Saint Thomas Church Fifth Avenue

Here we are: a French Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church preaching in English, in an Episcopalian Church, in America, for the Jubilee of an Anglican minister, who is a British citizen. You must admit that this is a rather strange combination! It is the result of the long friendship, which binds me to John Andrew since 1973: 34 years!

When I started to collect together my thoughts about what I was going to say this morning, I remembered an episode I heard being related from this very pulpit by our friend, John Andrew. It is a story about a young Anglican minister, recently ordained, who had a great difficulty in preaching. He resolved this problem by stealing homilies from an anthology of Anglican preachers. So, one Sunday morning, in front of a startled congregation he began his sermon by saying: “My dear brethren, twenty years ago when I was Bishop of Zanzibar…!” As a consequence, I, for my part, have decided to take a different approach, that is to say, to let my heart speak!

There is only one word we can say in this celebration, which is: Thank you Lord for having put John Andrew across our path of life. He has been for us a brother, a friend, and a witness during these fifty years of ministry. We thank you Lord because John has been a happy priest, a priest in love with the great liturgy of the Church and an attentive companion to all of us.

John, you have always been a happy priest and this is something we shall always cherish as friends. God has been a part of your life since your childhood. You have never doubted the existence of His love for you and for others. By the grace of God, you have understood quickly, like the first Apostles, “As regards ourselves, we cannot stop proclaiming what we have seen and heard about the Name of Jesus.” (Acts 4:20). We never saw you down or disheartened. It is not a question of politeness. Rather, it is the result of the presence of the One who dwells in you: the God of Light and the God of Life. You could say with Paul, “I live now not with my own life but with the life of Christ who lives in me … the Son of God who loves me and who sacrificed himself for my sake.” (Galatians 2:19)

I like the title of your book, The Best of Both Worlds, a selection of your sermons, in which you show that the World of God and our world are not separated: “Everyone and all things are one in Christ Jesus,’ you wrote, “for heaven reaches from the next world into this with his life lived in us.” It goes without saying that you never had a solitary spirituality. The feeling of belonging to the Anglican Communion in its diversity has always been a strong point of your spiritual life because you have been deeply influence by the great Churchmen of the Catholic Anglican tradition. There came that memorable day in your life with the appearance of Dr. Michael Ramsey, one of the greatest Archbishops of Canterbury, to whom you have been a faithful private secretary and, in a way, a spiritual son. He ordained you a deacon and a priest, he taught you theology, he showed you how to serve in the Church. Without him you would have never been the pastor we know and we love.

If there are happy priests—and I am one of them—it is because we have experienced being chosen by the pure grace of God in order to be a sign of God’s presence in the life of men and women of all times. There is nothing more beautiful and more challenging—and I say this for the young people who are present in this church—than to be at the same time a witness and a servant of this God who walks ahead of us on our way and who is One that we can always implore. If we are happy, it is because we can discover that our humble person and our ministry compel those around us to think of Another who is Jesus, the Savior of mankind. But a priest is not only somebody who speaks about God, he is also somebody who speaks about God with his brother priests and with his community.

And this is another aspect of your ministry John. You have been a priest happy to celebrate the sacred mysteries because the liturgy has always been at the center of your apostolate and pillar to your personal life. We have been testimony of the care with which you prepare your homilies (I can still remember you at 550 Park Avenue at five o’clock Sunday morning with pen and paper correcting the sermon you were about to preach a few hours later). From Archbishop Ramsey, you learned that when we have the unmerited privilege of commenting upon the world of God for our brothers and sisters, we can never be content with being an amateur. From Archbishop Ramsey you learned also how to propose the faith in understandable language to men and women living in a precarious society like ours. And it is here, in this splendid Saint Thomas Church, that your passion for liturgy reached its peak with a wonderful choir and an open-minded community available to welcome and to experience the fecundity of the great Anglican tradition. It is here that, with the assistance of competent priests and devoted lay men and women, you have put the liturgy at the center of parochial life. And you were right because in the celebration of the liturgy, you also evangelize. In the humdrum of life in Manhattan, one can open the doors of this church and discover another world. A world which tells us about the marvels of God and the warmth of a vibrant community you like to call your “family.” A visitor who enters this church while the liturgy is going on cannot avoid some questions: why are these men and women here? What do they do? What do they think? Why they and not I?

