By Archbishop Thomas Wenski - The Archdiocese of Miami
Homily by Archbishop Thomas Wenski at funeral Mass of Msgr. Noel Fogarty. May 17, 2016. St. Gregory Church.
Today each one of us here gathers to honor the memory and to pray for the repose of the soul of a holy, dedicated and faithful priest, Monsignor Noel Fogarty. Each of us – whether his family members who join us today in mourning his passing, whether brother priests or parishioners – each one of us has vivid memories, grateful memories, of this man’s life lived as a priest for 58 years.
For many of the priests here, Monsignor was somewhat of a father-figure. He recruited many of the Irish serving here in the Archdiocese. And he had a good eye for sizing up a man and so it is no exaggeration to say that he recruited the best. And the Church here is stronger for it. He himself arrived before there was even a diocese of Miami, arriving in mid-1957, and so he was in at the beginning and with other Irish priests of his generation, like Bryan Walsh, Pat McDonnell, Dominic Barry and so many others who built this local Church.
Now if he was a “father-figure” to the priests here, he was, my dear people, your “father”. In the times I came to Saint Gregory as auxiliary bishop and later as Archbishop, I was always impressed as we stood outside the church that he knew everybody’s name, everybody. I remember telling someone that Msgr. Fogarty could read the phonebook for his homily and everybody would still love him –because he knew each one of them. (Some who had difficulty in understanding his accent might have thought that he was reading the phone book.) He was father to the people, a shepherd to his sheep, and a servant leader to faithful of this archdiocese.
As someone said in his obituary that appeared on the Archdiocese of Miami’s website, if a parent applying to put a child in his school was only interested in a “private school” education, that child would likely not be accepted. He insisted that parents commit to the program. And part of that program was their faithful attendance at Sunday Mass. He believed that Catholic schools are still the best means of evangelizing young families in the Church today. Because he believed it, he worked hard at making it so in the various parishes in which he served. One could point to many of the beautiful things Monsignor Fogarty did at St. Gregory: the church tower and refurbished sanctuary are certainly impressive – tributes to Monsignor in marble and stone. But his greatest and hopefully most enduring legacy is the school.
Sunday, I celebrated the 40th anniversary of my ordination as a priest. I had the occasion to dig up an old clipping from our archdiocesan newspaper, a picture of Archbishop Coleman Carroll ordaining me. Standing with Archbishop Carroll was Noel Fogarty. Besides being a pastor, he was also the vicar general and chancellor, the right hand man of the Archbishop. He stood by the side of Coleman Carroll, and he stood by Carroll’s successors, Archbishop McCarthy, Archbishop Favalora and me. He could speak his mind, always offering his best advice. He wasn’t afraid of any of us – but never was he ever disloyal.
Today, we lay to rest an extraordinary Churchman. He retired at 82 years old. I remember I was here in the fall of 2010 and he told me that he wanted to retire in December. I asked him to stay on at least until June. He agreed. Like I said he was never disloyal. And, I think, to his surprise, he found that he enjoyed being retired. Who would have thought?
The funeral Mass, what the liturgical books call the Mass of Christian Burial, is more than just about celebrating the life of this man, this priest. The funeral Mass is offered to pray for the repose of his soul and to comfort those who mourn. We do so with the confident hope that death is not the end nor does death break the bonds forged in life.
We priests know our human weaknesses and our foibles – for we carry the immense treasure of what is the gift and the mystery of the Catholic priesthood in “vessels of clay”. And so, we are not shy in asking prayers for Monsignor Fogarty today. When we die, we beg that you will also pray for us. St. Ambrose, an early Father of the Church, once said: “We have loved them in life. Let us not abandon them in death until we have conducted them by our prayers into the House of God.”
The Paschal Candle stands beside the coffin at every Mass of Christian burial – just as it stands by the font at baptisms. Five grains of incense represent the five wounds of Christ. Those five grains in the form of a cross are framed by the Greek letters, Alpha and Omega, symbolizing Christ – our beginning and our end. When candle is lit after the blessing of the new fire on Holy Saturday evening, the priests prays – as Monsignor Fogarty prayed the many times he celebrated the Easter Vigil: “May the light of Christ, rising in glory, dispel the darkness of our hearts and minds.” The words of St. Paul comfort us: "If we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also rise with him.”
Eternal Rest grant unto him, O Lord; may his soul and the souls of all the faithful departed through the mercy of God rest in peace. Amen.
The funeral Mass was livestreamed and recorded. Watch it here.
