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It is with great joy that we gather today to celebrate the rededication of our renovated and restored Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, 158 years to the day of its formal opening on November 21, 1852.

There are many thanks to be expressed today. First and foremost, I thank God, who has showered choicest blessings upon our Diocese of Albany for the past 163 years.

I am grateful to Mary, the mother of Jesus, who, under the privilege and title of the Immaculate Conception, has served as the patroness of our Diocese and of this cathedral.

Since my year as an assistant at the cathedral in 1964, following my priestly ordination, I have grown to love this venerable building.

I came to appreciate its 62-foot vaulted ceiling...its magnificent stained glass windows...the striking Stations of the Cross which, in 1900, won the World Fair's prize in Paris...its American walnut pews...its marble sanctuary and floors...its mahogany choir stalls and high pulpit, featuring the four evangelists (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) and four prophets from the Hebrew Scriptures (Israel, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel) - a harbinger of the interfaith activities which would take place here years later.

These exquisite features have now been enhanced through a new paint scheme and better lighting. The pews, which I swear in the mid-19th century must have been designed for leprechauns, have been refashioned to accommodate our 21st-century physiques.

Our gold altar has been reassembled from the high altar and moved to where the nave and transept intersect to draw the congregation more fully into the eucharistic action. The refurbished baptismal font has been relocated to the entrance to the cathedral to remind us of that new life which is ours through the pouring of the water and the anointing with oil.

This building is an historical, architectural and spiritual treasure; a unique, sacred place for the liturgy and religious celebrations. Its towers serve as a symbol of sacred in the midst of the secular and a reminder of the presence of God in the center of our state government. (We all know state government needs God's presence these days.)

This cathedral belongs to every Catholic, since it is the Mother Church of our Diocese. However, like the medieval European cathedrals, it belongs to the entire community as a gathering place for ecumenical and interfaith events, for cultural festivals and concerts. It is a hospitable setting for academic symposia and an exhibit space for art and historical artifacts.

It is ever a work in progress. While a new lead roof has been added; 40 percent of the exterior stone replaced, including the rebuilding of the north tower; and a new electrical system installed; there remain projects to be undertaken: air conditioning, completion of the south tower and rebuilding of the pipe organ, damaged during the erection of the Empire State Plaza.

So, when our liturgy ends, Father Pape, Father Farano and I will be standing at the exits with tin cups. Seriously, this cathedral is a jewel which has been handed down to us from our immigrant forbearers, who came to this city of canals and crossroads to staff the mills and to do the housecleaning work.

In the mid-19th century, its parishioners were looked upon by the wider community as socially and religiously inferior. But by their sweat equity and their nickels and dimes, they built this edifice to communicate the message, "We are here; we are Catholics; we are Americans and we are proud."

Not only is this building awesome, but so have been the people who have called this place their spiritual home: Bishops McCloskey, Conroy, McNierney, Burke, Cusack, Gibbons, Scully, Broderick and Maginn.

Two of its rectors became the founding bishops of our neighboring dioceses: Bishop Edgar Wathams in Ogdensburg and Bishop Patrick Anthony Ludden in Syracuse. From the 1950s to the '90s, its rectors, Msgrs. John Forman and Jack Jones, were local Bishop Fulton Sheens: People would come from miles around to hear their eloquent and insightful homilies.

The Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet and Daughters of Charity formed generations of youth in the faith, prepared them to be contributing members of society, and served the poor and vulnerable.

Rev. Joseph Scully was concerned about the environment for city youth during hot summer days, so he established an overnight camp on Snyder's Lake, which continues to this day and bears his name.

The cathedral has been blessed with magnificent music ministers: Leander Dumouchel served for 47 years and composed the Christmas carol, "The Snow Lay on the Ground;" John Fitzgerald; Robert Sheehan, whose composition of John's Passion account I looked forward to each Holy Week; Glenn Osborne and now Tom Savoy.

It has been the worship home for governors, legislators, mayors, judges, lawyers, doctors, business leaders, newspaper publishers, nurses, teachers, social workers, policemen and policewomen, firefighters, plumbers, carpenters and maids.

Its parishioners fought in the Civil War, the Spanish American War, the two World Wars, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the first Gulf War and more recently in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Some of its members have been Whigs; others, Republi-cans, Democrats, Liberals, Conservatives and Green Party members. Some were members of the Barnes machine, others the O'Connell machine and still others part of the CURE reform movement.

