ARCHDIOCESE OF PHILADELPHIA

Jesus Christ, you were crucified for us,
but now you are risen from the dead, alleluia!

Jesus Christ, you are alive in the community of your Church, alleluia!

Jesus Christ, you are forever the Good Shepherd,
who never abandons us your flock, alleluia!

On the occasion of the two hundredth anniversary of the founding of the Diocese of Philadelphia, we gather together with sentiments of praise and thanksgiving, lifting our minds and hearts to God our merciful Father, through His Son, Jesus Christ our Redeemer, and in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of Life. We come with our different gifts and in our different roles of service in the Church. The presence of so many people gathered here today—people of ethnic backgrounds from the ends of the earth—is a tribute to the spread of the Gospel throughout the world, and, in particular, throughout our own Archdiocese.

On behalf of our local Church, I warmly greet His Eminence Cardinal Roger Mahony, Archbishop of Los Angeles, a close friend since seminary days; His Eminence Cardinal Adam Maida, Archbishop of Detroit; His Eminence, Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, Archbishop Emeritus of Washington; and our native son, His Eminence Cardinal John Foley, Grand Master of the Equestrian Order of the Knights and Ladies of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem.

We are honored, too, by the presence of several Archbishops. I welcome especially Archbishop Stefan Soroka, Archbishop of Philadelphia of the Ukrainians. I also offer a warm welcome to two other native sons, Archbishop Edward Adams, Apostolic Nuncio to the Philippines, who has traveled from Manila to be with us for this celebration, and Archbishop Francis Schulte, Archbishop Emeritus of New Orleans. The presence of Archbishop Joseph Kurtz shows our communion with the Church of Louisville, which is also celebrating its Bicentennial as a Diocese.

I greet the many Bishops who have come for this Liturgy. I am grateful for the presence of my own Auxiliary Bishops: Bishop Robert Maginnis, Bishop Joseph Cistone, Bishop Joseph McFadden and Bishop Daniel Thomas, as well as our Retired Auxiliary Bishops, Bishop Martin Lohmuller and Bishop Louis DeSimone. I extend a special greeting to the Bishops of the Province of Philadelphia and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. I welcome “home” all those Bishops who also are native sons of Philadelphia: Bishop Thomas Welsh, Bishop Edward Hughes, Bishop Francis DiLorenzo, Bishop Joseph Galante, Bishop Edward Cullen, Bishop Joseph Pepe, Bishop Joseph Martino, Bishop Michael Burbidge and Bishop Michael Bransfield. I am also grateful for the presence of Abbot Ronald Rossi of Daylesford Abbey.

I greet also my brother priests. Your fidelity to your vocation, your compassionate service, and your devotion to the proclamation of the Gospel and the ministry of the sacraments are at the daily service of almost 1,500,000 Catholics. Great are the multitudes of those who, through your ministry, have been washed in the saving waters of Baptism! Through you, Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament is present to His People to feed and strengthen them. Through your ministry in the Sacrament of Penance, sins are forgiven. With your assistance and blessing, men and women are united in holy matrimony. Through your hands, Jesus brings healing to the sick and comfort to the dying. For all that you have done and continue to do, the Church gives praise and thanks to God.

I thank also the deacons for their service in the Church. Ministers of Word and Sacrament, and also Ministers of Charity, your collaboration is of great assistance to me and to your pastors.

I welcome all the religious sisters and brothers present, and I extend deep appreciation for the constant contributions which your Religious Institutes have made to this Archdiocese. Almost every parish and institution has been influenced by you who faithfully live the consecrated life in imitation of the chaste, poor and obedient Christ. The history of this local Church at every moment of its history speaks of your lasting contribution. In your fidelity and service, you still show the loving face of Jesus.

I greet our seminarians and thank you for your youthful and generous witness. The Church looks to you with joy as you show great hope for the future. By your example, may many more young men embrace the vocation to the sacred Priesthood.

To all of the lay faithful—married, widowed, and single, parents, children, family members, young and old—beloved friends in Jesus Christ, I welcome you and thank you. Every church, school and institution in this Archdiocese is a tribute to your generous love for the Church. I give thanks to God for the joy, the vibrancy, and the devotion with which you respond to what the Second Vatican Council acknowledged as the “universal call to holiness.” Formed by Baptism as the Pilgrim People of God, strengthened by the Gift of the Holy Spirit in Confirmation, and nourished by Jesus in the Holy Eucharist, you bring the love of God to every place and every situation. By your fidelity to your Christian vocation, you confirm what was taught by Saint John Chrysostom many centuries ago: If you are a Christian, it is impossible not to influence others (Liturgy of the Hours, Common of Holy Men).

