Appeared in The Catholic Virginian May 29, 2000
Open Wide the Doors to Christ
Homily given by Bishop Walter F. Sullivan
Jubilee 2000 Convocation
May 20, 2000
On May 10, 1975 - 25 years ago, the newly formed Diocese of Richmond gathered at the Richmond Coliseum to celebrate a new beginning. I became the 11th bishop of Richmond 10 months earlier on July 19, 1974 - the feast of Saint Vincent de Paul, the patron of our diocese. About 5000 people from all the corners of the diocese met around the theme “To Light a Fire”. We wanted to meet the challenge that the Holy Spirit was calling us to be Church in new ways. There was lots of excitement that glorious day as we learned to spell and pronounce Appalachia and saw and heard for the first time clogging - the dance of the mountain people with its music of strings and banjos; we heard the songs that ring through the hollers of South West Virginia.
We had lost to the newly created Diocese of Arlington our neighbors to the north but gained more territory with the addition of Appalachia and the Eastern Shore with its small quaint towns, farmlands and migrant workers.
Twenty-five years ago we became a new diocese - yet one with a history that dated back even to pre-Revolutionary days. Although our diocese was established in 1820, in 1975 we had to start over to establish a new identity which would lead us into the 21st Century. On that day - May 10, 1975 - we called upon the Spirit of Jesus to light in the hearts of each of us a new fire - a fire of love for the person of Jesus, a fire to challenge us to the vision to be Church in new ways, a fire that would never burn out but spreads beyond our Church doors to make a difference in the communities in which we live.
Here we gather - 25 years later - at the University of Richmond. We gather perhaps to catch our breath, to look back on where our journey has taken us, to say thanks because the fire of the Spirit has never been extinguished, to pause, to reflect on how wonderful it is to be together and then to stretch beyond our wildest dreams the vision for ourselves as followers to Jesus - to stretch that vision for our families, for our faith communities, for our ecumenical and interfaith partners, for the communities in which we live. Pope John Paul II has called this moment “a springtime of hope” because as we move ahead, our lives are anchored in the person of Jesus. “Christ yesterday, today and forever”. We relish what has been; the women and men who have come forward to share their gifts. Their lives prove to us infallibly that Christ is no longer in the tomb, but is risen from the grave never to be contained again - and made visible - seen in the lives of those who share his love with others. On this glorious day we embrace the theme of this awesome assembly - to open wide the doors to Christ, open wide the doors of our hearts to others. We come to recommit ourselves to the mission of Christ in our world today: a mission of evangelization - to spread the Gospel of God’s love and forgiveness to every corner of our diocese of 35,000 square miles; a mission of equality - which recognizes the giftedness of all as partners and collaborators in Christ’s ministry of healing, forgiveness and reconciliation; and a mission of ecumenism that is cooperation and co-ministry with those united with us because of our common baptism and our common bond of faith and love.
For a brief moment, let me retrace our steps of the past 25 years. We did not just arrive here today - by accident or chance - but only because of the abiding presence of the Spirit in our lives. Our diocese went through a discernment process by which we opened ourselves to the Spirit. We learned a new vocabulary with words such as collegiality, subsidiarity, co-ministry, and consultation. In 1977, we affirmed that ours is essentially a missionary diocese. We needed to create an environment in which the gospel shall be proclaimed, lived and spread. From the beginning we recognized the need for faith formation for outreach ministry.
In the spring of May 1980, we gathered here at the University of Richmond to affirm and proclaim that justice is a constituitive part of the proclaiming of the gospel. The Unite for Justice assembly brought a new vibrancy and urgency to our ministry to others. We gave a high priority for an evangelization that upheld the consistent ethic of life, a genuine concern for the poor and oppressed and for all marginalized people.
Two years later in 1982 we again gathered for an assembly at St. Joseph's Villa for what became known as Parish: Servant of the Kingdom. We recognized that works of justice and peacemaking must flow from viable faith communities. Leadership became a top priority. From now on Sunday celebration of the Eucharist would have the utmost importance in our parishes. We empowered the laity as collaborators whose special gifts and skills are needed for the building of the kingdom of Christ in southern Virginia. We placed ourselves under the mantle of St. Vincent de Paul, the patron of the poor and less fortunate. This led to our eventual solidarity with the people of Haiti where today about 40 of our own faith communities link up with our brothers and sisters in that impoverished country in the Caribbean. We grew to love and embrace the Haitian people and in turn they have enriched our lives one hundred fold.
We prepared and planned for the last decade of the 20th century by issuing the Shared Vision of the Nineties. In our statement we clearly stated that "our God is at mission in the world." We are called to dialogue with this world so cherished by its Creator. We are to be both the leaven and the light revealing God's presence, participating in God's work, discerning the plan of salvation in the lives of people. We pledged to become a voice of prophecy and a hand of justice, willing to offer inclusive hospitality and unfailing compassion. We so pointedly stated that the reign of God is close at hand when love grows and hatred diminishes, when life triumphs and death is vanquished, when justice increases and oppression declines and when peace prevails and violence wanes.
