the Diocese are all about.

In the Gospel we see how Jesus loved the Temple in Jerusalem, and how He referred to it as "my Father’s house." Everything about it was sacred. Jesus did not tolerate the profanation of the temple area. He forcefully drove out those who sold oxen, sheep and doves, as well as the money changers. "Take these out of here," He said, "and stop making my Father’s house a marketplace." Jesus was consumed with zeal for His Father’s house.

Every church, but the Cathedral in particular, is God’s house. It is the Church’s place of prayer and worship. It is God’s dwelling-place. It is where the supreme treasure of the Church—the Blessed Sacrament—is honored and adored. Jesus Christ, the second person of the Most Blessed Trinity, the Son of the living God, the Son of Mary, is enthroned in the tabernacle of each Church. What importance, what dignity, what a sacred place!

But every church, and in particular the Cathedral church in this Diocese and in every diocese throughout the world, is an image and a sign of another structure that is even more magnificent, a structure that is made of living stones. Hence this Cathedral is a sign of the living Church of Jesus Christ, to which we are all privileged to belong as baptized Christians. In our second reading this afternoon, Saint Paul tells us that we are "members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the Apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus as the capstone. Through him the whole structure is held together and grows into a temple sacred to the Lord; in him you are being built together into a dwelling-place of God in the Spirit."

And so, dear friends, we can see that the greatest dignity of the Cathedral is to be a symbol of the Diocese itself, which in turn is a privileged part of the Church of the living God, which Jesus purchased by the shedding of His precious Blood.

This sacred edifice, this magnificent Cathedral is an image, in its own structure, of another structure, a living structure, the one Body of Christ, in which we are all destined to find life and salvation and unity in Jesus Christ.

And just as the Cathedral is God’s house available for everyone, so too the Church is meant to unite us all in Christ. The Church herself is a community of faith, a community of prayer and worship, a community of love for God that becomes also a community of service to one another.

This is why the Church condemns all unjust discrimination and why the well-being of the poor and the needy are such priorities in our Christian communities. In the apostolic tradition of the Church our love for God becomes our challenge to assist others, as Saint Paul says: "Bear one another’s burdens and so you will fulfill the law of Christ" (Gal 6:2).

Here then in this Cathedral we find the fullness of the mystery of Christ in the Sacraments that are given us, in the word of God that is proclaimed to us, and in the unity of the Church that challenges us to accept Jesus in all of our brothers and sisters. Here too in this dwelling-place of God, in this house of worship and adoration we find consolation, strength and courage for our journey to our homeland, just as the people of Israel did when the Lord addressed them in the words which we find in our first reading: "Say to those whose hearts are frightened: Be strong, fear not! Here is your God...he comes to save you."

Because the Cathedral is the sign and image of Christ’s Church it is also the sign of the salvation and eternal life that we receive in the Church.

Dear brothers and sisters: in the name of Jesus, Son of the Eternal Father and Son of Mary, we give thanks to God for the great gift of this Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament, which for seventy-five years has immersed the community of this local Church into the saving and life-giving mystery of God’s love. Amen.