With special affection I greet the sick and suffering of every category of Christian life who are spiritually present with us today. The full salvific value of your suffering is known only to God. Your contribution to the Gospel is immense!

This Fourth Sunday of Easter keeps before us the joyful and moving message of Jesus Christ Crucified and Risen from the dead. The first proclamation of Peter—“God has made both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified”—stirred the hearts of multitudes of men, women and children as they listened attentively to it on the first Pentecost. We are told in the Acts of the Apostles that three thousand persons were added to the Church on that very day. The powerful proclamation of the Gospel by Peter and Paul, and the preaching of Jesus Himself, were an invitation to repentance, to conversion and to belief. This belief in Jesus leads to Baptism, the first sacrament of the Church, the sacrament through which sin is forgiven and through which we have access to the other sacraments. Baptism, which immerses us in the mystery of the Death and Resurrection of Jesus, also immerses us in the mission of the Church. By virtue of our Baptism, we all are called to the task of evangelization: to bear joyful witness—by our words and actions—to the Good News of Jesus Christ.

Our Bicentennial is essentially a celebration of how effectively God’s word has taken root in the lives of our faithful people during the last two hundred years. The missionary endeavors of the early Jesuit priests from Maryland addressed the needs of an ever-growing Catholic population in Pennsylvania. As more Catholics arrived, so did more priests. Through the efforts of these dedicated priests, as well as through the example of the fervent lay faithful, more people embraced the Catholic faith and chapels and churches began to appear. In spite of a strong—and often fierce—anti-Catholic sentiment, the Catholic faith flourished in this area. The vibrancy of this local Church was recognized and Philadelphia was made a diocese on April 8, 1808 by His Holiness Pope Pius VII.

The work of evangelization was further carried out by courageous Bishops and zealous priests, both religious and diocesan. The devoted clergy ministered not only to the faithful who resided in the city, but many traveled extensively over a vast territory to bring the Gospel and the sacraments to Catholics who settled in rural and even mountainous areas.

We need only consider the example of our beloved fourth Bishop, Saint John Neumann. Though reluctant to accept the office of Bishop, he never shrank from his episcopal duties. His pastoral zeal, accentuated by his Redemptorist spirit, stirred him to see the many challenges and opportunities for evangelization, especially among the ever-increasing immigrant population. In his eight years as Bishop of Philadelphia, this humble man of small stature left a legacy of monumental accomplishments. Among these are Catholic schools, for which Philadelphia is well-known, and the annual Forty Hours Eucharistic Devotion, which remains a highlight in the Eucharistic piety of the parishes in our Archdiocese. Every aspect of his life was directed toward the spread of the Gospel, the salvation of souls and the service of his people. Saint John Neumann fervently prayed: “O my Jesus, though I am poor in so many ways ... I have been chosen as a shepherd of Thy sheep. Give me an ever increasing love for those souls redeemed by Thy precious Blood, that I may labor at their salvation in wisdom, patience and holiness.... Lord, teach me how to live and, if need be, to die, that all may be saved, that all may love and praise Thee throughout all eternity” (Saint John Neumann, C.Ss.R., His Favorite Prayers).

The Church of Philadelphia, since its earliest days, has been blessed with the presence of many women and men religious who have borne witness to Jesus by professing and living the evangelical counsels of chastity, poverty and obedience. Faithful to the charism of their various founders and foundresses, our consecrated religious contributed in inestimable ways to the mission of evangelization. In the establishment of elementary and secondary schools, as well as colleges and universities, the apostolate of Catholic education has formed countless children and young men and women in their knowledge of Jesus Christ and of our holy Catholic faith. In their concern for the poor and the sick, consecrated religious established numerous institutions to care for children in need, for the homeless, for women and families in difficulty, as well as hospitals and nursing homes to provide compassionate and Christ-like care for the sick and the dying. Through their fidelity to Jesus Christ and His Church, their bold vision, and their heroic dedication, consecrated religious have accomplished great things for the glory of God and the salvation of souls, the dignity of the human person.

The example of Philadelphia’s own Saint Katharine Drexel illustrates the vision of so many consecrated religious. Although a child of wealth and privilege, Saint Katharine was taught by her devout family to be intently focused on Christ’s love for the poor. Katharine’s observation of those oppressed by poverty and prejudice moved her to action. She knew that only in Christ could people truly be free. Saint Katharine used her enormously charitable heart and her considerable resources to bring Jesus to as many people as possible. Her own love for Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament made her aware of what needed to be accomplished. Saint Katharine wrote: “He came to save all. I want to enter into and be permeated with Jesus’ desire to save all - all the world throughout the centuries” (Reflections on Life in the Vine found in the Writings of Mother M. Katharine Drexel).

