GROWING UP ROMAN CATHOLIC IN THE 1950S AND 60S, IT'S POSSIBLE I THOUGHT THAT ALL PRIESTS SPOKE WITH AN IRISH BROGUE. THE FOUNDING PASTOR OF OUR PARISH IN EVERETT, WA WAS WILLIAM PATRICK LANE, OF ABBYFEALE, CO. LIMERICK. A FEW YEARS LATER, WE WELCOMED OUR FIRST ASSISTANT PASTOR, HAROLD FRANCIS QUIGG, OF THE BOGSIDE, DERRY, NORTHERN IRELAND. AND IT'S ALSO POSSIBLE I THOUGHT THAT THE MOST AUTHORITATIVE TEACHERS ALWAYS DRESSED IN ANKLE LENGTH BLACK HABITS, WORE LARGE CRUCIFIXES, AND WERE ATTIRED IN HEAD GEAR REMINISCENT OF THE CANVAS COVER ON A CONESTOGA WAGON.
I DON'T REALLY RECALL WHAT IF ANY THOUGHTS I HAD ABOUT THE INHERENT CHARACTERISTICS OF THESE BEINGS. I EVENTUALLY LEARNED THAT THE PRESENCE OF IRISH PRIESTS WAS DUE TO A LACK OF NATIVE BORN AMERICAN CLERGY AND A SURPLUS OF PRIESTS IN OVERWHELMINGLY CATHOLIC IRELAND. AND I ALSO LEARNED THAT THERE WERE COMMUNITIES OF VOWED RELIGIOUS WOMEN DEDICATED TO A VARIETY OF APOSTOLATES, INCLUDING THE EDUCATION OF CHILDREN. IT TOOK ME A LITTLE LONGER TO RECOGNIZE AND UNDERSTAND WHAT MOTIVATED THESE MEN AND WOMEN. AND EVENTUALLY I WAS ABLE TO ACKNOWLEDGE FR. LANE AS AN INSPIRATION FOR MY OWN PRIESTLY VOCATION, AND TO REALIZE THAT WHAT MORAL GOODNESS I POSSESSED WAS DUE IN LARGE PART TO THE INFLUENCE OF MY PARENTS AND TO THAT OF THE SISTERS OF THE HOLY NAMES OF JESUS AND MARY.
I DISCOVERED THAT WHAT MOTIVATED THE MOST SINCERE AND DEDICATED CLERGY AND RELIGIOUS AMONG US WAS A SENSE OF MISSION. MISSION IS IN FACT KEY TO OUR CHRISTIAN LIFE. EACH OF US HAS BEEN BLESSED IN VARIOUS WAYS BY THOSE WHO HAVE RESPONDED TO THE SPIRIT’S CALL. THEY MAY NOT HAVE CARRIED THE DESIGNATION OF MISSIONARIES, BUT THEIR LIVES PROCLAIMED A GOSPEL OF SERVICE, A MINISTRY TO THOSE WHO HUNGERED FOR A WORD OF SAVING GRACE. AND THAT’S THE KIND OF LOVE THAT CAN DRAW FORTH FROM ANYONE RECEIVING THE MESSAGE A RESPONSE THAT IS EQUALLY MISSION-ORIENTED. OH, I DON’T NECESSARILY MEAN THAT THOSE WHO RESPOND TO SUCH A MESSAGE WILL SIGN UP TO LITERALLY PREACH TO THE UNCHURCHED, WHETHER IN OUR OWN SOCIETY OR IN OTHER CULTURES, BUT THAT THEY WILL SIMPLY BECOME VESSELS FOR THE NURTURING OF PEACE NO MATTER WHERE THEY LIVE OR WORK. AS JESUS TELLS US IN JOHN'S GOSPEL TODAY, LOVE IS NOT ABOUT PROMOTING ONE'S SELF, BUT IS ABOUT BEING A HOME FOR THE TRANSFORMATIVE WORKING OF GOD IN OUR LIVES AND IN THE LIVES OF THOSE WE ENCOUNTER.