So liturgy becomes an appeal to others. Thank you, John, for having taught how to give praise to God with beautiful inspired music and with a concrete teaching. In a way, it can be said that a community is what its liturgy is. But there is one point that I would like to stress: you have helped us to understand that liturgy is not our creation. Liturgy is not the simple gathering of a group which celebrates a feast. Liturgy is the participation in Christ who presents himself to the Father. Liturgy on earth is a participation of the heavenly liturgy. This is why the Preface always ends with the words, “Holy, holy, holy, Lord … Heaven and earth are full of your glory!’ It is why the sacred character of our assemblies is so important.

Finally there is a third aspect of your service to the Church which remains fundamental for you: ecumenism. You were involved directly in the first visit of an Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury to Rome, that of Dr. Ramsey to Pope Paul VI in March 1966. The presence of so many Roman Catholic prelates and priests in this church this morning testifies to the quality of your commitment to Christian unity. If there is a sad note in this Jubilee celebration it is that this morning we have been unable to take part together of the same bread and of the same chalice. You remember John that so many times when I have stayed with you in New York or England or we met in France, we have felt very painfully the division between our churches. Yet, we must not be pessimistic. We cannot stop! We must continue forward as Pope Benedict XVI and Archbishop Rowan Williams have stressed this past March in their conversations at the Vatican. We must return to the sources of Christianity and see if our Churches are Gospel focused Churches. We have to verify whether the mishaps of history have not buried the overflowing source of the Gospel. In this regard, I would like to refer myself to the book published by Michael Ramsey in 1936 entitled The Gospel and the Catholic Church. Taking Luther’s text from the 95 theses: “The true treasure of the Church is the holy gospel of the glory and grace of God”, the future Archbishop attempted to show that the structure of Catholicism, that is, according to his own words, the “sacraments, canons, creed, episcopate,” are the strict application of the essential Gospel. “The Gospel has created them, and in the Gospel their meaning is to be found”, he affirmed (page 62).

So, let us pray this morning that our two Churches have the courage to pose the fundamental question: are we a Gospel Church? In spite of our failures, in spite of the contradictions of history, we—all the Christians —are walking towards “the complete truth” (John 16:13). Together we are walking towards the ‘plenary Church’. If the Church is “apostolic” when she is faithful to her past, that is to say to the tradition received from the apostles, she is “catholic” when she is opened to the future reconciliation in diversity. Meanwhile, we can only pave the way of this long road by our daily encounters by this very concrete ecumenism of life: prayer, friendship, service. Exactly what we are doing here, this morning. And so, we shall address a common message to our fellow men and women. Together we shall be able to tell our brothers and sisters in humanity:

God loves you and is always ready to forgive you;
Jesus is our companion on the way, nobody and nothing cannot separate us from Him;
every human person bears a dignity and must be respected for “there is much more joy in giving than in receiving”;
happiness does not consist in having more but in being more.

In this harsh world that we ourselves built the Christian Churches have the task to announce the Gospel of Mercy. We have heard this once again being proclaimed in today’s Gospel, in the moving encounter of Jesus with a woman attending the banquet at the Pharisee’s house. In our society, if the believers can exercise a power, it is the power of the heart. It involves taking time to look at each other, trying to understand the other’s point of view, helping people to live with dignity, going beyond the appearances, discovering the goodness within those who are unappealing to us. In other words: what we have to proclaim is that we shall not be happy without one another and certainly not with one against the other. And it is in this field of compassion and care for others, John, you have so many times showed us the way. I cannot remember having heard coming from you a word of condemnation regarding the weaknesses of your brothers and sisters. It is a great example you have given us who live in a society accustomed to classify and decide when one is productive and when one is useless. We Christians have a tremendous responsibility to make understood that a single person is more precious than all the gold in the world.