We who have inherited this architectural masterpiece and spiritual legacy are now called to hand it on for the benefit of future generations. This is especially needed in our age of religious indifference, rampant secularism and growing atheism.

We, like our ancestors, must say proudly, "We rejoice in our religious heritage." We proclaim that God's glory still illumines our world; that the message of the Scriptures remains relevant in our high-tech age; and that, as today's reading from 1 Corinthians reminds us, we are the living stones who are called to build up the temple of God's presence in our time and place by our works of charity, healing, reconciliation, justice and peace.

In preparation for today's celebration, Father Pape told our diocesan newspaper, The Evangelist, that the ceremony for the rededication of the cathedral is like a baptism. Today, the congregation and the walls were sprinkled with holy water, mirroring the blessing of a candidate with the water drawn from the baptismal font.

The litany of the saints, recited at every baptism, will be sung to remind us that we are members of God's family, in a long line of holy men and women stemming from the very dawn of salvation history. Relics of the saints, including those of St. James, St. Benedict, St. John Vianney, St. John Baptist de la Salle and our own Blessed Kateri Tekawitha, will be deposited in the altar.

Just as the one being baptized is anointed with sacred chrism and clothed in a white garment, so, too, the altar will be anointed with the chrism of salvation and covered with a white altar cloth. In the rite of baptism, the priest or deacon hands the newly baptized or the person's sponsor a lighted candle, saying, "Receive the light of Christ." In this dedication rite, the candles around the altar and throughout the cathedral will be lit.

I hope that as we rededicate the Cathedral for its mission as a place of worship and a home for the community, it will also be for the members of our Church a twofold opportunity: for internal renewal and external proclamation.

First, an opportunity, in the words of the baptismal promises, "to renounce Satan and all his works and all his empty promises." It is an opportunity to turn away from personal sinfulness, summarized by the seven deadly or capital sins (pride, greed, anger, lust, envy, sloth and gluttony), as well as the opportunity to renounce institutional sins which have marred the beauty of the Gospel message: clericalism, authoritarianism, racism, sexism, ageism, classism, anti-Semitism, Islamaphobia, xenophobia and homophobia.

Today is also a proper time to acknowledge with deep regret and to repent and ask forgiveness for the terrible breach of sacred trust committed by a few ordained in this very cathedral: the sin and crime of the sexual abuse of minors.

We must acknowledge our sinfulness and our failures. As the cathedral has been restored through new lighting, paint and plaster, we must seek to restore our lives individually and communally by turning away from evil and toward our God of love.

There is a second opportunity this rededication can precipitate: to rededicate ourselves to the Church's mission of bringing Good News to the poor.

That the Good News is proclaimed to the poor and that the needs of the orphan, widow and stranger are met have always been presented in our Judeo-Christian heritage as the unfailing sign of God's presence in our midst.

Especially in these recessionary times, we must seek to ensure that those who lack the basic essentials of life - food, clothing, shelter, education, employment and health care - are not an afterthought but a priority for us, both in our direct service to them and in our advocacy to bring about structural and systemic changes to alleviate their oppressive burdens.

Our concern must not only be for those who are impoverished materially, but for those who are impoverished spiritually. For the most pitiful form of human poverty is not the deprivation of goods and possessions, but the lack of knowledge of God or the lack of a meaningful relationship with God.

Today, then, we are launching officially our new diocesan evangelization process, "Amazing God." Over the next three years, we will be reflecting on God's love, the heart of Christ and the movement of the Spirit in our lives and world.

As a people of faith, we will be seeking for ways to reach out to those who have been hurt and alienated from the Church for whatever reason; to those whom have become apathetic or indifferent in the practice of the faith - so-called "cultural Catholics" or "Christmas and Easter Catholics."

We will assure them that we miss them, that our community is impoverished by their absence and that we want to welcome them once again to pray and worship with us on our pilgrim journey together as God's people.

For the unchurched, we invite them to be part of a Church where the stranger is welcome, where seekers and searchers can find a home and where we, sinful and imperfect as we may be, rejoice in the saving power of our God who heals the brokenhearted, gives release to prisoners, liberty to captives, sight to the blind, and embraces all with the warmth and tenderness of a parent's love.

May we go forth from this cathedral rededication renewed and refreshed and ready to live "in spirit and truth," as today's Gospel tells us: in a way that truly gives honor and glory to the God we worship here, and that brings hope, peace and betterment to God's people.

(12/09/10) [[In-content Ad]]

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