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"The Ordination was
a bit like a ‘game of two halves’ – well actually two halves and some ‘edge of
your seat’ kind of overtime!"
The following is Sharon Crooks' commentary on the ordination, on the Feast of Ss Peter and Paul at the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit, Palmerston North, of Fr Vui Hoang by Bishop Emeritus Peter Cullinane:
"Firstly, Bishop Peter, delivered a beautiful and faultless ‘speech’. I won’t call it a ‘homily’ because there was something fundamental missing. On the surface it was great – the priesthood is a call to service. He ‘hit’ all the right notes on this! Missing of course was any mention of the ‘elephant in the room’! That being the actual work of the Holy Spirit in the Sacrament of Ordination.
We had gathered,
supposedly, in prayerful witness to this most holy moment - the most perfect
work of the Holy Spirit, coming down to make an indelible mark on the soul of
this young man, Vui! And not just any ‘mark’, but one that would forever leave
his soul as though a newly minted coin, to become a ‘priest forever’; to be
changed in persona Christi . If it really were a ‘game’, no mention was
made of the ‘action’, but rather all we got was a description of the ground
keeping duties.
Yesterday, thank
goodness, we got the second half. The action was in this half for sure. Fr
Bryan Buenger was invited by Fr Vui to preach the homily for his ‘Thanksgiving
Mass’ in the Cathedral. He recalled a boyhood tale, which told of the rookie
mistake his adventurous mate made in untying one of the camp boats before
climbing in for a sneaky row. With one foot on shore and the other in the boat,
pushing off led to legs splitting and Jimmy making a ‘splash’. It was a
metaphor for our life of faith – either we are all in the boat or we are
not!
As he unravelled the metaphor we quickly realised that the life of faith
requires two feet in the Barque of St Peter! We cannot have one foot in the
world and the other in the boat if we are disciples of Christ! Let the dead
‘bury the dead’. His homily was, unlike yesterday’s ‘call to service’, more
about diving into the boat with passion; with a LOVE for the priesthood.
This
must have been encouraging for Fr Vui to hear – to take up his call to the
priesthood and embrace it wholeheartedly, for there has not been a better time
in 2000 years to be setting off in this boat! Of course it goes without saying,
that it was Fr Bryan’s heart for the priesthood and desire to follow Christ
without keeping a foot in this corrupt, pagan world, that has seen him rowing
off to distant shores, where the sailing is a little smoother!! Let’s hope Fr
Vui is better supported and stays a little longer in the waters of this fine
country!
The ‘game’ then
went into ‘extra-time’ for those of us who were blessed enough to head out to
Ashurst for the TRADITONAL LATIN MASS at 12pm. Fr Peter Brockhill capped off the weekend with a
‘touch down’! He said that in Ordination, the Holy Spirit brings about an
ontological change, enabling the priest not only to be in persona Christi, but
in this being, he actually fulfils the role of priest in his
manhood, becoming as it were, the groom to the Bride of Christ. If
that’s not an invitation to board the LOVE BOAT then I don’t know what
is!
In a nutshell,
Bishop Peter left us with little more than a notion of the priesthood as a call
to religious service (of course any man, or woman too, could be one, right?); Fr
Bryan illumined on the priesthood as being much more than this – as an office of
committed love; and, then finally, Fr Peter elaborated on the priesthood as a
spiritual authority.
The priesthood is all of these – religious service,
priestly office, and spiritual authority so if Bishop Peter was all we heard
this weekend, then it’s a pretty boring ‘game’. But if Fr’s Bryan and Peter
are anything to go by (and they should be), then the priesthood is STILL the
GREATEST endeavour and adventure for mankind! Like Fr Bryan said, we are
not called to make this world a better place, we are called to sanctify it and
make it holy AND THEN IT WILL BE A BETTER PLACE. Amen!
Of course it was
shame that +Charles couldn’t be there – not only for the ordination, but for
these other Masses too! Nonetheless, I hope he hears about Fr Bryan’s homily
and is inspired to finally jump into the boat with both feet, pushing us all out
into the deep of our Catholic faith toward our destination, which is Christ
Jesus.
At the moment, Bishop Charles has definitely got a foot on shore, trying to please the
world and have the world be pleased with him. I hope Dave Mullins was there too
- we don’t want Bishops in ‘leaky boats’ either!! We want to be in the Barque
of St Peter with faithful priests like Fr’s Bryan and Peter at the helm, who are
not afraid to embrace their priestly office as spiritual authority, knowing that
they have been ontologically changed in their ordination to now be as it were,
grooms to the Bride of Christ.
I hope Fr Vui jumps into this kind of LOVE BOAT
two feet and all.
Thank you, Sharon. Could I have chosen my Mass yesterday, it would certainly have been those at the cathedral and at St Columba's, Ashhurst. What a feast of fine food was prepared for you by Fr Bryan and Fr Peter.
By comparison - odious though it may be - Bishop Peter is Protestant through and through.
Matt Walton says:
May I recall some phrases used by Fr. Bryan in his
homily at Fr. Vui's Thanksgiving Mass.
He spoke on the Mass as a
re-presentation of the sacrifice of Our Lord; on the priest as a figure of
Christ our Lord ' who singlehandedly harrowed the halls of Hell' for our
redemption.
He spoke of the heinous crimes committed against the human
person by people at all levels of the Church and said, as Bishop Peter had said
the day before, that this is a great time to be a priest.
The way ahead, Fr. Bryan said, is for the priest to be
reconfigured in Christ. There was no vagueness in what he was saying. He meant
Christ in his totality - Doctrine, Tradition, Gospel; Way, Truth and Life. No
room for partial measure.
The template for
priesthood has been set by Jesus, in Jesus. He does the will of the Father. His
will is eternal and it will be held to forever.
As to the Bishop
being on stress leave: out of compassion, we the people are certainly praying
for him. However, know too that catholic spiritual leaders have a high degree of
responsibility for both the personal faith and the objective Faith-knowledge of
the people they serve. No spiritual leader in this realm can stand for long the
metaphysical stress of being pulled in multiple directions, many of which are
patently false and flawed.
Now, Fr. Bryan Buenger was
using a maritime analogy - of where we stand in the boat. Christ spoke too of
those who say they know the weather.
There are rough seas ahead, storm clouds
rising. So soul, set thine eyes on the Lord as he fixes course into the storm.
Adelie Reid says:
Julie I was at the ordination ...
The power of the Holy Spirit and the sanctity of priesthood and the sacrifice of Calvary was all there. The priest lays down his life as a sacrifice of both love and suffering, just as Christ did at the last supper and at Calvary.....
To me the homily was perfect especially as it was given through the humanness of those involved, the laying on of hands and blessings, the words, the gifts and most amazingly though the interaction between Father Vui and his mother.
What the congregation experienced that day was exhilarating and life giving, but perhaps those with preconceived ideas missed the beautiful way the Spirit moved.
I say:
But Sharon Crooks explicitly stated that: "Missing of course was any mention of the ‘elephant in the room’! That being the
actual work of the Holy Spirit in the Sacrament of Ordination."
The Holy Spirit was moving of course, as He always does, and would have been experienced differently by everyone present who was in a state of grace.
Sharon's comment was that to the effect that although the Holy Spirit was present, His presence was not remarked on by Bishop Peter Cullinane. A most peculiar omission.
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