Special gratitude also must be offered for the contribution—past and present —of contemplative religious, who though separated from the world, always have a prayerful gaze fixed on the needs of the Church and the world. Because of their steadfast devotion and contemplation of the Face of Jesus, our cloistered religious prayerfully support and sustain the activity of the Bishops, priests, deacons, religious and all the faithful who engage in the work of evangelization.
As we reflect on the wonders which God has worked throughout the history of our Archdiocese, we are filled with a profound gratitude for all of these blessings. Every parish, school, and institution within our Archdiocese is a vibrant reminder of how, from generation to generation, the gift of faith has been preserved, handed on and cherished. Great sacrifices, generous collaboration, unfailing hope, and, above all, genuine love, have brought the Archdiocese of Philadelphia to this moment, this hour of grace, this portal to a new era in our history in which, together, we can continue, with God’s help, to accomplish great things.

On this Fourth Sunday of Easter, we stand in the radiance of the Risen Christ, the Good Shepherd, who “calls his own by name and leads them out” (Jn 10: 3). Through Baptism, each one here has been called by name by Jesus to bear His light and His love into the world. Each one of us, called by Jesus, is sent into the world—into the human family—to invite others to meet Jesus in His Church. Each one of us is called by Jesus to uphold and proclaim courageously the dignity and sanctity of human life from the first moment of conception to natural death. Each one of us is called by Jesus to preserve and protect the sanctity of marriage—that inviolable union between a man and a woman—established by God as a sign of His covenant of love and for the propagation of the human family. Each of us is called by Jesus to promote peace on earth: peace in our hearts and in our homes, peace in our neighborhoods and in our land, a true and lasting peace between nations.

In a couple of days, His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI, with whom we are closely united on this special occasion in faith and love, will arrive in the United States on his first apostolic journey to our nation. The theme of this visit is Christ Our Hope, a theme derived from his own Encyclical, Spe Salvi. In his encyclical, our Holy Father tells us: “Our hope is always essentially also hope for others.... As Christians we should never limit ourselves to asking: how can I save myself? We should ask: what can I do in order that others may be saved and that for them too the star of hope may rise?” (no. 48).

This celebration of our Bicentennial invites us all—clergy, religious and laity —to recommit ourselves to the mission of evangelization, to sharing the word of God and to bringing to others the hope, mercy and salvation that we find in the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Our 200-year history testifies to what can be accomplished when we trust in Jesus Christ and place ourselves at His service. In our own day, we must work together, gently inviting people to undergo conversion of heart, to experience the joy of life in Christ, and to rediscover the beauty and transforming power of the Sacraments. All of us must bear witness to our need for God, and to what it means to keep holy the Lord’s Day through participation at Sunday Mass, through deeds of charity, and through much-needed rest. The love of Christ demands that as individuals and families we do all that we can to bring others to conversion of heart, to lead others to “Christ Jesus, our hope” (1 Tim 1:1).

On this solemn occasion, the two hundredth anniversary of our local Church, as Archbishop of Philadelphia I extend a heartfelt invitation to all our Catholic people who, for one reason or another are separated from the life of the Church and are no longer active members of our community of worship and service. For so many of you, dear friends, a profound reconciliation with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and with the community of the Church is so readily available in the Sacrament of Confession. There you have immediate access to Christ’s mercy, His forgiveness and His love. And with this reconciliation comes deep peace and the joy of new life in Christ. And if there is some situation in your life that first needs to be addressed, you can be assured that our priests will do everything possible to assist you. No matter what your spiritual condition is, your prayerful presence at Sunday Mass means so much to Christ, to yourselves and your families, and to all of us.

At this moment, brothers and sisters in Christ, it is fitting that we turn our thoughts to Mary, the Mother of Jesus and our Mother, who is likewise, under her title of the Immaculate Conception, the patroness of our local Church. By her prayers and maternal love Mary helps us meet the challenges of our Bicentennial. She helps us to be faithful to God’s commandments, to be authentic in our Christian lives, and to be generous in fulfilling the many services that our holy Catholic faith invites us to offer to others in the name of Jesus.

Finally, I would like to recall to you, dear friends, words I spoke when I became your Archbishop in 2003. At that time I said: “In this new moment in the life of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, we set our hope on the living God (cf. 1 Tim 4:10), on His Son Jesus Christ and on the power of the Holy Spirit. We humbly pray: Jesus, we trust in you!” I then went on to say what I repeat today: “...permit me...to entrust you all to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, in a pastoral act which I ask you to ratify personally in consecrating your own lives to her, and through her...to her beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.”