My dear brothers and sisters, I do not want to abuse your patience and hospitality nor proceed to the beatification of John Andrew. We leave this to another time. So, I would like to conclude by inviting you to join me in prayer. May God keep our friend, John Andrew, for many more years to come among us so as to continue to be a minister and brother for all of us! May God give him health, strength and zeal in order that he can continue to announce, to celebrate and to serve. These are our affectionate and prayerful best wishes for him.

And so, in the name of all of us, borrowing my words from St. Paul, I say: “May God give you, John, the strength to grasp the breadth and the length, the height and depth of his love! God who, working in us, can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine … glory be to him … for ever and ever. Amen.” (Ephesians 3:20-21).

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Toasts made by Canon Andrew at Dinners
Honoring his Golden Jubilee

Friday, June 15

Your Excellency, my generous host, Your Eminence, my beloved friend and brother, my sisters and brothers in the Lord:

A little piece of history is beginning tonight. It is the history of friendship offered and reciprocated, of hospitality shared and enjoyed, of glad prayers exchanged and offered from the heart. And all this, in this distinguished home of the Holy Father’s representative among those who help strive for peace among the nations. It is a time of deep thanksgiving for the kindness of God to us all and to the man whose life has been blessed with friends like this in the work Christ has called him to over half a century. St. Thomas More, the Martyr and Saint, used to love the term “merry”. Such have been the decades of hard work and friendships across denominations and some harsh history. So trust, and confidence in Christ’s prayers to us as we live out our faith, and bring others along with us in it, give us the energy to press forward, as Paul tells us “to the mark of God in Christ Jesus.”

For nearly half my life—for 34 years of it—I have been part of the Cardinal’s life, and he, mine, and in the life of Saint Thomas too, where you have been a cherished figure of affection and deep respect. All of us are thrilled to have you with us. And all of us want to thank our dear Archbishop Celestino Migliore for his magnificent hospitality.

The People around this table mean a lot to me. My successor and friend of over thirty years. My priest colleague who in the 80’s joined the team. A woman friend who has been a part of the soul of Saint Thomas as a vestry woman and a helper on the altars. A Canadian lawyer with a merciful heart who leads the Order of Malta in this part of the country. A Jesuit Priest dynamo who runs the Health Care Chaplaincy like a Swiss watch. And then two men for whom hilarity and humor are no stranger. The Cardinal’s capacity for mimicry and wit are known by his friends; the Nuncio whom I know to be mischievous with the limoncello bottle when I’m not paying attention at his table to my glass.

For your part in this odyssey with me here in New York, I shall always be your undischarged debtor as I recall something England’s famous Catholic poet, Hillaire Belloc, wrote in his Dedicatory Ode:

From quiet home and first beginning
Out to the undiscovered ends,
There’s nothing worth the wear of winning
But laughter and the love of friends.

Saturday, June 16

Your Eminence, Your Excellency, Father Walter, my beloved host; my brothers in the Lord,

