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October 21, 2018In his homily last weekend, one of the questions Fr. Dave Dwyer told us he would address during our Fall Parish Mission was Why Jesus? and Why Saint Mikes and the Catholic Church? He acknowledged that this last question was all the more important, considering the scandals of the last few months. On my office wall right above the computer screen I’m typing this on, I have a print containing the words of a Commencement Address given by Fr. Walter Burghardt at St. Mary’s Seminary in Baltimore, on May 29, 1970!
In the course of a half centuryForty-eight years ago, but I think this a good start on answering Fr. Dave’s question.
I have seen more Christian corruption than you have read of.
I have tasted it—I have been reasonably corrupt myself.
And yet I love this Church,
this living, pulsing, sinning people of God with a crucifying passion.
Why?
For all the Christian hate—I experience here a community of love.
For all the institutional idiocy—I find here a tradition of reason.
For all the individual repressions—I breathe here an air of freedom.
For all the fear of sex—I discover here the redemption of my body.
In an age so inhuman—I touch here tears of compassion.
In a world so grim and humorless—I share here rich joy and earthy laughter.
In the midst of death—I hear here an incomparable stress on life.
For all the apparent absence of God—I sense here the real presence of Christ.