There was a great moment in the Chrism Mass at the Metropolitan Cathedral and Basilica of St Chad, Birmingham, on the Wednesday of Holy Week, 31 March, Spy Wednesday as it was once known. It was the first time that Archbishop Bernard Longley, installed on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, 8 December 2009, had presided at this solemn service in his new archdiocese.
It is one occasion in the year when the priests are the central figures, filling much of the central part of the cathedral, with the deacons, religious and lay faithful there in a supporting role.
Archbishop Bernard asked his priests if they were ready to renew their dedication to Christ as priests of his new covenant. With a unanimity, a warmth and a high precision of timing, his priests resounded a great ‘I am’. The word of each was the resolution of all.
The deep poignancy in this was felt by all those assembled because, in this, his first Chrism Mass homily, Archbishop Bernard had needed to allude to the tragic passage of events in the Irish Church, events not without echo in the Catholic Church in England and Wales.
The Archbishop had referred to the great pressure this had brought to bear upon the Catholic Church, especially upon the Holy Father and within the Church in Ireland. He emphasised: ‘As priests and as a Catholic community in our own country we are not immune from that pressure and we also feel the shame and the sorrow that the Holy Father expressed.’
He invited prayer at this Mass and over the Easter Triduum for all those who had suffered. ‘We pray for those whose faith in Christ and his priesthood have been undermined in circumstances where they should only have found the Lord’s love and compassion.’
Archbishop Longley stressed: ‘We cannot rely upon ourselves when we see the imperfections that have flawed our human nature - but we can never allow our confidence in the Lord to falter because he is the unfailing source of forgiveness and healing. He wants to continue reaching the broken and distressed through the availability of our priestly ministry and that is why we renew our commitment to priestly service today.’ The resolute, almost choral ‘I am’ at that later point in the
Chrism Mass was a memorable moment of rededication.
It was a bitterly cold day in Birmingham and the Archbishop’s golden chasuble, with the linen tapes at the back of his mitre, flapped in the biting wind as he greeted his flock exiting St Chad’s.
The Chrism Mass carried forward the thoughts Archbishop Longley had expressed in his Palm Sunday homily. ‘As we enter Holy Week we are also aware of the dark shadow that abuse of the young and the vulnerable casts across our world and within the Catholic Church and we know that this too reflects the anguish of Christ. Kneeling in prayer with Our Lord we ask for forgiveness and healing so that his light may continue to shine steadily upon the world.’
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