Thanks for being 'a faithful servant'

By Ana Rodriguez Soto - The Archdiocese of Miami

MIAMI | For about an hour on the evening of Dec. 6, Miami's archbishop emeritus, John C. Favalora, carried a crosier, the staff that symbolizes the bishop's responsibility as shepherd of the faithful, and sat in the cathedra, the bishop's chair in the cathedral, which also symbolizes his authority.

It was a generous gesture of respect from his successor in Miami, Archbishop Thomas Wenski, which Archbishop Favalora graciously acknowledged.

"Thank you for inviting me to use your chair," he said at the end of a Mass marking the 50th anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood, and the 25th anniversary of his becoming a bishop.

On hand were Florida's bishops — nearly all of whom Archbishop Favalora either consecrated or installed — plus about 150 archdiocesan priests, seminarians, men and women religious and others who worked with the retired archbishop throughout his 15-year tenure in South Florida.

"I'm sure you could not imagine, archbishop, the road ahead," on that ordination day in 1961, Archbishop Wenski told his predecessor at the end of the Mass. "So many changes, so much tumult, so many exciting times and challenging times," including the changes that would result from the Second Vatican Council which started a few months later.

Yet through all that, "you remained a faithful servant" of the Lord, Archbishop Wenski said. "We are grateful for that. We are grateful for the years you spent shepherding this sometimes tumultuous flock," and for having said "yes" to the "great mystery" that is the vocation to the priesthood.

The good thing about retirement, Archbishop Wenski added, is that "you can be as occupied as you want to be without being preoccupied. Now I have to be the one who's preoccupied."

"For all those things, I am happy to vacate this seat," Archbishop Favalora quipped in reply, looking rested and happy in retirement.

Miami's archbishop emeritus now divides his time between his native New Orleans and his adopted Miami. When in South Florida, he spends his days volunteering at the Missionaries of Charity shelter and Camillus House.

He was ordained, as he put it, on a "very cold, very rainy December 20 morning in St. Peter's Basilica," along with his classmate Msgr. William Hennessey, former vicar general of the archdiocese, who also concelebrated the anniversary Mass.

He and Msgr. Hennessey will be traveling back to Rome this month to mark that anniversary with their other classmates — including Cardinal William Levada, now prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith — by celebrating Mass in the same altar of St. Peter's Basilica where they were ordained.

"Today, I give thanks to God for 50 years of priestly ministry," Archbishop Favalora said in his homily. "Despite my own unworthiness and sinfulness, I am so grateful to have been chosen to be a priest and for 25 years to have been selected to share the apostolic office as bishop of Alexandria, bishop of St. Petersburg and as metropolitan archbishop of Miami. I count those many blessings tonight."

Among those in attendance to congratulate him was Rabbi Solomon Schiff, executive vice president emeritus of the Rabbinical Association of Greater Miami.

"We had a snowball fight in Jerusalem," Rabbi Schiff said, recalling the trip that he, Miami's second archbishop, Edward McCarthy, and Archbishop Wenski, then a Miami auxiliary bishop, made to Israel in January 2000.

"I've known Archbishop Favalora from the day he came," said the rabbi, who has worked closely with all of Miami's archbishops, beginning with Archbishop Coleman F. Carroll.

"I'm grateful for all the wonderful steps of progress that our community has made over the years," Rabbi Schiff said. "We have far to go but we''ve come a tremendous way."

"I believe that we must be here," said Sister Lucia Ceccotti of the Sisters of St. Joseph Benedict Cottolengo, who for five decades have staffed the Marian Center, a school for children and adults with Down's syndrome.

"We are very grateful for what he did, especially for the Marian Center," Sister Ceccotti said of Archbishop Favalora. "He was the one, when we went to him to speak, he was listening very intently, with intensity and respect. I never will forget how he was such a good listener."

"I was going to come anyway but this is a special treat," said Ryan Saunders, who served as a master of ceremonies at the cathedral during many of the years Archbishop Favalora presided at Masses there.

Now working as chief of staff for Broward County Commissioner Chip LaMarca, Saunders once again served as master of ceremonies during the Mass.

“Archbishop Favalora played a very important role in my life, in my vocation and working with the Church,” Saunders said. “I wanted to be here to celebrate with him.”

Someone else who wanted to be there “to celebrate his priesthood and just tell him thank you” was Mother Adela Galindo, founder of the Servants of the Pierced Hearts of Jesus and Mary, a diocesan community that continues to grow 25 years after its establishment.

“From the very beginning he supported, he believed, he gave an apostolic letter. He opened the path,” Mother Galindo said, noting that Archbishop Favalora was the one who gave her community permission to wear the habit in public.

p She said Archbishop Favalora embodied both the Petrine principle and the Josephite principle for her community — a shepherd in the tradition of St. Peter and a father in the tradition of St. Joseph.

“He was like a St. Joseph in my life. He opened the path for this new congregation, for this new charism to grow and flourish. A bishop making a space is like St. Joseph making a home for the Blessed Mother,” Mother Galindo said. “He believed that this was the work of the Holy Spirit and he let it be.”

After the Mass, the priests of the archdiocese presented Archbishop Favalora with a gift: a $50,000 check for a newly-created Archbishop Favalora High School Scholarship Fund, which will help deserving students attend local Catholic high schools.