Not content with giving me a magnificent 40th priesthood anniversary dinner my host pulled the rug from under me again by deciding before I could give much thought to the whole thing that you would give me my Priest’s dinner on my Golden Jubilee. This man is a phenomenon in this city. The financial moguls with the great names envy his drawing-power in attracting the biggest and most generous supporters for his extraordinary enterprise, The New York Health Care Chaplaincy, the largest of its kind anywhere, where clergy and ministers of every denomination and faith are taught the spiritual care of the sick in New York and beyond. He is tireless. He has the shamelessness of the holy: he will approach people, often to their surprise, to suggest they help in a way that graces them with generosity. I have known one or two women who do this: a tiny nun in England, Mother Concordia Scott; Mother Teresa. But professional fund raisers have to watch their backs when this Jesuit Energy Bunny who keeps going and going appears on the scene, banging his drum. His generosity is one thing. His genius for friendship has won him a great crowd of happy people in whom he can see God at work. He draws them as the Scriptures say, “with the bands of love and the cords of a man.”
Which is why we are here tonight, making history, clergy brothers, to meet my beloved brother of 34 years, Jean-Louis Cardinal Tauran, who came into my life in my first summer here at Saint Thomas and who through the decades has been affectionately regarded by the Saint Thomas family as a member. His silver crozier, his pastoral staff, has his arms on one side of the pole; the Saint Thomas Fifth Avenue arms on the other, for we shared that gift to him on his ordination to the Episcopate. And the Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations was at one time his secretary and obviously valued by Cardinal Jean-Louis and the Holy Father as being exactly the wise and fine diplomat to this sensitive and significant apostolate here in New York. What a joy to have you here, your Excellency, my good friend.

You both see around you my fellow pilgrims in priesthood and ministry who have strengthened my life of faith for decades with their understanding, their forbearance and their encouragement. I am very proud to be among their number and very happy that they have responded with their presence tonight.

Many of them are characters and many of them could tell you stories about me that would make me—and you—blush. Our companionship has been a little sign to a disintegrated world of a determination to listen to our Lord’s prayer that his Church may reflect the oneness that Christ has with his heavenly Father. For this and for all the mercies he has poured upon us, “new every morning,” God’s holy name be blessed and praised.

Sunday, June 17

Your Eminence, Your Excellency: Father Mead and Mrs. Mead and friends

Where to begin with this word of thanks is possibly to start with God who initiated all this commotion in my life and in all yours. I’ve often wondered not .merely what you would see but what it felt like to climb to the top of Everest. Now I think I know. I see much joy, and I feel much relief at being given the grace to climb half a century with the priesthood at my back. “My yoke is easy and my burden is light,” says our Lord to us. The yoke of Priesthood has been the light burden of joy, and like John Donne’s angels, I don’t hear the “sob of weariness in my lungs.” What a morning this has been! Magnificent music to accompany the great liturgy with Sheppard’s French Mass – appropriately chosen for our beloved guest of honor; splendid hymns; the Christus Vincit with a musical setting provided by Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran himself, our hero; friends from all over, including a friend I’ve had since 1953, Father Gregory Page-Turner, who hopped on a plane from London yesterday and who goes back tonight; Clergy from every place both Roman Catholic and Anglican, and many members of the Saint Thomas Parish family.

And all crowned by this lovely time together in the Rectory with our hosts my wonderful successor and Nancy his wife. They and you have crowned me with loving kindness. I thank God for you all.

I think you can guess what it means to me to have a successor like Andy; an old friend of 33 years, whose wife I love and admire and whose hospitality and organizing abilities are prodigious as is her cheerfulness. This is a big invasion today and all of us are aware of its demands upon her.

In 1994 a young and upcoming silversmith came into our lives and I commissioned something fine which he had created. I now have the honor of passing it along to you Nancy, with my love and thanks.

My host has one great moral and theological weakness: he has a fondness for cigars. So in the word of Scripture I am “tying sin to sin with a cart rope” (Isaiah 5:18). I am giving him my fifty year-old golden cigar cutter, as I no longer use it. “Better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.”

And finally, a last tribute to my much loved younger brother, the Cardinal. Your presence among us after a long and tiring journey from Rome, your words in the liturgy today, and to me and all of us over our dinners will remain a precious possession, as lasting as the devoted friendship we have shared over 33 years.

Long live Saint Thomas and its offering of worship and sublime music to God! Long live our hopes for the unity Christ prayed for, in holiness and truth, and may the joy of Christ surround us all, that our joy may be full!

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Canon Andrew’s Golden Jubilee Sermons and Toasts