A quarter of a century has passed. We now prepare ourselves to welcome the new millennium as the 2000th anniversary of the birth of our Savior. This year is a year of jubilee, a graced moment, a Kyros, a holy year. In our parishes we walked through the holy door at the sound of the jubilee trumpet. We have journeyed here to this place today made sacred in order to become a jubilee people, renewed in spirit. We want to spread the jubilee message of repentance and forgiveness. We want to seize the jubilee heart. We are called to grow in love with the man called Jesus who came to serve and not to be served. We can make Christ visible to others - first by our conversion to the heart of Christ. Every year, more and more people are undergoing conversion to Jesus through his Church. People all around us hunger for spirituality because our culture of plenty with its emphasis on earthly possessions, has left them empty and unfulfilled. This hunger exists in a particular way among our youth and young adults to whom we have a special commitment as a diocese. I am proud of the young people who have come forward to minister with and for their peers in our parishes and on our campuses, whose vitality and excitement about faith refreshes and encourages us in our own faith.
We pledge this day to open the doors of opportunity to all people, to help create a jubilee world by affirming the equality of all people in the eyes of God, the sacredness of life, especially human life and all God's creation. We continue to work for the equality of women and men both in church and society. Our words promoting equality must be made visible by our deeds and actions. Equality demands that we not be a single issue Church but all-inclusive after the example of Jesus himself. We open wide the doors of our minds and hearts to the Christ who comes to us in the neglected of society, in the lives of those who face daily disdain because of sexual orientation, in the lives of minorities who experience constant prejudice because of their race or ethnicity. We can truly take pride in the warm welcome that our diocese has extended to the growing number of Hispanic sisters and brothers who bless us with the richness of their ethnic and religious culture. We should commend their initiatives to develop bonds with our parishes and to raise up leaders for our communities. Today, we do not proclaim a sanitized Jesus but one who was at home with the poor and marginalized, who healed the sick and alienated, who laid down his life that others might live.
As we enter the new millennium we must increase our partnership with our brothers and sisters in the ecumenical journey. We must celebrate a unity that already exists because together we proclaim one Lord, one faith, one baptism. As Catholics we cannot remain on the sidelines in our quest for Christian unity. We must reach out in love and respect, recognizing that true unity allows for diversity. I rejoice in our ecumenical contacts these past 25 years. I must mention one among many, our annual LARC gatherings whereby we renew every year our covenant relationship. My own ministry as bishop has been greatly enriched because of my many ecumenical conversations and dialogues and various forms of mutual cooperation. I long for the day in which we can approach the Lord's table together. When that day comes our full communion will be complete. In our unity that respects diversity, we will resemble that variety of early Christians who were of one mind and one heart. We need to remind ourselves that ecumenism is the way of the Church. Ecumenism is not a program but at the core of being Church according to the wish and command of Christ "that all may be one."
Yes, as we gather here at the Robins Center we visibly express our unity in diversity, we ask forgiveness for the times we have failed to "open wide the doors to Christ" and we celebrate our call to be the Body of Christ in the new millennium. This gathering itself makes real the words of Pope John Paul II in declaring the year 2000, a Jubilee year, a holy year for us, a "springtime of hope."
The readings for the 5th Sunday of Easter give us nourishment for our journey into the new millennium. The Acts of the Apostles is the story of the early Church. It is a story of witness to the risen Christ, a story of missionary journey, a story of conversion and of sacrifice. Paul filled with the spirit speaks fearlessly in the name of Jesus. The early Church was at peace being built up and making steady progress in the fear of the Lord. The Acts of the Apostles is but the first chapter. 2000 years later the story continues in your lifetime and my own. Hopefully, today's story will be about followers of Jesus who also are fearless in living out the gospel message. John, in the second reading, reminds us that our mission and ministry is one of Christ's love. We are challenged to love in deed and in truth and not just talk about it. What gives us courage and zeal is our connectedness to Jesus who is the vine, the life-giving vine which makes possible for us, the branches, to bear much fruit in discipleship. Let us always remember that it is Christ's work, not our own, that we are about and, apart from Christ, all our efforts are doomed to failure.
The Spirit of Jesus, the Holy Spirit, leads us forth as we
celebrate God's presence in each of us. We invite this Jesus of Nazareth, the living bread
come down from heaven into our assembly. This place is our upper room where Christ stands
in our midst showing his hands and side in one another. In this convocation let us
recommit ourselves to be heralds of good news, heralds of hope and love, heralds of a new
creation where the goodness of God's people shines forth as a beacon - a sign to all that
Jesus truly lives because he is seen in the lives of all of us. Amen. .
+ Walter F. Sullivan