YOU PROBABLY NOTICED THAT THERE IS SOMETHING MISSING FROM MY TESTIMONY TODAY. IT WAS NOT JUST CLERGY AND VOWED RELIGIOUS WHOSE WITNESS AND MINISTRY UPBUILT AND CONTINUE TO SUPPORT THE CHURCH. MY HOME PARISH AND SCHOOL WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN ESTABLISHED AND SURVIVED WITHOUT THE ACTIVE PARTICIPATION OF LAY WOMEN AND MEN WHO GAVE OF THEIR TIME, ENERGY, AND WITNESS. AS ONE VIVID EXAMPLE, I WILL ALWAYS REMEMBER WHAT OUR HISTORY AND PE TEACHER SAID AS HE DRESSED DOWN A GROUP OF US BOYS REGARDING THE BULLYING OF A CLASSMATE. WHILE I HAD NOT PARTICIPATED IN THE TEASING, I WAS SINGLED OUT BY MR. HANLEY AS HAVING DONE NOTHING TO STOP IT. MORE WAS EXPECTED OF ME-- I WAS FAILING TO BE A MISSIONARY OF CHRIST. WHILE IT MIGHT HAVE BEEN UNREALISTIC TO EXPECT A 13 YEAR OLD TO RESPOND IN THIS SITUATION WITH COMPASSION--AND SOME COURAGE--I CAN ASSURE YOU THAT THAT MOMENT IS IMPRINTED ON ME. I BELIEVE THAT KEEPING EARL HANLEY'S WORDS IN MIND OVER A LIFETIME HASHELPED ME TO BE MORE SENSITIVE TO THE SHUNNED AND THE OUTCAST.
THE SORT OF QUIET PRESENCE OF BEING A MISSIONARY IN PLACE THAT I'VE DESCRIBED MAY SEEM FAR REMOVED FROM THE DRAMATIC INCIDENTS IN THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. BUT TODAY’S READING FROM THE GREAT SAGA OF PAUL AND HIS COMPANIONS CONTAINS A COUPLE OF DETAILS HINTING AT JUST THIS KIND OF EVANGELIZING. FIRST, LUKE, THE WRITER OF ACTS, MAKES AN APPEARANCE. WHAT HAS PREVIOUSLY BEEN A THIRD PERSON ACCOUNT SUDDENLY BECOMES ONE IN THE FIRST PERSON. LUKE WRITES THAT WE SET SAIL FROM TROAS, WE REMAINED IN PHILIPPI FOR SOME DAYS, WE WENT OUTSIDE THE GATE BY THE RIVER. LUKE WAS THE PARTY’S GUIDE IN MACEDONIA, AND HIS FAMILIARITY WITH THE REGION SUGGESTS HE WAS IN FACT A MACEDONIAN. THE AGNOSTIC FRENCH WRITER EMMANUEL CARRERE HAS SPECULATED THAT IT WAS THE AUTHOR OF ACTS WHO SUGGESTED TO PAUL THAT HE WOULD FIND A RECEPTIVE AUDIENCE IN LUKE’S HOME REGION, AND THAT THE MAN OF MACEDONIA URGING SUCH A MISSION IN PAUL’S DREAM MAY WELL HAVE BEEN LUKE. HE FURTHER SPECULATES THAT LUKE LED PAUL AND THE OTHERS TO THE RIVER IN PHILIPPI TO MEET LYDIA AND THE WOMEN WHO WERE WITH HER. LYDIA’S TRUSTING HEART OPENED HER TO THE GOSPEL MESSAGE, AND SHE ASKED FOR BAPTISM FOR HERSELF AND HER FAMILY. A FEW YEARS LATER, PAUL WROTE A LETTER TO THE NOW ACTIVE CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY IN PHILIPPI. IT MAY NOT BE ALL THAT SPECULATIVE TO CONCLUDE THAT LYDIA, A SUCCESSFUL, ASTUTE MERCHANT, WAS A NATURAL MISSIONARY AMONG HER FELLOW TOWNSPEOPLE AND HELPED TO UPBUILD THE CHURCH.
