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| Pope Francis greets Coadjutor Archbishop Bernard Hebda |
"This is the day which the Lord hath made: let us be glad and rejoice therein."
After suffering for more than a decade under one of America's worst bishops, the Archdiocese of Newark has reason for hope with the installation today of Coadjutor Archbishop Bernard Hebda. He will share leadership of the Archdiocese with John J. Myers, until the latter's retirement in no more than three years.
The pleas of many have been heard by Pope Francis with this appointment. And it is the most important appointment yet made in the United States by this Holy Father. Finally, an aloof, cold, arrogant and unapproachable monarch will be replaced by a true shepherd, an alter-Christus, who radiates Christ's love in carrying out the Church's salvific mission.
I came to recognize how utterly unsuited for pastoral leadership Archbishop Myers is shortly after he arrived in Newark. In his knee-jerk defense of priests, against the legitimate complaints of laymen, he attempted to suppress the Archdiocese's rich diversity of ethnic parishes - particularly Polish parishes, which happen to be among the most vibrant, faithful and orthodox parishes to be found anywhere. Perhaps because he came from the much more homogeneous Peoria, or more likely because he believes no layman should question any decision by clergy, Myers would not meet with the faithful or consider the viewpoints that were expressed in many letters, prayer vigils, demonstrations and boycotts of Archdiocesan charities. I wrote the op-ed below at the height of Myers' anti-Polish pogrom.
Myers has closed approximately 75 parochial schools and many churches, but his arrogant indifference to legitimate grievances became his undoing when the general public, the media and state political leaders became aware of his scandalous coddling of priests guilty of the sexual molestation of children. Myers should be in prison, but we are grateful that Pope Francis has replaced him with a man who appears to be his polar opposite.
Ironically, after all of Myers' contempt for the faithful Polish parishes of the Archdiocese, he will be replaced by a Polish-speaking, Polish-American.
We wish Archbishop Bernard Hebda God's grace, peace and joy. May he be strengthened for the enormous task ahead of him in rebuilding the Lord's Church in Newark.
A Patron for Polonia
By Daniel J. Cassidy
Plans are well underway by the
Archdiocese of Newark to close or convey to another rite or ethnic group one of
Polonia’s most important and magnificent churches, St. Casimir’s Church, the
Polish “Basilica of the Ironbound,” and a National Historic Site. This jewel-like church reflects in every
tile, fresco and stained glass window, the heroic story of a people who have
been at the vortex of the conflict between good and evil because as a nation
and a people their very identity is found in Christ Himself and His Blessed
Mother. The walls of St. Casimir’s
Church remind all that enter of the price to be paid by those who unite
themselves with Christ’s suffering and follow Him closely. Those walls tell the story of the Polish
people and the terror, torture, execution and death of holy nuns, priests,
noble soldiers and the humble faithful.
We sense also, in the splendor of that holy temple, that where the cross
is, there also is the resurrection. When
it is dark enough, one can see stars!
Once again the Archdiocese of
Newark has declared war on its own people.
The battle to save St. Casimir’s, and all the parishes targeted for
destruction, is a spiritual conflict, but this spiritual battle is one the
Polish people are particularly graced to win.
The life of St. Casimir, Patron
of both Poland
and this Newark church, shines
through the centuries as a rebuke to those who would destroy it. An earthly king’s son, born to wealth and
power, St. Casimir would kneel through the night, in snow and rain, before the
locked doors of churches, uniting himself to Christ within. He rejected the offer of foreign thrones; he
wore the plainest of clothes and hair shirts; saw riches as temptations that
warred against his soul; he slept on the bare floor; was known for charitable
works and for fiercely defending the right despite ridicule and humiliation. He was a Prince who defied his father out of
love for an even greater King. After his
death at the age of 23, whole volumes were written about his powerful and
miraculous intercession, and his body was found incorrupt 120 years after his
death.
And who is it that would destroy
a church built in honor of Saint Casimir and loved for a century by his
spiritual heirs? A farmer’s son who
fancies $300 custom-made shirts, who uses the donations of hard working,
faithful Catholics to purchase a Hunterdon County estate, and there builds a
swimming pool for his personal enjoyment while closing churches and schools; an
ambitious prelate who is reported by associates to speculate on choice
appointments that might facilitate his entering the College of Cardinals; a
shepherd of souls who takes public relations tours of Poland, paid for by his
fellow travelers, but refuses to meet with Polish-Americans entrusted to his
care when they oppose their eviction from and the closing of their historic
churches; a successor to the Apostles who excuses the buggery of children and
even attempted to reinstate a priest suspended for the sexual abuse of
children. According to the Dallas
Morning News, when the priest’s victims could not obtain a meeting with
their bishop, and instead expressed their outrage through the media, Myers
commented that he “didn’t realize they would be so upset.”
The consultants from Seattle
who assist Archbishop Myers in managing the collapse of Catholic life in the
Archdiocese of Newark have asked if St. Casimir’s can support itself. The question Polonia should ask is whether or
not the Archbishop of Newark can support himself. Certainly, with a vast network of closed
schools and churches to rent, redevelop and sell, investment properties, and a
massive stock portfolio, the Archbishop of Newark should not need the
contributions of poor and working people to support his luxurious lifestyle.
It may be hard to appeal to the
heart and conscience of such a man, but the people of St. Casimir’s, and all of
Polonia, cannot lose the spiritual battle before them. Their opponents usually fail to grasp how tenacious
the Polish people are in defending their freedom, faith and heritage. A valiant defender of the right himself, Sir
Winston Churchill observed that despite its long bondage, occupying powers had
been unable to extinguish the spirit of the Polish nation. He prophesied: “the heroic defense of Warsaw
shows that the soul of Poland
is indestructible and that she will rise again like a rock which may, for a
time, be submerged by a tidal wave, but which remains a rock.”
An ambitious prelate with a taste
for the high life will not endure in a spiritual battle against the determined
efforts of faithful Poles fighting in solidarity for their faith and culture
with support from the hierarchy in Poland
and Rome. Surely they will have the intercession of the
holy and powerful Saint Casimir. The
saint who prayed outside the locked doors of churches is a particularly apt
patron not only for Polish-Americans, but also for all the faithful in the
Newark Archdiocese. And when the battle
is long ended and the Church in America
is cleansed of the current scandals and restored to holiness, perhaps a Polish
artisan will add a new fresco to the walls of Saint Casimir’s commemorating yet
another chapter in the strife of truth with falsehood, the battle to save that
holy place.