THE INFLUENTIAL PRESENCE OF SUCH STRONG WOMEN AS LYDIA AND BRIGID OF KILDARE PROVIDES YET ANOTHER KEY TO THE MISSIONARY MINISTRY. THE EXPANSION OF THE MISSION THAT WOMEN HAVE ALWAYS TAKEN ON IN THE CHURCH ACCELERATED WITH THE DECLINE IN PRIESTLY VOCATIONS AND INCREASING RESIGNATIONS BEGINNING IN THE 1970S. AS A PRIEST, I WAS BLESSED TO WORK WITH WOMEN WHO, LIKE LYDIA AND BRIGID, MADE HOSPITALITY A VITAL PART OF THEIR MINISTRY, AND WHO LIKE BRIGID DEDICATED THEMSELVES TO HEALING AND RECONCILIATION. THEY HAVE CONTINUED TO ASSUME VITAL ROLES, ESSENTIALLY TAKING ON MANY OF THE FUNCTIONS OF CLERGY. THEY ADMINISTER THE LIFE OF PARISHES AND HOLD DIOCESAN POSITIONS OF LEADERSHIP. THEY ARE PRIESTS IN ALL BUT NAME. MARY MCALEESE, A ROMAN CATHOLIC AND THE FORMER PRESIDENT OF IRELAND LAST YEAR CALLED THE CHURCH "AN EMPIRE OF MISOGYNY” BECAUSE OF THE EXCLUSION OF WOMEN FROM THE PRIESTHOOD. IN SPITE OF THIS, WITH OPEN HEARTS, CHURCH WOMEN HAVE BEEN CHANNELS OF THE SPIRIT, THE ADVOCATE JESUS SPEAKS OF IN JOHN’S GOSPEL, AND HAVE BECOME ADVOCATES THEMSELVES FOR THE POOR AND FOR OTHERS WHOSE VOICES ARE OFTEN SILENT, OR NOT HEARD. SO WE CANNOT THINK OF THEM AS GAP-FILLERS. THERE’S A WHOLISTIC QUALITY TO THEIR LIVES: LIKE BRIGID, PRAYER, EDUCATION, AND HOSPITALITY ARE HALLMARKS OF THEIR OUTREACH. THEY AREN’T SELF-APPOINTED MISSIONARIES, BUT RATHER LINKS IN A CHAIN OF RESPONSE TO THE GOSPEL.
THIS WAS THE PATTERN FOR LUKE, FOR LYDIA, AND FOR BRIGID, WHO TOOK CENTER STAGE BRIEFLY, BUT WHOSE IMPACT WAS AND IS NONETHELESS PROFOUND. AFTER THE MISSION TO MACEDONIA, LUKE DROPS OUT OF HIS OWN ACCOUNT AND RE-EMERGES IN ACTS SEVEN YEARS LATER. PERHAPS WE CAN IMAGINE HIM IN THOSE YEARS QUIETLY WORKING WITH LYDIA, NURTURING THE LITTLE CHURCH COMMUNITY IN PHILIPPI WHOSE SEEDS PAUL HAD PLANTED. IT MAY HAVE BEEN SUCH SHARED MINISTRY THAT INSPIRED THE GOSPEL LINKED TO LUKE'S NAME, WHICH LAYS MUCH EMPHASIS ON THE EXCLUDED, THE MARGINALIZED, AND THE FORGOTTEN CATEGORIES IN SOCIETY, AS THE AFRICAN JESUIT GEORGE MACHARIA NJERI HAS WRITTEN.
FR. MACHARIA ALSO POINTS OUT THAT IN LUKE'S GOSPEL, WOMEN FEATURE PROMINENTLY AND SHARE IN THE MINISTRY OF CHRIST WITHOUT DISCRIMINATION OR BIAS. AS OUR TOUR LEADERS FRANK AND THERESA HAVE POINTED OUT, THERE ARE MEDIEVAL IRISH TEXTS CELTING TING FEMALE AGENCY AND AUTHORITY, THE POWER OF WOMENSAINTS, AND THE STRONG BONDS BETWEEN RELIGIOUS MEN AND WOMEN. BRIGID MAY WELL HAVE BEEN ORDAINED A BISHOP -- AND NOT BY ACCIDENT -- AND FOR MANY CENTURIES, HER SUCCESSORS HELD EPISCOPAL STATUS. THE PRACTICE WAS TO END AT THE INSISTENCE OF AN ITALIAN CARDINAL REPRESENTING THE POPE AT THE SYNOD OF KELLS-MELLIFONT IN 1152. AS RELIGIONPROFESSOR MAEVE CALLAN HAS POINTED OUT, MARY MCALEESE'S CRITICISM OF AN ALL-MALE, CELIBATE CLERGY IS LESS A RADICAL INNOVATION THAN A RETURN TO CERTAIN MEDIEVAL IRISH CATHOLIC ROOTS.
BRIGID'S MINISTRY IS SAID TO HAVE INCLUDED VISITS TO VARIOUS DISTRICTS IN IRELAND; UNLIKE SUCH FIGURES AS COLUMBA, COLUMBANUS, AND GALL, SHE DID NOT TRAVEL FAR GEOGRAPHICALLY TO PROCLAIM THE GOSPEL. THE EARLIEST BIOGRAPHY OF BRIGID CONTAINS THE FOLLOWING LINES: 'SAINT BRIGID WAS NOT GIVEN TO SLEEP, NOR WAS SHE INTERMITTENT ABOUT GOD'S LOVE.' WHILE WE RECOGNIZE THE MYTH MAKING POTENTIAL BEHIND THE FIRST LINE, THE SECOND HAS THE RING OF TRUTH-- TO NOT BE INTERMITTENT ABOUT GOD'S LOVE. I DARE SAY MOST OF US ARE PERIODIC ABOUT GOD'S LOVE. WOULD THAT WE AND ALL WHO PROFESS CHRISTIAN FAITH NEVER BE INTERMITTENT ABOUT THE LOVE OF GOD. THE INFLUENCE OF BRIGID OF KILDARE IS FELT AROUND THE WORLD TO THIS DAY, AND INSPIRES MANY WHO SERVE THOSE IN WANT, WHO WORK FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE, WHO STRIVE TO HEAL OUR WOUNDED PLANET.
IN OUR WORSHIP HERE TODAY, WE RECOGNIZE THAT WE ARE AT ONCE PILGRIMS AND MISSIONERS. AS JANET INGRAHAM REMINDED US LAST WEEK IN ST DAVIDS, THE CELTIC CHURCH ENCOURAGED PILGRIMAGE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, A CHOICE TO LET GO OF THE MATERIAL TRAPPINGS OF LIFE AND TO PLACE ULTIMATE VALUE ON THE SPIRITUAL. IN WORDS PURPORTEDLY SPOKEN BEFORE HIS DEATH, ST. DAVID SAID 'BE JOYFUL, AND KEEP YOUR FAITH AND YOUR CREED. DO THE LITTLE THINGS THAT YOU HAVE SEEN ME DO AND HAVE HEARD ABOUT.'PERHAPS IN READING AND HEARING ABOUT THE GREAT THINGS THE SAINTS HAVE DONE--THE MIRACULOUS HEALINGS AND WONDER WORKING--WE ARE DISTRACTED FROM THE SIMPLE TRUTH: NAMELY THAT THEIR LIVES AND OURS ARE MADE UP OF LITTLE THINGS, AND THAT THOSE THINGS DONE IN LOVE SANCTIFY A LIFE AND ARE A BLESSING FOR OTHERS.
MAY OUR PILGRIMAGE AND OUR PRAYER THIS DAY AND ALL DAYS NURTURE THE FAITH GIFTED TO US, AND HELP US DO THE LITTLE THINGS IN LOVE. AND LIKE THE LIVES OF LUKE AND LYDIA, OF DAVID AND BRIGID, MAY THAT HUMBLE FAITH RADIATE FROM OUR COMMUNITIES TO TOUCH ALL CORNERS OF OUR EARTH.
